Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook Files for Patent on Inferential Ad Targeting
- Facebook Tries to Jumpstart Vietnam Despite Blockages
- Highlights This Week from the Inside Network Job Board: MetroGames, Playfish, Posit Science & More
- Facebook Expands Test of Spam Filter for Wall Posts to Pages
- The 25 Most Liked Pages on Facebook, Fall 2010
- Now Available: The Facebook Marketing Bible November 2010 Edition
- Phrases Returns, Badoo Arrives on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by DAU
| Facebook Files for Patent on Inferential Ad Targeting Posted: 27 Oct 2010 05:25 PM PDT Facebook has filed for an ad targeting patent that lets the company direct ads based on the tastes of a a user’s friends, on top of their own explicit interests. It seems to be linked to a “Friends of Connections” targeting feature that the company launched last November, allowing marketers to reach friends of fans of their Pages or application users. But it also covers other twists on the idea, including using a person’s browsing habits or actions on the social network to target ads. Although the patent document only appeared earlier this month, the company filed for it in April of last year. Facebook argued in the filing that self-reported interests often leave out people who might fit within a targeted group for an advertiser. The idea would be to help marketers reach potential customers who haven’t shared enough information about themselves to feed Facebook’s ad targeting algorithms. “An advertiser may miss out on members who have “incomplete” profiles–incomplete only in the sense that the profiles lack the information that the ad’s targeting criteria is testing. Thus, the advertiser’s reach is significantly reduced,” according to the patent application. Facebook could get around this in a number of ways. For example, if a Facebook user is friends with members of a tightly-knit group of people who all happen to be alumni of a specific university, the company might be able to infer that the person will respond to ads targeted at the school. It could also factor in the closeness of a user’s relationships with their friends. So if you have distant acquaintances that are all fans of Britney Spears, Facebook’s targeting algorithms might not rank your interest in the pop singer as highly. A user’s friends could also help Facebook understand who is deeply interested in a topic. For example, a surfboard company who wants to find serious surfers could target users who say they’re interested in surfing and have five friends who are also interested in surfing. The patent also covers other types of behavioral ad targeting. If a user tends to create many photo albums, a photo-sharing service might be able to reach out to them even if they do not mention they enjoy photography. Or if a user tends to click on video ads compared to plain text ones, Facebook could serve them more rich media advertisements. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facebook Tries to Jumpstart Vietnam Despite Blockages Posted: 27 Oct 2010 01:15 PM PDT
After years of leaving international markets to grow on their own organically, Facebook is trying to fill the missing pieces on the map. One of the biggest countries remaining is Vietnam, with a total population of more than 85 million people, which is larger than the United Kingdom’s 61 million people.
Because access to the social network has been spotty, the country has languished at around 1.4 million users, according to our Global Monitor data. It has grown 40.7 percent from a year ago. But that’s still much slower than nearby countries like Thailand, which has quadrupled, or Malaysia, which has nearly tripled its users in the same time period. Herdict, a project of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, says that Facebook is inaccessible 70 percent of the time. While the Vietnamese government hasn’t come out and publicly said it is actively blocking the social network, sources familiar with the matter say that it is a policy issue. Vietnam, in many ways, could be a fascinating testbed for Facebook’s eventual attempt at the Chinese market. “Our theory is if we can show that we as a Western company can succeed in a place where no other country has and figure out the right partnerships, we could learn how to succeed in China on our terms,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said at Startup School in Palo Alto earlier this month. A capitalist economy in all but name, Vietnam has had more than 20 years of market reforms and it normalized relations with the United States 15 years ago. It also has an extremely young population; more than 70 percent of the country was born after the Vietnam War, so the country has very receptive demographics for adoption of consumer Internet technologies. Yet, like China, Vietnam still has an authoritarian government that is wary of Western Internet communications platforms. The reality is that Facebook, even one year after we started reporting the access issues, doesn’t fully understand the nature and reasons for the intermittent blockages. In November of last year, technicians for the largest Internet service providers in the country told the Associated Press that they had been ordered to turn off access to the social network, while government officials declined to comment. (I lived in the country in 2006 and even then, Facebook would become inexplicably unreachable for hours at a time.) To jumpstart the market, Facebook is hiring a Policy & Growth Manager in Vietnam on a 12-month contract to reach out to government regulators and represent the company’s interests in the market. Presumably, this would include explaining the value of the social network and how it doesn’t threaten the ruling government’s interests. The person who assumes the role would probably have to be incredibly well-connected on a personal level in Hanoi, the political capital in the north, and in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s entrepreneurial and commercial hub in the south. Facebook also faces a host of local competitors from ZingMe, which was founded a little over a year ago and attracts 5.6 million unique visitors in the country, YuMe, which has 2.9 million uniques, to Go.vn, a government-created alternative that launched in May and now attracts 1.1 million uniques. All of the sites launched after the closure of Yahoo360, which opened up a vacuum for a competitor to take its place as the most popular social networking destination there. To counter Facebook’s upcoming assault, the country’s current leader, ZingMe, is aggressively trying to adopt the social network’s platform strategy and attract developers. But Facebook’s real hurdles may not be the local competitors. It may be in convincing local government officials that the social network and its power to propel information rapidly through groups of people, will not destabilize the ruling Communist party’s control of the country. And if Facebook can do that there, it can take its learnings to Vietnam’s 1 billion-plus neighbor north, China. To read more, and view data on Facebook’s growth and demographics in over 160 countries around the world, please see Inside Facebook Gold. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highlights This Week from the Inside Network Job Board: MetroGames, Playfish, Posit Science & More Posted: 27 Oct 2010 12:05 PM PDT Recently, we launched the Inside Network Job Board – dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities in the Facebook Platform and social gaming ecosystem. Here are this week's highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at MetroGames, Playfish, Posit Science, EA, and Storm8.
Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games through regular posts and widgets on the sites. That way, you can be sure that your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facebook Expands Test of Spam Filter for Wall Posts to Pages Posted: 27 Oct 2010 11:44 AM PDT Facebook continues to test a spam filter for posts to the walls of Pages. Appearing as a separate wall tab which is only visible to admins, the filter automatically removes posts to the Page’s wall which are likely to be spam. These include those that link to spammy websites and requests for users to Like, install, or send a friend request to a specific Page, app, or profile. The feature has been in testing since September, but has recently been rolled out to more Page admins.
A major problem for Pages is that in order to allow open discussion and increase engagement, admins have to allow those who Like the Page to post to its wall. However, this gives spammers the opportunity to damage the perception of a Page by filling it with malicious or profiteering links or objectionable content. This can cause users to Unlike the Page or stop engaging in conversation there. In a newly updated Help Center article about administering Pages, Facebook explains how it is combatting the problem:
Some Page admins now have a “Spam” tab on their Page’s wall, visible when an admin clicks “Options” in the top right corner of the wall. Along with the standard options to view only the Page’s post, only user posts, or both together, admins will be able to view a feed of all comments Facebook automatically filtered as spam. Admins can delete individual posts in the filter, or unmark them as spam, returning them to the user comments feed.
Not addressed in this new anti-spam feature are spam comments to a Page’s posts. Even the posts of Facebook’s own official Pages have their comment reels quickly filled with links to unrelated Pages which are trying to accumulate more Likes. For instance, a user posted a link to a spanish-language “I Hate Doing Homework On The Weekends” Page on Facebook’s Page’s latest post of a video which comforts victims of bullying. Some Pages select not to expand comments on stories in an attempt to obscure this spam, but there is no way to disable commenting on a Page’s posts or prevent comment spam without manually removing each spammy comment.
By creating better systems for fighting spam on Pages, Facebook can make them a safe place for brands. This encourages brands to make their Facebook Page a more prominent part of their web presence, leading to more brand advertising revenue for Facebook. [Thanks to Eti Suruzon and GoRumors.com for the tips] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 25 Most Liked Pages on Facebook, Fall 2010 Posted: 27 Oct 2010 11:00 AM PDT The 25 most Liked Pages on Facebook are mostly for musicians, movies, television shows, games, sports and big brands. It’s not surprising that entertainment comprises almost the entire list, because entertainment generates lots of positive attention by nature. What’s more surprising is that an older Facebook game, Zynga’s Texas Hold’Em Poker, has continued to lead the list — it also did the last time we wrote about the top 25, this past summer. Readers will note that many other familiar names also appear. Take a look below for more. Our PageData tool, which counts the number of Likes added to a Page each day, shows the 25 most popular Pages range from 12.1 million to 25.5 million fans. That’s up from our previous post, which showed a range of 4.68 million to 19.4 million. The growth is likely due to Facebook’s overall surges, its efforts to promote Pages, and the increasingly active efforts of marketers on Facebook. For marketers interested in how to grow their Pages and engage with fans, be sure to check out our Facebook Marketing Bible. And without further ado: The Top 25 Facebook Pages 1. Texas Hold'em Poker – 25,556,954
2. Facebook – 23,617,053 3. Michael Jackson - 22,424,494
5. Family Guy - 19,898,829
6. Eminem - 17,927,089
7. YouTube - 17,851,856
8. Vin Diesel - 17,476,665
9. The Twilight Saga - 16,351,385
10. Starbucks - 16,094,792
11. Megan Fox - 15,985,737
12. South Park - 15,805,546
13. House - 15,635,112
14. Linkin Park - 15,416,063
15. Coca-Cola – 15,239,135
16. Barack Obama - 15,188,088
17. Mafia Wars - 14,365,947
18. Lil Wayne - 14,286,610
19. Justin Bieber – 14,096,502
20. Cristiano Ronaldo – 13,717,437
21. Bob Marley – 13,119,885
22. Dr. House – 12,759,255
23. Taylor Swift - 12,540,359
24. Rihanna – 12,471,742
25. Oreo – 12,193,790
It’s interesting to note that many of the Pages from our post during the summer reappear on this list. Big brands appear to have cemented their lead through a combination of growing early, and consistent marketing. They include: Facebook, YouTube, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Oreo. Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Poker and Mafia Wars were the only two games on the list. President Barack Obama remains the only politician on the list. Musicians made up about a third of the list — nine Pages belonged to musicians or groups — and then there were TV and movies. “Family Guy,” “The Twilight Saga,” “South Park,” “House” and “Dr. House” were all popular and frequently appear on our Top 20 Pages posts, which show those with the most weekly gains. There are movie stars’ Pages making the list, notably Vin Diesel and Megan Fox, as well as super stars, like Portuguese football (soccer) star Cristiano Ronaldo. To learn more about growing your brand’s audience and engagement through Facebook Pages, check out the Facebook Marketing Bible, our comprehensive guide to marketing your brand on Facebook. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Now Available: The Facebook Marketing Bible November 2010 Edition Posted: 27 Oct 2010 09:12 AM PDT
The November 2010 edition of the Facebook Marketing Bible: The Comprehensive Guide to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook is now available! The Facebook Marketing Bible has enabled thousands of marketers, social application developers, publishers, and entrepreneurs to navigate and get the most out of the increasingly sophisticated marketing opportunities on Facebook. The web edition of the Facebook Marketing Bible is comprised of detailed resource pages, comprehensive how-to guides, and case studies analyzing today’s most successful marketing and advertising campaigns on Facebook.
Now that Facebook has crossed the 500 million active user mark, there’s never been a better time to reach your target audience through marketing on Facebook. The November 2010 edition includes updates on the following topics:
Learn more about the November 2010 edition of the Facebook Marketing Bible at FacebookMarketingBible.com. Table of Contents excerpted from the full November 2010 EditionBuilding Your Brand through Facebook Pages
Growing your Facebook Page Audience
Designing Your Facebook Page
Advanced Strategies for Facebook Pages
Tools and Analytics for Pages
Facebook Groups
Facebook Events
Facebook Questions and Places
Performance Advertising Fundamentals
Ads Targeting on Facebook
The Facebook Open Graph, and APIs for Web Publishers
Policies, Privacy, and Guidelines to Watch
The Facebook Marketing Bible is available at FacebookMarketingBible.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Phrases Returns, Badoo Arrives on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by DAU Posted: 27 Oct 2010 08:00 AM PDT
Here’s the full list:
Windows Live Messenger has been going gangbusters recently, adding around 15 percent a week to its previous DAU count. As we’ve pointed out before, Messenger’s growth is really a story of Facebook’s international reach, with existing Messenger users choosing to integrate the two services in ever-greater numbers. Formspring, a question-and-answer app mainly used by teenagers is doing quite well, as it has on the web. Below it, The Autism Spectrum Quotient Test appears to be a version of a real psychological profiling test, unlike most of the fluffy quizzes usually seen on Facebook. Ravenwood Fair is the hot new game on Facebook, featuring cute animals in a scary forest; it has grown massively over the past week. Developer LOLapps recently became famous for the wrong reasons when Facebook briefly suspended all of its apps (more publicly than with Phrases) but it’s recovering well now. Finally, Meet new people at Badoo, flirt, chat, date! is worth some notice, if only because it’s yet another Hot or Not-style dating app finding huge success on Facebook — just a few places below Are YOU Interested?, which has had its own success with the same model. The two look a bit different, but are functionally similar enough that they’ll have to fight over users.
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