Ted Leonsis, the former AOL executive and current owner of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals, recently posted a blog entry comparing Facebook's critical development crossroads to that of AOL. He challenges Facebook to make the hard decision of whether they want their brand to be loved (like Apple or Nike) or needed (like Comcast or Microsoft). He concedes that it's possible to be both, but very few have been able to sustain being at the top for very long. He claims that AOL achieved both for about three years and that Google is currently the best example of being needed and loved.

This question parallels the question we have been asking lately: is Facebook just a (fun) timewaster or is it capable of truly becoming an enterprise productivity tool? Like being needed or loved, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to be both.

I agree with Ted Leonsis that this is an absolutely critical point for Facebook. The company has surely done an impressive job of building a brand that many people love. Facebook has even been able to withstand very public blunders and bad public relations. But, now Facebook needs to decide if it wants to continue to be a lovable brand or become a service that people need in their daily lives?

Just as they've made previous commitments to college and high school students, to make the service needed by workers in the enterprise, Facebook must make a commitment to professional users. Obviously, they need to address security and privacy slip-ups. But, in addition, they need to make significant inroads to helping professional users be more productive. It needs to be easy for workers to collaborate with others. It needs to be easy for someone to separate personal and private information. And it needs to be easy to find relevant information -- something becoming increasingly difficult as Facebook interfaces grow ever-more cluttered and unmanageable. And as Ted Leonsis says, they "will have to innovate and redefine utility-like services such as e-mail, messaging, search, chat, storage and self-expression. Today, many of those functions on Facebook are poor imitations of the real thing in the real world."

Facebook has showed signs recently that they are choosing the path of wanting to be needed. They have added improved privacy settings, they're currently rolling out chat functionality, and are planning new streamlined interfaces. While I think Facebook is far from being enterprise-ready, some companies have decided that the benefits of Facebook are worth riding out the growing pains. On Wednesday, May 21, I'll be moderating a panel of Facebook users at the Enterprise³ Portals, Collaboration, and Web conference in San Diego. These users will be describing their own experiences with Facebook as an enterprise tool. If you are using Facebook as an enterprise tool, we'd love to hear your experiences as well. Drop me a note telling me what works or doesn't work in your enterprise.