“All successful businesses have a phone line, a website and a Facebook page. Facebook does not take time away from you. Facebook can give your business a personality.” misschu as posted on Let’s Talk Business.

I can go along with the phone line and website part. The Facebook page is little less believable, but I suppose it could depend on your definition of “successful”. And I’m definitely OK with the personality statement. The one I have an issue is “Facebook does not take time away from you.” How do you keep it updated if it doesn’t take your time?

Paul Wallbank had a post recently (The free myth) in which he commented on this statement heard at a social media event … “I can’t believe all businesses aren’t on Facebook - it’s free.” That statement is clearly wrong as Paul pointed out. Facebook costs in several ways - time and the data mining that Facebook performs.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Facebook has an important role to play for many businesses. We shouldn’t gloss over the true cost of participation. How else can we really assess the value?