Happy Facebook birthday!

Larry Brauner is 58 this week. And he's celebrating for four days with a virtual birthday party on Facebook.

Larry's Facebook party

Now, I have no idea what fizzbang shenanigans are planned, but the very idea is an example of what he stands for: thinking outside the box. It makes me smile, frown and puzzle.

It's obvious that we haven't even started using Facebook in a million extraordinary and rewarding ways.

And that fills me with horror: "Oh no! You mean I'm going to have to *think* about this?"... and pleasure: "Thank heavens, someone has smashed the mould."

So, Larry gets a festival of responses. He offers floor prizes, and here at Contented.com we certainly intend to offer one. He hurls a bunch of bloggers into one spot for a purpose that's more social than marketing.

And repercussions start percussing. Reverberations start verbing.

Let this genial, ingenious idea wander where it will.

How quickly the shiny-new Facebook became boring-boring same-old same-old. I'm happy to say that Larry's virtual party has already seeded my brain with other social marketing ideas.

Also, as another person who is not exactly in the first flush of youth, I'm tickled pink to see him declare his age without the hint of a blush. Go Larry!