I was struck by Brian Solis’ Flickr photo that captures Obama winning the election. It is a photo of the TV, not a photo of the actual candidate. Nevertheless, it captures a moment. And not too long ago I thought of a ‘moment’ as being what people share with one another in person. Last night people on Twitter shared the election moment with one another; as if we were together in the same room feeling the same sense of tension and relief, experiencing the same catharsis.

Check out ZeFrank’s blog capturing the moments of the election.
His readers not only comment with their words, but with links to YouTube videos, Facebook entries.

Their comments are a colorful tribute to that night. Here are few examples:

1. “When they announced it, I heard firecrackers go off in my neighborhood. We poured champagne and toasted.
I stepped outside and heard a neighbor across the street go “Woooo!” “Woooo-hooo!” I called back. More firecrackers followed.”

2. “I was in Grant Park.
It was the nicest, politest, funnest rock concert EVER.
When CNN called it, we collectively lost our heads. 10PM. TEN. PM. After the nightmare of Bush v. Gore, to have it called so early, so decisively…
We were all crying.”

3. “My 12 year-old son and I were watching the electoral numbers break for Obama, when the door bell rang suddenly and repeatedly. I answered only to be greeted by a group neighborhood kids holding Obama signs that they’d swiped from other neighbor’s yards. They were cheering “O-BA-MA” like a band of political trick or treaters. My son immediately darted out to celebrate with them without even asking permission—it was wonderful.”

Where did you share your moment?

Visa’s incentive to join their network is $100 in Facebook advertising. This ad clearly benefits both Visa and Facebook. Visa benefits by enrolling business owners and Facebook benefits by introducing their ad platform to new customers. I would love to know how It was sold: whether Visa paid for the ad on a cost per action basis, and Facebook paid Visa for the free ad trials.

 (Image courtesy of Krishna De, from Flickr)Children are less likely to lose touch with their friends because they’re connected by social networking sites from the moment they begin school. This was not the case with my parents’ generation. I recently reconnected on Facebook with a friend from middle school. Within two days, five of my other middle school classmates had reconnected with me. There was something exciting about looking at their profiles to see who they’ve become, how their faces have changed and how their personalities haven’t.When today’s kids grow up, their entire social network will age with them. They will decide who to remove from their networks and how much access to grant those who remain, rather than seeking out old friends. How will this affect their sense of who they are, who they were and whom they consider to be their people?

A creative ad caught my eye on Facebook today. A young man used a Facebook flyer to ask prospective employers to hire him. When you click on his ad, you arrive at his YouTube page with a short pitch (see it below). I love the concept of job seekers targeting prospective employers with creative techniques like these.

I joined this Facebook group called i wrk @ an ad agency. There’s more than 1,000 members, and all of the founders of the group are with some of the hottest agencies in the country. I recently received an email from the group announcing the launch of a new agency website: “Bernstein-Rein.com.”

When I received the email, I checked out the website immediately. (BTW, I’m impressed).

But I’m more impressed with their marketing strategy to use Facebook. Over 1,000 pre-qualified people, who work at agencies and are members of this group, received the Facebook email. And I would assume that the open rate of an email from Facebook is much higher than the open rate of regular email.

I wonder if Bernstein-Rein.com paid for this email blast.  If so, it’s worth noting that Facebook wasn’t directly paid for this. If Bernstein-Rein wanted to reach agency talent in a more conventional way, through direct mail or advertising for example, they would have spent $10,000s. And even then they might not have reached agency talent this targeted.