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"Politicians, journalists, and bands all want to share what they do. We have a system for distributing information, and we want to remove limits for people with a lot of constituents to share," added Facebook's Chris Cox.

Facebook fan pages for folks like Obama, Oprah, U2, and the New York Times are drastically changed. The focus is now on fans, and conversations among fans/celebrities ~ and NOT on the celebrities themselves. Users are now the "celebrities," and the marketing tool is "conversation," or "conversational marketing."

The average male Facebook user with 500 friends: * Leaves comments on 17 friends' photos, status updates, or wall; * Messages or chats with 10 friends. The average female Facebook user with 500 friends: * Leaves comments on 26 friends' photos, status updates, or wall; * Messages or chats with 16 friends.

All the companies that get credit today for doing social media well--Zappos, Dell, Comcast--have all become comfortable with letting individuals from their company become the faces for their brand. These are the voices that I often call "accidental spokespeople." Within them is the real secret to using social media to be a brand that actually matters: offering a real human connection.