Should brands get involved in the banter?

Is facebook yet another technicalogical advance that took yet another step away from face to face communication? It seems strange that over the decades we’ve gone from talking face to face to writing letters to phone calls, email, texting and now hit and run ‘pokes’ and wall posts.
This is quite a pessimistic view of how communication has developed. One I’d expect my dad to tale. I however believe like most open minded people that it’s a good thing.

Its eliminated the restrictions of time and space for sure but more than that, its encouraged more interaction; with immediate friends, classmates you may have otherwise lost touch with, collegues (good for team bonding and integration) and possibly brands?? Well maybe not so much with the latter. They need to try a bit harder to get some sort of rapport going.

In my opinion, for the younger aimed brands, they should try and enter into a tye of banter with their target audience they would relate to. As marketing and advertising is becoming ever more entertainment orientated and content focused, surely entering into some humourous banter with their ‘fans’ would earn them some brownie points with our young minded generation.Though I accept this may prove a little controversial especially as most banter ends up being a tad offensive but if done in good spirit it may be a very forward thinking way of communicating on a level young people can relate to and enjoy.