Friending Gone Berserk

Friends are good to have. Facebook is a fun way to connect with friends. "Social media" is an excellent channel for brands to communicate with their customers.

But sometimes is enough enough? On my way to work this morning in Chicago, there was a poster at the "el" stop for a local bakery, Turano, that primarily serves the food service industry. (I guess some of the restaurants I patronize purchase their bread and rolls from Turano, although since bread and rolls served in a restaurant are an unbranded product (as opposed to, say, ketchup), I would have no way to know which.)

At any rate, Turano wants me to "friend" (or "like," whichever) them on Facebook!

Of the hundreds or, more likely, thousands of products and services I consume over the course of the month (it's thousands if we're counting unknown vendors to the businesses that I knowingly patronize), does it make any sense at all that I would want to establish Facebook relationships with all of them? Or even many?

"Hey, guys, doing anything special for Earth Day?" 4 responses, with only 2 on topic, and neither of those involving Turano products. And this is from ad campaign that I assume must be costing many tens of thousands of dollars.

Well, thanks for letting me be a grumpy old curmudgeon this morning. And don't forget to "friend" me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, and check out my Tumblr and Pinterest pages!