Facebook life, but how to live it. Like it or not, Facebook is important for activating the market. The main reason is that everyone is using Facebook for socializing online. Telling their stories, meeting friends and getting new friends. Read more about what drives people on Facebook here. What I like, pun intended, about the new changes is the new opportunities for brands. Brand pages was in my opinion not doing the job of activating people, even with a great strategy on how to use it. It was mainly for the core brand fans. Now Facebook with their open graph, new ads that shows recommendations and comments from friends, a new set of metrics - and which is not confirmed - probably a new timelinish brand page. So what´s the changes all about and what opportunities do they provide?
LIVE TICKER: A real-time stream of information. Seems to me that most users want to remove it. I think it has potential. The question is if its too small and hard to browse. The top stories/highlights bugs me, I prefer Recent Stories. For now I use mostly this feature although it does not show everything that my friends are doing.
> This is a stream you as a brand would like to become part of. This is what is happening right now in a users network.
FACEBOOK GESTURE: Allows you to (any verb) a (any noun). Not only LIKE. This will have a big impact on the brand-user relationship. Spotify and Washington Posts Social Reader are the best examples using this feature as of now. Although I don´t like that everyone can see on my Timeline that “Joakim read Adele cancels US dates due to vocal hemmorhage on Washington Post Social Reader.”;
> This still is a big one for brands. People only LIKE once, but they read, listen, rides, eats all the time etc. The opportunities are endless, start creating.
Example: When you are drinking a Coke you are a consumer – you are just trying it out, to see how it works, like going out once with a woman/man When you like a Coke you are a customer – you now like it, so that’s a deeper relationship, now you are „dating“ the brand. When you put drinking coke in your timeline you are like a CLIENT, equivalent to the real world.
SUBSCRIBE TO PEOPLES FEED:You need to opt-in to allow subscritions to your profile. When you unfriend someone, they stay subscribed to your public updates.Finally, when composing updates you want your subscribers to see, be sure to set the privacy to “public”. They won’t see it otherwise.Only adults (age eighteen and older) can post public updates, so minors aren’t able to have subscribers. However, minors are able to get public updates from adults who have allowed subscribers.
Before the Subscribe button launch, it was either all or nothing when it came to blocking a person’s updates from your News Feed. Now you can control what types of updates you see from a person and how often. That means you can skip the virtual sheep without missing out on engagement notifications and puppy albums. > The News Feed algorithm weights updates from friends as well as private posts more heavily than public ones.
PROFILE CAN ALSO BECOME A PAGE: Be aware that when you convert your profile to a Page, your profile pictures will be transferred, and all of your friends will be automatically added as people who like your Page. No other content will be carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning your migration.
Migrating is irreversible at this time, so you may want to download your profile information - including photos, wall posts, messages and friend list - before making the switch. > You can start to create a more personal Facebook profile page. If you´re a public figure – this is a nice opportunity.
TIMELINE:Coverphoto - For brand pages this will be a big improvement. New map – where you have been (FB places). Coolio. Fill in birth, add life events, such as getting married tgrough the publisher bar – and other announcements. Use the + icon to add this.
Change settings – add badges, apps.
People can browse your whole life... This can be the consequence:
1. Everyone, not only the youth, will now use FB only to stage their public life = Tremendous opportunities for brands.
2. People will talk/chat elsewhere = Opportunities for brands. Read more here > Become a part of the users identity by building apps enabeling people to show what they do, stuff of social value, to their visitors on their profile. See more under OPEN GRAPH.
LISTS: Facebook is introducing easier access to Friend Lists all throughout Facebook. They are now integrated into News Feed, making it possible to check what your close friends or your work buddies are posting. They are now more prominent in the Facebook Publisher, making it easier to share a status update with just a small group of friends. And finally, you can add friends to Friend Lists right from a friend’s profile page.
> From blocking specific groups of people to share to specific groups.
OPEN GRAPH: The new apps and APIs enable us to define any of the socially interesting activities that people can do within our web site, mobile application or Facebook application. These are the activities that people use to express who they are, what they enjoy doing and what interests them. Mountain bikers want to record trails. Kitchen ninjas want to share recipes and the meals they cook. Fashionistas want to share the latest looks that they’ve spotted out on the streets
Apps will now get their own PageRank (called, GraphRank) that will determine the prominence of their output on timelines. Only the popular apps will get the prominence to acquire new users through friend discovery. This changes the dynamic from flash-in-the-pan campaign applications to apps with more longevity that really help people to express themselves via their timeline. Companies need to think more than ever about the user experience and services that the user gets from the application itself and the social actions and objects that it creates and presents within Facebook. Open Graph is perfect for the next generation of Facebook apps. Apps, and especially how they work with the new Timeline, mean that there is significant value for Brands to develop ways to connect people through actions that they do. For Brands using Facebook creatively, they may now finally realize that apps are more useful than Pages. > It is less about developing the definitive destination page for your brand or for a topic, now it is more about facilitating activities, conversations and events through an app. Welcome.
FACEBOOK INSIGHTS: New metrics, which are designed for administrators of brand and media Pages.
People Talking About - will measure user-initiated activity related to a Page, including posting to a Page’s Wall, “liking,” commenting, sharing a Page post or content on the Page, answering a Question posed to fans, mentioning a Page, “liking” or sharing a deal or checking in at your Place.
Likes – same as before.
Friends of Fans - is the actual number of friends your fans have.
Weekly Total Reach - is designed to be an accurate assessment of how many total people have posted something about your Page, how many news organizations (within Facebook) have referenced it and how much viral distribution elements of your Page has gotten. Facebook will list your last 500 posts (the company began tracking them in July) and will show you:
Reach - number of audience.
Engaged users - count the total number of engaged users (i.e clicking on a link).
People Talking About This – number of users who activly like, comment or shares, events, FB places.
Virality - measures the percentage of users who commented on the post. > Helps brands to identify and understand what type of content that resonates.
CONCLUSION: Brands have more incentives and opportunities to become part of the stories from and between people. See why and how here
Sources, and a whole lot of stealing from the following:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/socialreader
http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/263-what-facebook-timeline-means-for-brand-user-relationships/
http://blog.lujure.com/2011/08/19/new-facebook-ticker-news-feed-change/
http://www.mashable.com
http://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights