If you see Facebook as a silver bullet with the key to all future political or policy success, you need new glasses. If you are looking for a competitive advantage, however, and are truly committed to doing whatever it takes to make your message heard, read on.

Behind the Buzz

Facebook is that little college experiment from Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg that now has over 32 million users (August 2007). Originally built for high school and college students, they opened the platform to everyone in September 2006. Over the past year, Facebook has experienced growth of over 2400 percent, taking over the Internet faster than Alexander the Great conquered ancient Persia.

Here are some more statistics to blow your mind:

• More than 100,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007
• An average of 3 percent weekly growth since Jan. 2007
• More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
• Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States
• More than 40 billion page views per month in May 2007
• More than half of active users return daily
• People spend an average of 20 minutes on the site daily

In case the natural conclusion wasn't already formed in your mind, we'll say it here: Facebook is huge. And conservatives need to pay attention.

Top 10 Facebook Tips

Primarily, this is not the place to remind people to vote. This is not the place to post press releases. This is not the place to share the same information that these same people can get elsewhere. Conservative groups can not just create a Facebook profile and then walk away.

Those are basic uses of Facebook that we should engage in, but only if we're committed to engaging with Facebook users at a higher level, with activities like:

1. Create a group, then keeping it updated with new content.
2. Message supporters with exclusive information about your activities.
3. Recruit volunteers for campaign events and activities.
4. Recruit online activists to comment on blogs and vote on online polls.
5. Solicit feedback, as scary as this may be. If you have a group, have a discussion board. If you get comments and feedback, write back (an intern can do this so long as your supporters know SOMEONE is listening).
6. Offer an exclusive event, just via Facebook events, for your supporters. This drives traffic and increases the level of activity your supporters are willing to offer.
7. Proactively seek out similar groups and users. Engage with them on discussion boards and through messaging. Resist self-promotion on users' walls. No one likes a sales pitch on their wall.
8. Upload video, links, photos and more.
9. Run banner advertising on the site, targeted at younger voters (even if your target audience isn't younger, many older Facebook users are still young at heart).
10. List your campaign in the Causes application so users can donate directly from Facebook.

And finally (call this a Bonus tip), consider building a Facebook application. It's easier than it sounds, and will allow your supporters to add your content directly to their profile pages. Facebook apps are huge right now (there are over 2,500) because they give users the ability to express their personality and interests in new, unique ways. They also give you the flexibility to add new content and functionality right into your supporters' profiles.

Interested in learning more? There are a lot of web companies out there who can help build your Facebook strategy as well. It's not a silver bullet, but it is a powerful weapon to give you a competitive advantage.

And who doesn't want that?

[Note: Thanks to Jeremiah Owyang of PodTech.net for his Facebook research and writing which have influenced many of these tips.]