If my mom wasn't already using Facebook (you'll hear more about that in another post), I'd say that this is the moment Facebook just became uncool. My grocery store, Superfresh, has a Facebook page. Not only do they have a Facebook page but they have 552 fans! I am shocked that 552 people actually care enough about their grocery store to be a fan of them on Facebook.
This is a prime example of an economic shift -- hyper commercialism and corporate consolidation. The mom and pop grocery stores are slowly dying down and being replaced by the Superfresh's of the world -- case in point, they are a large enough of a corporation to pay someone to be in charge of updating the Superfresh Facebook page.
Corporations are now devoting much of their advertising budgets to social media like Facebook. This creates a hyper commercialised online environment. Almost every webpage you go to, there's an ad. If it's not as blatant as a banner advertisement, maybe it's that 3 of your friends became fans of Superfresh and 2 of them "liked" their photo.
Facebook is exactly where corporate consolidation and corporations come into play. "In particular, integrated media conglomerates seeking the benefits of what industry insiders refer to as "synergy" are likely to favor products that can best be exploited by other components of the conglomerate." (pg. 44 of Media and Society) Facebook is the perfect product for corporations to use to exploit their target market, getting "inside" information on who they are, what they do, what they like, and use it to market to them.
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