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Inside Facebook

Facebook for iPhone 3.3.1 Includes Groups, Deals, Photo Check-Ins

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 04:52 PM PDT

Version 3.3.1 of Facebook for iPhone brings Groups, Deals, and enhanced Places functionality to the most popular Facebook mobile app. Released today, the app allows users to post to Groups and read Group feeds, add photos and tag additional friends to an existing check-in, and discover rewards Deals offered at local Places.

Facebook last made a major update to its iPhone app when it launched Places, and fixed a few bugs with a release in September. When Groups was launched last month, the only mobile way to access the feature was through m.facebook.com, which has now changed. Details about the new Deals feature leaked a few days ago, but today Facebook walked members of the press through how it businesses can use it to incentivize check-ins.

Groups

Users will immediately see evidence of the update upon launching Facebook for iPhone Version 3.3.1. The Requests icon has been removed from the home screen, with friend requests now appearing in a tab within the Friends icon. Requests is replaced with a Groups icon. When tapped, users will see a list of all the Groups they’re a member of, with counts denoting unseen posts next to each Group’s name. Users can tap through to a Group to read its feed, post updates or upload photos, or see a list of Group members. There is no access to Group admin controls, Group Chat, or Docs.

Enhanced Check-In Capabilities

The Places icon on the home screen now shows red notification counts denoting nearby check-ins by friends. Upon tapping through, users will see a check-ins feed with unseen nearby check-ins highlighted in yellow. Once a user has checked in to a Place, they can return to that Places page to tag additional friends who arrive after the check-in was made, or upload photos with captions to show what they’re doing at the Place. A user can no longer add photos or additional tags from the app once they’ve checked in elsewhere. Friends a user frequently checks in with will appear in a starred category at the top of their friend list for quick tagging.

Deals and the New Composer Design

When users visit their news feed, they’ll notice a new design of the composer for publishing content. Instead of a camera icon, “What’s on your mind?” status publisher, and Places icon, they’ll see three uniform buttons for “Photo”, “Status”, and “Check In”.

Upon tapping the Check In button within the news feed or Places, users see a list of nearby Places. These Places will now show yellow coupon icon if they are running a Deal (our coverage here). Users can tap through to the Places page where they can see details about how to claim the Deal, for instance by checking in, or checking in and tagging three friends. Once a user completes the Deal’s instructions, they’ll be shown a confirmation screen which includes the reward, an expiration date, and how many people have also claimed the Deal. This can be shown to an employee of the Place to redeem the reward.

Upon checking in to a Place with an active Deal, or claiming a Deal, the Places check-in story published to that user’s stream will include information about the Deal, according to Facebook’s Director of Local Emily White. Doing so could entice the user’s friends to visit.

Conclusion

The new version of Facebook for iPhone is fast, easy-to-use, and offers both unique mobile functionality and new replications of web interface features. Instead of answering user demands for minor features like the ability to add photos to albums, or remove friends, Facebook is giving users new ways to take advantage of the iPhone’s GPS and camera. While Facebook for Android also received an update today, Facebook apps for Palm, Blackberry, Windows, and others which still don’t have Places functionality will now look even more antiquated.

Highlights This Week from the Inside Network Job Board: A Bit Lucky, Glu Mobile, PlaySpan, EA & More

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 01:53 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 A Bit Lucky, Glu Mobile, PlaySpan, EA, Playfish, Sneaky Games, OMGPOP, MetroGames, and Playdom.

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 Launches Local Deal Service for Places

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:53 AM PDT

In a move that could bring millions of local and small business advertisers to the social network, Facebook launched a deal service for Places today. The service lets merchants push deals to their existing customers and attract new ones, according to Tim Kendall, Facebook’s director of monetization.

When users open up Facebook Places, they will see a listing of nearby venues, some which will have special icons indicating deals. They can pull up the deal, and with two clicks, they can claim it. When they go to the store or restaurant later, they can show the staff their Facebook app to redeem the deal.

The most interesting part of the product is that Facebook isn’t taking a cut of revenue for these discounts, posing a challenge to smaller competitors that use deal revenue as part of their business model. On a business’ Places page, they can set up an offer. There are four kinds:

  • Individual deals, which reward a customer if they check-in once.
  • Loyalty deals, which reward customers for a certain number of purchases or check-ins.
  • Friend deals, which reward customers if they bring in extra friends.
  • Charity deals, which allow businesses to donate to charity for every check-in they attract.

Facebook attracted more than 20 initial partners to launches the deal service. Gap is one of the first; the clothing company is giving away pairs of blue jeans to the first 10,000 customers who check-in.

Another partner is North Face, which will give $1 to support National Parks for every customer who checks-in. The Palms Hotel will be giving away a free third hotel night for people who stay two nights. The Golden State Warriors basketball team will let fans who check-in during November go to an exclusive event after the game with a player.

Facebook is opening up deals to 20,000 businesses initially and then will make it available to everyone over the next few months. The new deals service puts Facebook in even further competition with predecessors like Foursquare and Gowalla, which have offered similar coupons for months.

It also makes Facebook a potential rival to another big social deals company, Groupon, which is backed by the same venture investor Accel. Groupon offers a select number of deals a day in specific cities and it is reportedly working on a self-serve model, which will let store owners create their own deals.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg said Places deals are free now, which could undercut Groupon. But he said the company could consider making money from it in the future if it’s in the interest of the user community.

Facebook Updates Mobile Platform with Location APIs, Single Sign-On, and Deals

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:48 AM PDT

Facebook is launching a new set of features on its mobile platform, which will allow application developers access to information such as a user’s location, apps to use Single Sign-on, and Places to run Deals promotions. Mobile will now have Single Sign-on, so you can log in once and click a button to instantly log in later, which should reduce login friction. The Places Write API has been whitelist only, but today the write API is being opened up to all developers.

Facebook is seeking to allow developers to build in a social environment no matter what phone they’re building on, whether that’s RIM, Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, or the mobile web. The company recently reached the milestone of 200 million people actively using Facebook mobile products across all platforms.

Single Sign-On

The first major development is Single Sign-on. “No one enjoys logging in”, says Erick Tseng, Facebook’s Head of Mobile Products. “Retrieving a lost password has also been very difficult on a phone.”  Single Sign-on removes the need to ever type in a username or password again.

Apps which integrate with Facebook on iPhone and Android will query the Facebook for iPhone or Facebook for Android app to check to make sure a user is signed in. If they are, users simply need to click “login” in the app to access it. If they are logged out of Facebook via their phone’s native app, they’ll be prompted to log in to Facebook, but won’t be making an app-specific Facebook login. Once logged in, users will see the permissions screen if they haven’t previously allowed the app access to their different data categories, and then begin their app experience.

“Most users don’t log out of Facebook on their iPhone or Android. Single Sign-on saves you time doing the things you have to do, so you can spend more time doing things you want to do.”

Single Sign-on uses the exact same permissions system that a half million apps use on Facebook today.

Groupon

A big barrier to trying a Groupon is not wanting to sign-in or sign-up. Now users can quickly sign-in through Facebook and instantly buy a Groupon.

Zynga

Zynga Poker will debut on the Android platform. Every day the app has 6 million users. To log in, users simply need to click “Tap to login through Facebook”, allow the permissions, and they’re logged in. “Zynga wants to be anywhere and everywhere” says their GM of Mobile Product.

Other Launch Partners

Loopt, Scvngr, Yelp, Flixster, and Booyah! are also launch partners for the updated mobile platform.

Location APIs

“Stuff fundamentally changes when we add new data to the graph, it allows developers to do things they couldn’t do before. Mobile doesn’t have to just be a shadow of the desktop. Location isn’t just a node in the graph, but information that could be part of all content.”

Facebook is opening up the Read API, the Write API, and the Search API , allowing developers to:

  • Read where your friends are
  • Write and publish check-ins
  • Search for relevant Places

Previously, if a user checked in through Yelp, it could use stream.publish to send the check-in to the news feed.  ”But its not something that will pop out at you if you’re looking for location stories” says Facebook’s Dave Fetterman.

Now users will be able to see check-ins from all services on the Places check-ins feed. Clicking one of these check-ins will open the Places page on the service that published the check-in, such as a Yelp venue page.

“If you don’t have a Places data set, the Search API will come to the rescue.” It will show developers the Places around a user, ranked by their relevance to the user. This allows developers of all sizes to create mobile social local applications.”

Loopt

Users can use Single Sign-on to instantly create an account on the Loopt app. When users check-in on Loopt, it checks them in on Facebook as well. “Rather than looking at reviews, people want to see where their friends are”, says Sam Altman, CEO of Loopt.

Deals

What’s been missing is the ability for the Places I check in to communicate back to me. These businesses will now be able to push Deals out to those who’ve connected to them. Users will be able to see what local Places are offering Deals, like a free beer.

To use the local Deals which are available, users click on the Deal, see what it is, check in, claim the deal, and show the confirmation screen to the clerk to get their reward. Businesses can reward loyalty with Deals. Users get a digital card which shows punch marks as they approach a reward, such as a free sandwich after buying ten.

Deals are available for multiple people, meaning you can look for Deals which reward you for tagging three friends at the Place.

Businesses can let users check in to their Places and opt to donate money to a specific charity.

The first 10,000 users to come to a Gap store will get a free pair of jeans, the Alamo Drafthouse Theater will be giving away Facebook pint glasses, and The North Face will donate $1 to charity for each check-in to a North Face store or a national park.  Those staying at the Palms hotel will get their third night free. The Golden State Warriors basketball team is giving away access to a VIP event to those who check-in at the game, showing that rewards can be experiences as well as products.

The Deals platform will be self-serve, and will launch with 22 partners. Admins of 20,000 more small businesses will now see a prompt on their Facebook Page explaining that they have been admitted to the deals beta. Both of these sets of companies will be offered stickers and signage to promote Deals, as well as thoughts and guidance on how to train the employees to redeem Deals.

It will be up to vendors whether they want to strictly enforce Deals, such as requiring the friends a user tags for a “tag three friends for a free appetizer” Deal to be physically present when the Deal is redeemed. The Deal confirmation screen will also show a unique user and check-in ID, which vendors can keep track of to allow for Deals which require multiple check-ins or purchases over time. Users can only check-in for rewards once a day.

If users have trouble redeeming a Deal, they’ll be able to click a “Report Problem” link problem link, notifying Facebook so it can get in touch with the business and sort out the problem.

These measures should keep Deals from being easily defrauded, or causing ill will. Eventually, Deal will open up to all businesses worldwide.

Conclusion

“You can rethink any product area to be social, have it be more engaging, have it grow virally, and remake whole industries” says Zuckerberg.

Q&A

What about privacy and security around sharing location?

Tseng: “No different than the original Places launch. There’s a privacy console, allowing users to turn off location participation.”

Zuckerberg: “Single Sign-On only allows access to public information. Apps will still have to ask permission for access to location information.”

The iPad has been out for a while, when will there be a Facebook for iPad app?

Zuckerberg: “The iPad is not a mobile device, next question.”

How do you see mobile use patterns changing?

Tseng: “Sign on is one of the biggest problems for mobile developers today”

Zuckerberg: “We see this as similar to what YouTube did for video. After making video sharing easy, it took off. We think this will happen in mobile environments (thanks to Single Sign-on).  What we think is going to happen now is that developers will integrate it, conversions will go up, more users will be using the apps in a social way.”

How does Facebook make money off of Deals?

Zuckerberg: “We don’t get paid off of the Deals. For us, it’s the ability to offer a great product to people who use it. Businesses could advertise their Deals in the same way they could advertise other things for years.”

When will the Android app and Deals launch?

Tseng: The Android app should be available now. Deals will launch in the US first, and later be rolled out worldwide.

How will Single Sign-On work with mobile browsers?

Tseng: We’re working on Single Sign-On for mobile browsers, its something on the roadmap which we’re really excited about.

Zuckerberg Gives a Definitive No on a Facebook Phone

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:46 AM PDT

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg shot down rumors that Facebook is building a phone at the company headquarters today.

He said, “No,” and stressed that the company’s goal is to make it possible for all apps to be social regardless of the device or operating system. He added that the company strategy is a “horizontal approach” that is agnostic between platforms.

Zuckerberg said this as he launched new versions of Facebook’s iPhone and Android applications.

However, less clear is how the company may be building on top of existing operating systems, like Android, to create deeper integrations. There could be phones in the future that integrate Facebook so deeply that the interface revolves around Facebook — what some might feel has the equivalent experience to a “Facebook phone.”

Facebook Announces New Versions of the Facebook for iPhone and Android Mobile Apps

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:43 AM PDT

Facebook has announced new versions of the Facebook for iPhone and Facebook for Android mobile applications.  The new iPhone app will include support for the new Groups feature. Places will now have better tagging, including tagging people after check-ins, tagging people from the news feed. When you checkin, you can now add a photo.

“The Android app has been behind” says CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Right before Facebook was going to launch the Android app which was being developed with an Android app shop, Google bought the shop, setting Facebook back. However, the new Android app is ready and will include support for Places and Groups.

We’ll have more details as they become available.

Facebook’s Mobile Products Have 200 Million Users

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:38 AM PDT

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said today that the company’s mobile products now have more than 200 million users. That’s up from 150 million announced over the summer and triple the size from last year, when the company had 65 million mobile users. That means nearly 40 percent of the company’s active users are accessing it through mobile devices.

The company has invested heavily in mobile both to get existing users using the site beyond their computers, while also looking to reach people who have little or no internet access aside from their phones. It has steadily built out its applications for iOS devices, Android devices, and other phones, developed more and more features for the mobile version of Connect, and partnered with carriers to create offerings like 0.facebook.com, a service where users can get special access to Facebook as part of an upsell for carrier data plans.

Live-blogging Facebook’s Key Mobile Releases

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:37 AM PDT

We’re here at Facebook headquarters covering the company’s launch of several new mobile products. We’re expecting to see some key announcements around Places — potentially a local deals services –and other new application programming interfaces for developers.

Mark Zuckerberg takes the stage. He’s talking about the company’s mission in making its mobile platform more social. The company now has more than 200 million people using Facebook mobile products.

That’s up from 150 million announced over the summer and triple the size from last year, when the company had 65 million mobile users. That means nearly 40 percent of the company’s active users are accessing it through mobile devices.

He’s announced a new iPhone app that will have a number of updates. There will be a new Groups feature and the tagging feature in Places will be improved.

The company is also updating the Android app. He says originally the company was going to outsource its development of the Android app, but Google bought the company.

“We think we have general parity between the Android and iPhone app,” he said. Places and Groups are coming to Android.

Zuckerberg addresses rumors that Facebook is going to build a phone. He says, “No.” He says the company’s goal is to make it possible for all apps to be social regardless of the device or OS. He stresses that the company strategy is a “horizontal approach” that is agnostic between platforms.

He switched subjects to developers, launching a series of new application programming interfaces. There will be single sign-on for Facebook-connect mobile applications so that users don’t have to re-enter their usernames and passwords.

The company also opened up the write version of the Places application programming interface to all developers. Before it was in a closed beta and only select developers could use the API to let users check-in to Places from other applications.

Facebook’s product manager for mobile takes the stage and talks about how the company needs to make its experiences on mobile devices more efficient. He says in an age when searches are measured by the millisecond, Facebook has to apply the same rigorous goals to its own services.

He goes over single sign-on, which will let users to access Facebook-enabled, social features in mobile applications without entering their username or password.

“With single sign-on, we enable really social experiences,” Tseng said. “With single sign-on, we can encourage users to sign-on and use applications more, making them happier.”

He introduces Mihir Shah, the vice president of Groupon, who demonstrates an integration with the Chicago-based company’s app.

In another demonstration, he invites Justin Cinicolo, the general manager of mobile for Zynga. He brings up the Zynga LivePoker application. At any given time, 90,000 players are going all in on the game. Users can log-in to Facebook with a single tap.

Tseng takes the stage back. Facebook’s other partners with single sign-on were Yelp, Scvngr, Flixster, Booyah and Loopt. The company is launching updates to its Android and iPhone software development kits.

Tseng hands the stage to engineering manager Dave Fetterman. He announces that Facebook’s full set of location APIs — read, write and search — are now fully open to the public. Facebook gives a demo of the Yelp app, which will let you check-in from Yelp on the social network.

He brings Sam Altman, the founder of Loopt, on-stage. Loopt built a way for its users to see where their Facebook friends were and conversely, a way for them to publish their check-ins to Facebook from Loopt.

Fetterman takes back the stage and does an overview of the three APIs. With the write API, users can add photos, captions, names and message links.

The search API, which lets application pull up nearby places, is socially-enabled. Unlike Places APIs from other companies, which show locations by proximity, Facebook’s search API will pull up Places by their “social proximity” to people, or how often a user or their friends go to these places.

> See our separate, more detailed coverage of the mobile platform launch for the Q&A — most of the questions were about the platform.

Old Guard Tech Companies Lead This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by DAU

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Yahoo and Microsoft would like to own Facebook. But failing that, they at least get to have the two top apps on this week’s AppData list of fastest-growing Facebook apps by daily active users:

Top Gainers This Week
Name DAU Gain Gain,%
1. App_2_90376669494_1016 Yahoo! 4,414,981 +2,376,402 +117%
2. Original Windows Live Messenger 8,508,613 +761,018 +10%
3. App_2_152645868106521_5766 My Kingdom 800,365 +711,260 +798%
4. App_2_116608318401029_8697 Disfrázate 473,807 +311,906 +193%
5. App_2_135261626503589_1397 開心水果(开心水果) 291,063 +282,403 +3,261%
6. Original 創世紀2012 339,078 +274,415 +424%
7. Original 守衛家園 381,022 +273,051 +253%
8. Original Phrases 7,207,738 +270,446 +4%
9. App_2_120065608052360_3390 ๑۩۞۩๑ HAPPY HALLOWEEN ! ๑۩۞۩๑ 287,084 +237,138 +475%
10. Original 德州撲克(中文版) 1,003,922 +218,484 +28%
11. Original ibibo.com 225,722 +199,930 +775%
12. App_2_181606049889_436 Social Fun 318,453 +161,332 +103%
13. App_2_129547877091100_7928 Crime City 567,009 +144,938 +34%
14. Original Backyard Monsters 687,684 +132,699 +24%
15. Original لعبة الحقيقة 228,946 +131,189 +134%
16. Original iHeart 110,907 +106,537 +2,438%
17. App_2_10754253724_709 iPhoto Uploader 271,465 +84,922 +46%
18. App_2_116318625062183_2941 SmileyCentral 491,508 +77,475 +19%
19. App_2_141437422542260_5503 CSI: Crime City 156,875 +66,586 +74%
20. Original JibJab 129,116 +65,313 +102%

Properly speaking, Yahoo! isn’t an app, it’s an integration for existing Yahoo users. Quite a few of those users appear to be taking advantage of Flickr integration, which allows them to more quickly move over photos from their Flickr accounts. Windows Live Messenger we’ve seen many times before; again, it’s an integration for existing Messenger users rather than a distinct app within Facebook.

My Kingdom, the first real app, is a Chinese-language farming and kingdom building game. You may have noticed the large number of other Chinese-language entries; all of them are games. Over at our Inside Social Games top 20 list, Chinese-language games have taken eight of the 20 spots.

Disfrázate and ๑۩۞۩๑ HAPPY HALLOWEEN ! ๑۩۞۩๑ are both holiday holdouts; the former may survive for longer, since it has the general function of dressing up your profile pics, but the latter isn’t likely to be seen any time soon.

Finally, despite spotty availability of late (at least to American users), Phrases is continuing to pick up both DAU and monthly active users.

torsdag den 4. november 2010 at 07.37