Mike Lazerow co-founder and CEO of Buddy Media was hooked on Facebook immediately after logging onto Zuckerburg’s social media site during Facebook’s early days.
In this episode of Founder Stories with host Chris Dixon, Lazerow discusses Buddy Media’s growth and how it coincided with Facebook launching fan pages for companies and brands. Lazerow’s team thought “companies [were] going to have to control content and need analytics behind that content … so we launched … the Facebook Page Management System.” Their idea turned out to be a goldmine.
In March of 2009 Facebook Fan pages went live. A month later, Buddy Media launched its technology, and by the end of 2010 Buddy Media “just exploded” says Lazerow.
Continuing on the topic of Facebook in the video below Dixon notes Facebook allows others to build on its platform while Google develops products internally. Dixon wonders if Facebook will follow Google’s playbook and if so, does this concern Lazerow?
Lazerow tells Dixon that Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn all offer growth opportunities for Buddy Media so “we are beyond Facebook, we are Facebook plus.” In addition, Lazerow doesn’t think Facebook will devote its resources to creating a brand management system. It’s just not in Facebook’s DNA, he argues. “Facebook is in the business of delivering audiences and selling ads, we really take care of how do you set up a presence on Facebook and manage a community on Facebook” explains Lazerow.
Before wrapping the interview, Lazerow concludes by saying that Facebook’s brilliance lies in “knowing who they were very early on.” That is something all startups should strive for from the very beginning.
Part III of Dixon’s interview with Lazerow is coming up, but until then make sure to watch Part I and past episodes of Founder Stories here.
