My first question, while presenting EastBaySocial to a room full of small business owners, was “How many of you have heard of MySpace or Facebook?” Like a team of synchronized swimmers in Beijing, everyone raised their hand. In truth, I sort of expected that response. Most people have heard of social media by now. But for many business owners, it is like a giant elephant (with one foot in the door).

You know it’s coming…but will you talk about it?

To that end, people often ask me how EastBaySocial will ever compete with Facebook. They have 90 million users, a gazillion dollars in funding, and even Microsoft is behind them. We’re just 2 guys in a garage, a handful of photographers, and a limited bank account. Plus, we’ve committed ourselves to the East Bay. Hardly an elephant.

I’m about as certain as a rookie weatherman in all this. I feel like the elephant will make his way into everyone’s lives, but I’m quite sure EastBaySocial won’t be helping you make friends like Facebook does. Actually our model isn’t designed to help you connect with friends. We’re certainly not going to prevent friendship from occurring, but our goal is simple: help East Bay businesses and professionals get the word out about what they do.

At first you might think, “Great, a new platform for small businesses to spam the heck out of me”. And who wants all that junk mail that arrives in your mailbox every day? How did they get my address? Enough is enough, right? Exactly.

But what if you could choose the marketing you wanted? Seriously…what if you could choose it just like you choose the TV programs you can record now. What if you are interested in a small clothing boutique in Pleasanton, and wanted to know when they were having a trunk show or special offer?

Shouldn't you be able to receive a Pass to the businesses you actually like?

Different people like different things. So if you don’t like clothing, you might like restaurants, home interior, or garden stuff. Heck, maybe you’re trying to find some good doctors and dentists. But what happens if you lose your interest in a certain business? In today’s world, they just keep sending you their marketing. Shouldn’t you be able to flip a switch and turn it off, just like you do with your Tivo box?

Every day the world gets more personalized. YouTube lets you view the videos you want, when you want. Facebook lets you create your own network of friends and discover what they’re up to. Even Amazon recommends books you like. As it should be, life is becoming more aligned with our interests. Less expensive and more relevant. Oh yeah, and more “Eco Friendly” – I especially like that one.

Yet here in the East Bay we continue to get information we’re not interested in pushed to us. Ten percent of the time, I am actually interested in the ”junk” that arrives each day. And when that happens, I’m happier for it. The other ninety percent is basically wasted time, wasted paper, wasted money.

EastBaySocial is building its technology around this vision of efficiency. Each of the business members on this network are helping to develop a new paradigm. A paradigm we feel will become an incredibly effective and cost-efficient way for small businesses to get the word out about what they do. There is nothing else like it in the East Bay, and we hope you enjoy getting what you want, instead of what you don’t.

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