Anyone who thinks that Facebook is only for kids and technorati is in for a shock. The USPTO and WIPO have just launched their very own fan pages on the site.

The USPTO page is still in beta mode, bearing an official logo, a Wikipedia overview of the organisation’s beginnings, current activities and vital statistics, and a news feed, cataloguing references to the organisation in its 16 fans’ status updates. 

But why set up the page at all?

Under-secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO David Kappos says: ‘Technology has profoundly impacted the way we all consume information and communicate with one another. I’m confident our Facebook presence will complement the USPTO web site as a means of communicating and connecting with the public and our stakeholders in the intellectual property community. With more than 400 million people on Facebook, we knew it was an important place for us to be.’

WIPO director general Francis Gurry no doubt agrees. WIPO too has just registered a presence on Facebook. There are two WIPO fan pages on the social networking site at present; both are still under the radar, boasting two fans (the second being myself) and no related posts. Nevertheless, this tentative foray into the social media domain could be a stake in the ground for developments down the line.

But will it really work?
The Facebook fan page has proven a very successful medium for many consumer-facing corporations. Take coffee giant Starbucks. Its page has 7,263,659 fans to date, benefiting from regular news updates, special offers, and discounts. Likewise, Coca Cola, with 5,563,960 fans, has used its Facebook fan page to great effect, espousing worthy causes and giving away coupons for free bottles of fizz.

But how will WIPO and the USPTO attract and retain users? Surely a fast-track Facebook patent application system is out of the question? Perhaps the social media leviathan will prove a useful tool in researching prior art? The chances of the USPTO asking, “Have you seen this patent?” via Facebook status update seem fairly slim.

It will be interesting to compare these new Facebook efforts with a similar social experiment: WIPO’s YouTube channel. The organisation first registered the channel in May 2006 but has only started actively pushing its content this year.

Since January 2010, the channel has accrued 5,850 channel views and 7,124 upload views. The most popular video on the channel, an educational animation called Copyright has been watched by over 400 people. These numbers are not themselves extraordinary. But what is interesting are the comments left by visitors: ‘Thank you WIPO for the important work that you are doing, for the benefit of all artists,’ reads one. ‘Thanks for letting me know you here - intellectual property rights is a hugely important subject and kudos for all the work you do,’ is another.

We’ll be keeping tabs on the social media strategies of all the patent organisations to find out whether Facebook really works for IP, and how YouTube is educating consumers and industry pundits alike. I am proud to be the 11th person to ‘Like’ the USPTO. You can join the conversation by becoming a fan here: USPTO on Facebook
And you can show your support for the WIPO here: WIPO on Facebook


Do you or your organisation use Twitter, Facebook or YouTube to talk IP? Let us know. Leave a comment below