Facebook's Doppelganger craze and the Social Media phenomenon

Over the past week, Facebookers around the world have taken to the celebrity Doppelganger craze en masse - what does this say about the state of social media? and, more importantly from our point of view, what does this mean for the state of social media as a business platform?

The Doppelganger phenomenon has been widely reported as yet another example of the group think engrossing social media sites, the most popular of which is currently Facebook. Commentators were quick to conclude that the Doppelganger craze is yet another step towards the eventual decline of sites like Facebook as serious, credible online platforms. What does this mean for the countless businesses, which are currently wondering whether they should jump on the social media bandwagon by establishing a Facebook presence? Following the line of thought of the aforementioned columnists, it would be easy to conclude that you should establish a Facebook presence only if the current characteristics of the platform match the image you wish to portray about your product or service. However, would doing so not be to ignore the true potential of this new medium and to risk falling behind the curve (much like businesses that once stubbornly dismissed the internet and refused to create webpages)? Should not the mere fact that a craze, like Doppelganger, can catch on so quickly, spread virally across the world and be discussed in the mainstream media be viewed as an example of social media's ever-increasing popularity and relevance?

While the future of Facebook and online social media in general is far from certain, businesses need to think about the future of the platform rather than simply about its current brand fit.