f8 2011: Facebook’s Changes and What they Mean for Marketers
:: By Taylor Wiegert, Empower Word of Mouth Marketing Strategist, Social Media Specialist
Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at Facebook’s f8 Developer’s Conference last week to
announce the next evolution of Facebook. Updated personal profiles, changes to Open Graphand integration of media platforms are about to change the landscape that is Facebook. Formarketers, the implications are big. Those acting quickly have the opportunity to get ahead ofcompetitors, while those who continue following the old recipes will see diminishing returns.For marketers, the changes mean:1. The free part of marketing on Facebook is less valuable.2. Marketers need a publisher mindset more than ever.3. Encouraging action and interaction is a must.4. Users have fewer reasons than ever to leave Facebook.5. Facebook is offering better mechanisms to target consumers.
User Growth
Part of what makes Facebook such a valuable platform for marketers is the sheer size of itsuser base
. Well, it’s not getting any smaller.
The event kicked off with Facebook announcingthat it has passed 800 million users, individuals who have logged in within the past 30 days. 350million of those users are using their mobile devices to access Facebook, which is a big spikewith 41% of Facebook users now checking in on their Friends through a mobile device.
Profiles
—
Introducing Timeline
Facebook profiles are about to look very different in the next few weeks
(if yours hasn’t changed
already), shifting from a stream of status updates and automated activity feeds to timelines ofyour life. The feature, aptly called Timeline, organizes all of your photos, status updates,
locations, places you’ve visited and app activity into a timeline of your life, going back to birth.
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The presentation is visual as Facebook automatically takes your status updates, life events andphotos to fill
in your past, but it’s not set in stone. Users can add photos of themselves as well
as life events to seamlessly create a full picture of their lives. However, the most visual piece ofall is the new, giant image at the top of your profile. And this new s
tyle isn’t just for the web,
either. It will make its way to mobile devices as well.
Timeline’s
map feature allows you to show where
you’ve been. This is where Facebook Places
comes back into the spotlight by displaying
where you’ve posted Facebook posts
or photoswith attached locations.
What It Means
: Facebook wants user
information, but the reality is that Facebook’s
only been around since 2004, which means formany, there are going to be quite a few gaps.Timeline encourages users to add informationand fill in those gaps. Facebook wants toencourage its users to work to make their profilescompletely represent them, so it will beinteresting to see how it encourages users to fillin their pasts with moments such as, familyvacations, baby photos and life events that nevermade it onto Facebook. The biggest reason to doso is visual. Timeline is beautiful and truly feelslike the story of your life. However, filling it in is a manual process. Some will take the time to doso, while others will start to update Facebook more often, which means more data thatadvertisers can use to target messages to consumers.
The update for users means old status updates and posts don’t get lost in the shuffle and buried
beneath fresher content. It will be easy to revisit past events using the timeline at the side oftheir profiles. The feeling is the same as looking at old yearbooks or diaries.Facebook is now just as much about memories as it i
s about what’s happening in the present.
Open Graph and Apps
—It’s More than “Like” Now
When Facebook introduced Open Graph and the ―Like‖ button last
year, it changed the waymarketers integrate and leverage Facebook outside of Facebook.com like never before, andFacebook plans to do that again, by offering new capabilities for developers to create apps thatcan share all user activity
without
sending spam to their Facebook Friends.The changes to Open Graph include:
Apps will no longer need to ask permission to post to Facebook, once permission isgiven the first time. This
means users will be asked once and only once if they’re okay
with the app sharing certain types of stories. Previously, apps asked permission everytime they shared information to your profile, which may mean accidental sharesoccurring more often. Developers will need to be sure they make what their app will dostraightforward and transparent to avoid tarnishing any relationships with consumers.
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Updates will appear in the ticker (the new real-time feed on the right hand side of
Facebook), but only important events make it to the News Feed. You’ll see events like
weddings and new photo albums in the News Feed, but
FarmVille
and related activitieswill remain to the side.
All activities are now sharable through Open Graph, including listening to music orwatching a
movie. You used to only be able to ―Like‖ something, but now, using
what’s
called Facebook Gestures, you can [verb] anything
, like ―Cook,‖ ―Watch,‖ or ―Run
.
‖
What It Means
: Apps that encouragesharing are going to be a big deal.More and more Facebook activity willbe focused on apps, but marketersmust be careful that their apps arefocused on the user, not the brandbecause the goal is to encourageengagement. The more people use(engage) with an app, the more it willbe shared and the more users it willgain. When one friend has an app anduses it, their friends will be able to seethe activity, click and start using it forthemselves.Graph Rank, a system that is intendedto give the most engaging and relevantapps the most prominence, willdetermine the way in which an app isdistributed. Every app
’
s Graph Rankwill be different in each instance. Forexample, my mom may be more
interested in meals that I’m preparing, so my interactions with a recipe box app will be moreprominent in her News Feed. However, my interactions with a music app (we don’t have the
same taste) may be viewed more times by my friends th
an by my mom because she’s not as
interested in that activity.Essentially, there are three ways users will see app interactions:1.
The Ticker
will be a real-time feed of friend activity to the right of the Facebook homepage, but it receives little prominence. The chances app activities will make it to theTicker are fairly high.2.
The News Feed
will require a considerable amount of engagement to have a high
enough EdgeRank score (the algorithm that determines what content is and isn’t worthy
of displaying in the News Feed by evaluating likes, comments and the source of theactivity) to be displayed.3.
The Timeline
(the new profile view) will only include the most engaging activity in any
month or year of a person’s life, unless the user adds it manually.
This is a particularly important shift for Facebook because it’s t
rying to share activity across the
web, outside of Facebook. The data Facebook can get on what users ―watch,‖ ―run,‖ ―read,‖ or
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Facebook f8 2011 News & Recap from Empower MediaMarketing
An overview of the changes announced at Facebook's annual f8 Developer's Conference and the implications for marketers.
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