Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook Looks to Hire Global Head of Agency Relations
- Informal Survey: “The Social Network” Polarized User View of Zuckerberg but Not Facebook
- Facebook Testing Places Check-In Incentive Deals and Rewards
- Facebook Users in Brazil and India Can Syndicate Their Profiles to Orkut
- Walmart Opts-In to Group Deals Market Via Facebook Page
- Facebook Announces Friendship Pages That Show Friends’ Mutual Content
- More Details on Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 – January 25th in San Francisco
- Disney Collects 69 Million Facebook Fans, and Counting
| Facebook Looks to Hire Global Head of Agency Relations Posted: 28 Oct 2010 08:09 PM PDT
The hire comes at a time when the company has seen its brand clients — and their spending — increase rapidly. The first brands to buy advertising and use Pages on Facebook have upped their spending this past year, we’ve heard from industry sources, while inspiring their peers to start experimenting. The position will work with sales, operations, product and marketing teams across regions and countries, and will be required to build partnerships and drive relationships, according to the post. This person will be negotiating "complex agency contracts," develop programs to "improve agency experience," work with advertising and ultimately represent Facebook at industry events. Required experience is 15-plus years of marketing, strategy, online advertising — so it looks like they're looking for a seasoned veteran — and also someone who understands the media and its business models. Lots of travel will also be required. Check out the Inside Network Job Board for more jobs in the tech industry. | |
| Informal Survey: “The Social Network” Polarized User View of Zuckerberg but Not Facebook Posted: 28 Oct 2010 08:00 PM PDT The Social Network, the new movie about the founding of Facebook, has gained enough positive reviews that it’s being cited as an Oscar contender. It’s a financial success, too, having already reached the $100 million revenue projections that its creators were aiming for. So did the movie have any effect on users’ perception of Facebook? Prior to the release of The Social Network, Facebook seemed to think it would, with executives battling the movie’s creators to tone down the final product, while decrying its fictionalized take Facebook’s founding. But the company appeared increasingly relaxed as the October 1st release date neared, and it ended up taking the entire headquarters workforce to go see it. We ran an informal user survey this past month to gauge just what the effect has been. Note that the survey only ran once — it wasn’t a before-and-after poll — and the sample size was limited to a few dozen respondents who had already seen the movie. We asked a simple set of three questions to start: Before seeing The Social Network, how did you feel about using Facebook.com, Facebook the company, and Mark Zuckerberg? Respondents were able to answer on a scale ranging from “strongly dislike” to “strongly like”. To find out whether the movie had caused any of our respondents to change their mindset, we asked the same three questions again: After seeing the Social Network, how did you feel? We won’t keep you in suspense: The Social Network budged the opinion of only a tiny minority of respondents about Facebook, the company, or facebook.com, the site they use every day.
One interesting snippet did show up in the answers about Mark Zuckerberg, though. As the founder and chief executive of the company, he was featured as the main character in The Social Network, with a driving personality that makes him part hero, part villain. Those with neutral feelings before viewing didn’t change their perceptions afterwards. However, the film had a polarizing effect on most others. Results showed a significant bump in the number of users who previously liked or were unsure of their attitudes toward Zuckerberg moving either to “strongly like” or “dislike” the CEO after having seen the movie. The numbers dropped significantly among those who had previously liked him or didn’t know, and fell slightly among those who had previously strongly disliked him. We didn’t target the survey by age, but that factor could be at play. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that younger users — especially entrepreneurial ones — were more drawn to the movie’s portrayal of Zuckerberg’s vision and singular drive, even as older people recoiled at its representation of his sometimes-ruthless actions. "When you talk to people afterward, it was as if they were seeing two different films," co-producer Scott Rudin told The New York Times. "The older audiences see Zuckerberg as a tragic figure who comes out of the film with less of himself than when he went in, while young people see him as completely enhanced, a rock star, who did what he needed to do to protect the thing that he had created." Public opinion of Zuckerberg does matter, beyond any perception of the company. The youthful CEO has become one most powerful figures in the tech world, much as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others did. Whether he’s seen as a positive or negative force could affect Facebook’s latitude in both the legal and public realms. | |
| Facebook Testing Places Check-In Incentive Deals and Rewards Posted: 28 Oct 2010 07:47 PM PDT Facebook is testing a new Places check-in rewards system called Deals which allows companies to incentivize check-ins to a Place. The system was discovered when AllFacebook received a copy of an email confirming approval of a social check-in Deals promotion from Facebook to one of the limited partners with access. The email reveals that users can receive rewards by tagging friends in a check-in to a Place then showing a Deals confirmation page to an employee. The Deal can be shared with those connected to that Place’s Page, and companies can monitor use of the Deal through an admin interface.
Places was launched in August 2010 as a simple location service without any of the badges, itineraries, or incentives present in some existing third-party location services. Instead, the service was socially focused, allowing users to check their friends in with them. Now that social feature is being used to power an incentive system. Facebook also tested the ability for companies to post product information along with a user’s location to their feed before Places launched. With each additional friend checked into a Place, the check-in story, and the company who owns the Place, receives more exposure by being posted to an additional stream. There is also an increase in prominence of the story in the feeds of those who are friends with multiple users who were checked-in. This exposure in the news feed may be worth offering a reward to incentivize. In the Deal confirmed in the email, the business will offer a “Free [censored] with [censored] Purchase when you tag 3 of your friends”. It appears that a free physical product is being offered as a reward. It appears that companies will be able to set start and end dates for the Deal, select if and how many additional friends need to be tagged to earn the reward, and set a number of times each user can earn that reward. Once the Deal has been activated, admins can view how many times the Deal has been redeemed. Facebook notes that “Over time, this information will help you refine your deal offers.” Best practices, tips, and information to help companies maximize the effectiveness of their Deals will be available at facebook.com/deals, That URL is currently inactive, though Deals partners may be able to access it. There could be significant potential for abuse of the Deals system. Users could create multiple fake accounts and check them in, limiting the exposure of the check-in. Users could also check-in friends who aren’t present, as check-ins don’t require a confirmation from those tagged once they authorize friend check-ins upon first using Places. If rewards can be redeemed immediately, users could collect their reward before a friend sees and delete’s their tag in the check-in. Facebook will need to provide safeguards against these types of abuse if it wants companies to participate and offer compelling, valuable rewards. Deals could be a new revenue stream for Facebook, depending on how companies are charged for running promotions and whether it can prevent abuse. The rewards system could also create the need for companies which help businesses manage their Deals. As more details become available, we’ll provide news, walk-throughs, and reactions from the ecosystem. | |
| Facebook Users in Brazil and India Can Syndicate Their Profiles to Orkut Posted: 28 Oct 2010 01:37 PM PDT Facebook users in Brazil and India can now connect their profiles with their account on Orkut, Google's existing social network. Those who link their profiles can choose to syndicate status updates, photos, Events and more to Orkut upon posting the content to Facebook. The Profile Link product allows users to spend their time on Facebook while still sharing with Orkut friends, which could result in shift in engagement away from Orkut
Orkut initially gained some traction in the US, but now almost all its users are from Brazil or India. The high penetration in these countries has slowed Facebook's growth there, but in August 2010, Facebook surpassed Orkut's user count in India. The two countries represent massive growth potential for Facebook, as the service has only registered 13.6 million monthly active users, or 1.1% of the 1,142,070,000 people living in India, and only 5.86 million or 3.1% of the 188 million living in Brazil, according to The Facebook Global Monitor, part of our Inside Facebook Gold membership service tracking Facebook’s business and growth around the world. When users click the "Link you Profile with Orkut" button on the product page, they are brought to a Google data authorization page. Users are informed that Google is not affiliated with Facebook, and are given options to grant or deny access. If a user is not located in Brazil or India, granting access loops them back to the profile link product page.
Once they've given Google account access permission, users can use checkboxes to select to syndicate status updates, links, photos, Notes, Event creations, and Group creations to Orkut. Facebook will also help users locate their Orkut friends on Facebook, reducing the need for syndication, or using Orkut at all.
Some believe the product is a direct attempt to steal users from Google's social network. However, Orkut offers some unique features such as profile themes and file transfers, so Facebook could also be trying to make it easier to use both simultaneously. Either way, it seems that Google is more focused on readying its upcoming social product, which is aimed at users in the US and everywhere else in the world, not just Orkut’s home countries. | |
| Walmart Opts-In to Group Deals Market Via Facebook Page Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:56 AM PDT Walmart looks to be getting into the group deals game. We've written previously about companies like Groupon and LivingSocial that work with businesses in different geographic areas to create special offers for potential customers. These offers spread via social networks in order to gather a critical mass of people to make the deal happen; customers win because they save money, businesses win because they have guaranteed business and Groupon and LivingSocial win because they get a cut of the action. And Groupon, in particular, has surged with the help of Facebook, with revenues reportedly set to hit $600 million in 2010.
Walmart is doing it differently. It already has a critical mass of people, many customers and they have all the merchandise so they are essentially wrapping up the entire business model on one Facebook tab. The CrowdSaver tab on the Walmart Facebook Page is a place where the company's 1.9 million fans have a chance to take advantage of Walmart's latest deal. Essentially, Walmart posts a deal but instead of crowdsourcing people to opt-in to the deal, fans have to get their Facebook friends to Like the deal. Walmart provides a Share function to this end.
A recent example is a 42" plasma TV with wall mount that Walmart was offering for $398 at a discount of 18% as long as 5,000 people Liked the deal. The deal made today and a message appears asking people to return later in the week to make the purchase; following the link takes you to the Walmart web site. There's no Facebook integration on Walmart's web site, so presumably the offer will be available for purchase directly on Facebook or the company web site will change to reflect the Facebook discount later this week. On the Facebook Page, Walmart says the CrowdSaver price is available only if the number of Likes are met and then the item will be available for purchase at that price on Walmart's web site until the item runs out.
Walmart is not only offering electronic deals, but also deals for home items and toys. It will be interesting to see how Walmart's 1.9 million fans react to CrowdSaver because it's really only partially rewarding them for being fans on Facebook. Even though Facebook fans are the ones who push the discount into reality, anyone who beats them to the deal on the Walmart web site can reap the rewards of their loyalty, too — and elbow them out of the deal completely if supplies run out. For more information about group buying check out our premium service, Inside Facebook Gold. | |
| Facebook Announces Friendship Pages That Show Friends’ Mutual Content Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:19 AM PDT Facebook today announced a new product called Friendship Pages which show users all the content and connections shared by two people who are friends, including photos they’re both tagged in, wall posts and comments between them, Events they both RSVP’d to, and their mutual friends and Likes. While not fully rolled out yet, users will be able to visit Friendship Pages by clicking links on wall posts, relationship feed stories, and under profile pictures, as long as they are friends with one of the people and have permission to view the other’s profile. By aggregating mutual content, Friendship Pages give users a in-depth look at relationships.
Developed during a recent Facebook Hackathon, Friendship Pages make it easy to see how two people have interacted on Facebook. Use cases include viewing the mutual content of you and your best friend, two siblings, or your ex-girlfriend and their new significant other. Other ways Facebook has recently developed to illustrate the connections between friends include showing the Likes you have in common with a friend on their profile, a ranking of the friends you have the most similar interests to on the Page Browser discovery tool, and aggregated link and Places check-in stories.
Friendship Pages will take a lot of the work out of Facebook browsing. Currently, if you wanted to determine the connection between two other people, you would have to sift through all their tagged photos looking for ones with both people, view their wall-to-wall page, and manually compare their friends and Likes. There was no feasible way to see their shared Event RSVPs or comments. The friends of friends privacy setting now has greater significance, as a user only needs to be friends with one person and have access to the profile of the other to see their Friendship Page. While fun and useful for learning about how you and a friend or two of your friends are connected, the product could also be used to investigate the connection between one of your friends and someone you don’t know. It could become a powerful tool for jealous users to monitor their significant others, or a masochistic way to watch how a former significant other is interacting with their new partner. Similar relationship issues led Facebook to change how the Photo Memories module chose who to display. Facebook’s high engagement and user retention statistics are tied to the human desire to forge and maintain connections with others. To date, though, Facebook has been better at showing users snippets of their connections with many different people. By allowing users to focus on a single connection, Facebook will help many realize just how integral the service has been to the formation of deep and long-lasting friendships. | |
| More Details on Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 – January 25th in San Francisco Posted: 28 Oct 2010 09:00 AM PDT
What do industry leaders view as today’s most formidable challenges affecting social apps and games? How are top developers of all sizes overcoming obstacles to growth, and what can the industry expect in 2011? Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 is our second conference on the future of monetization on social platforms. On January 25th, 2011, leaders from social apps and games industry will share their insights on the key uncertainties, and new opportunities, facing social games and applications in 2011. If you’re considering attending Inside Social Apps 2011, take advantage of early registration pricing and sign up now. Space will be limited, and last year’s conference sold out well before the event. A limited set of tickets are available at the Early Announcement price of $179. This price will be good through tomorrow Friday October 29th only, so we encourage you to register now. Who’s Speaking? We're honored to present the following 15 confirmed speakers at Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011:
A full agenda will be announced shortly. Keep an eye on InsideSocialApps.com for more information.
Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 – January 25th in San Francisco Social applications first emerged in 2007, and are today maturing into a global media ecosystem. With the launch of the Facebook Platform, followed by platforms from MySpace and other social networks, developers worldwide could leverage the social graph to create new kinds of social experiences never before possible. Now, three and a half years later, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry, punctuated by numerous major acquisitions by the world’s leading media companies and developers. But now, new challenges are emerging, affecting big players and new entrants alike. Inside Social Apps will investigate the latest trends and challenges for social applications, and look at what’s to come for developers throughout the space – including the growth of virtual goods and social applications on mobile devices. What are the biggest uncertainties and opportunities facing the future of social games and applications in 2011, and who is leading the way? Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 takes place January 25th, 2011 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, and brings together the world's leading entrepreneurs to weigh in on the future of social app and game monetization. Inside Social Apps will be a one-day summit led by Inside Network’s Eric Eldon and Justin Smith, and will take in-depth investigative approach to the day’s discussions. At Inside Social Apps, Inside Network will work alongside founders and executives of the top social networking, social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies to analyze the most important issues affecting the industry. Inside Social Apps is geared towards developers on Facebook, iPhone, Android, and emerging online social platforms. Inside Social Apps will be a content-rich day of critical discussion, followed by an evening and nighttime of casual networking. Register Now
A limited set of "early announcement" tickets is currently available at a special announcement price of $179, good through Friday October 29th. Space will be limited, so register today. From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on January 25th in San Francisco! | |
| Disney Collects 69 Million Facebook Fans, and Counting Posted: 28 Oct 2010 08:14 AM PDT Disney has an interesting and interactive way of tracking its fan across brands on Facebook. The company has set up a leaderboard of all of its other Pages as its landing Page on the main Disney site showing that, across all its movie and character Pages, the company boasts just over 69 million Facebook Likes. We first noticed the leaderboard in our Top 20 Pages post earlier this week when Disney's Page took tenth place after 534,800 new Likes. The Page greets a visitor with the leaderboard prominently displaying the total, currently about 69.1 million Likes, plus well as the company's top 5 Facebook Pages.
These Pages include the main Disney Page with 8.7 million Likes, followed by "Toy Story" with 7.2 million, then Disney Pixar with 4.6 million, the fish character Dory from "Finding Nemo" with 4.1 million and then Disneyland with 4 million Likes. You can then click to see all the Pages, which are many, and include other Pages like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Timon and Pumba from "The Lion King." Disney maintains over one hundred Pages on Facebook that belong to characters from Disney movies or movies themselves, going back to some of Disney's first animated features, like "Snow White." Other than that, the Page does share some Disney-related news and posts about old and upcoming projects on the Wall. We wrote recently about Disney's acquisition of Playdom on Inside Social Games, noting that the company has a long-term Facebook strategy in mind with the July purchase — tightly integrating Disney content into social games. |
Facebook 
Upon visiting a Friendship Page, users will see the two people’s names, and their networks, such as employer or college. The left sidebar includes a photo both people are tagged in as a profile picture, navigation links to different content categories including mutual likes, and a list of all of their mutual friends. The center of the Friendship Page contains the wall posts between the people, the Events they both attended, and posts in which both users commented. Above the ads and modules in the right sidebar is a new “Browse Friendships” module which prompts users to enter their name or a friends name in one input field, another friend’s name in the second input field, and click a button to “See Friendship”. It’s currently unclear where mutual photos will be shown.
| You are subscribed to email updates from Inside Facebook To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |