What's This? David Yurman Is Using Social Media as More than Just a Vehicle to Push Product?!

This profile of Ms. Neyrey serves as the first of
what I hope will be many ad-free Facebook
posts from David Yurman.

David Yurman bemused its Facebook followers yesterday when the company posted this (see right) to its wall. Wait a minute, thought those who subscribe to DY's updates. Where is the promotional image, the same one that's plastered somewhere on DavidYurman.com? Where is the advertising copy? Where is the "update" that, for all intents and purposes, is not an update at all but an advertisement masquerading as such? 

For once, it seems, David Yurman is using social media as social media is intended--to start conversations, to enable the public to feel an intimacy with the company, to help foster something akin to a relationship between a brand and the consumer. Nowhere in this posting is slogan, is a model's Bambi eyes, is product, even. No, instead, the follower is treated to a glimpse--albeit brief--behind the what-often-seems-made-of-steel curtain that separates the David Yurman customer from David Yurman, the corporation. I, for one, find this variety of update not only refreshing but, well, for lack of a better word, necessary. Using social media to hint at or tease a campaign is one thing. Using it to hawk--and hawk hard--that campaign is entirely another. For too long DY has been doing the latter. Maybe this step in the right direction will prove the first of many... or perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part. Either way, it was very nice to meet Ms. Neyrey, to be introduced to one of the many alchemists at David Yurman.

What are your thoughts on this Facebook posting? Are you in agreement with me or do you hold a dissenting view? Sound off; post a comment or write me an E-mail.