Sometimes we get trapped in thinking about all the ways we can reach out to our patrons. Sometimes, they just seem so far away. Now, Facebook has created a way to bring them closer, so the reach to connect with them is not nearly as far.

In a facisnating article by Steve Smith on Social Media, we observe a dialogue about the constant struggle to turn a profit on tools that have become largely pervasive, but some how not able to be monetized. Tools like Facebook and Twitter are used by millions, and clearly have high value to consumers as well as businesses, but somewhere along the line, someone forgot to send the bill. Consumers have gotten used to utilizing these services free of charge, so any charge for them moving forward  would be cause for revolt.

So how will they do it? How will Facecbook and Twitter start making money? One new feature on Facebook brings high value to businesses, and although currently free,  it may end up being a golden key to the city of dollar signs for both Facebook and businnesses trying to capitalize on social networks. It’s called Facebook Connect.

Facebook Connect allows an organization to link their site logins for patrons to the patron’s Facebook Login. Victor and Mike actually did it with this site, you should check it out. It allows users to share and syndicate information they generate on your site, and connect with their friends on your site. The reality is this: It allows you to leverage the power of Facebook’s immense social networks on your site, without reinventing the wheel, or trying to make your own social network. The networks are out there, many of them on Facebook.

As Victor Hamburger wrote to me in an email recently:
“I think Facebook Connect has the ability to change Facebook’s ability to make money by broadly incoporating it into our online culture. Instead of websites and services becoming embedded into Facebook, Facebook becomes embedded into websites and services. I think that changes the profitability dynamic as Facebook becomes an extension of what people are doing. As it gains more users, it has the ability  to be the “ID” everyone uses to get places online. Imagine you can login to ticketmaster as a patron by entering your  facebook user name and password. Or netflix or your bank… I think that is what is around the corner. Facebook and a few of the other social networks will be competing to be that engrained internet id and tool.”

Because Connect brings people and business closer together in way that holds a lot of value to businesses, Facebook should capitalize on that. Additionally, Connect uses a business’s existing assets to integrate with a social platform – they can use their own site, and don’t have to  maintain a Facebook Fan Page on a site that is in a land far away  from their own. It brings a user and their network to their doorstep instead of having to fetch it on Facebook.

Check out Facebook Connect, and think creatively with it. It is a an incredibly powerful tool that can bring your patrons closer to you.

Thanks to Michael A. Porto with ASU Gammage for sending this article to us.