Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- How the Redesigned Profile’s Recently Tagged Photos Panel Can Be Abused
- The Current Disadvantages of Merging a Place With a Page on Facebook
- How the New Profile Redesign Will Affect Facebook Monetization
- Top 20 Growing Facebook Pages: Harry Potter, TV, Zynga and Rihanna — and Wikileaks
| How the Redesigned Profile’s Recently Tagged Photos Panel Can Be Abused Posted: 07 Dec 2010 06:42 PM PST An emergent behavior is demonstrating the unprecedented power users have over the profiles of friends who’ve opted into the new redesign. The five photos a user was most recently tagged in are displayed in a panel at the top of the profile. A user’s friends can therefore tag them in a sequence of photos to display a large message across the top of their profile.
Due to the opt-out nature of photo tags, single tagged photos or a photo sequence will be displayed to the profile’s visitors until the user hides the photos from this panel by clicking the ‘x’ button or detags themselves. Depending on a user’s privacy settings, these photos may be visible to people who aren’t their friends. Facebook users have complained in the past about the potential negative impact of being tagged in photos without their consent. Some conclude that a user should simply defriend those who abuse the feature, but that can be a drastic sanction against someone who was just playing a practical joke or didn’t mean to offend them by tagging an embarrassing or objectionable photo. The impact of unwanted photo tagging was previously limited, though, as users could only affect things on a friend’s wall or buried within the friend’s tagged photos. The profile redesign creates a highly visible section which can be manipulated by others.
Users can of course upload photos and tag themselves to use the trick to display their own message as a joke, for self-promotion, or to draw attention to a desired cause or interest. However, unless Facebook changes its opt-out tagged photo policy or creates special settings for the Recently Tagged Photos panel, expect to see these photo sequences pushed to people’s profiles without their consent, both as pranks and maliciously. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Current Disadvantages of Merging a Place With a Page on Facebook Posted: 07 Dec 2010 03:50 PM PST With the launch of Places, Facebook began allowing businesses to merge their Page with a Place they’ve claimed. While there are some advantages for businesses focusing on generating foot traffic to a single physical location, merging has important disadvantages including lost functionality (at least for now). Here we’ll take a look two of the biggest problems with merged Places/Pages: an unfamiliar interface, and the inability to set the landing tab.
Facebook launched Places in August, allowing users to create Places for physical locations they’d like to tell their friends they’ve visited. Legitimate owners of Places can apply to claim their Place, giving them the ability to edit details, moderate comments, and advertise the Place. The official guide to Place for advertisers explains that users who claim Places and are also an admin of a similar Page may be prompted to merge their Place and Page. Facebook recommends merging if a business has only one physical location and only one Page. The guide says, “you’ll be able to manage your business centrally on Facebook”, and Likes, content, custom tabs, and ads directing to the Page will remain intact.
However, Facebook fails to inform admins that merged Places Pages cannot be separated. This has angered some Page admins, and a few have formed a protest Page called “Unmerge Places & My Business Page“. An important reason not to merge is that users may be confused by the change in user interface: a merged Places Page does not display tabs the way a traditional Page does. (However, it’s possible will move the tabs under the profile photo like they are on the recently redesigned user profiles – though Facebook hasn’t said that.) Instead, it uses a navigation panel beneath the Page’s picture. Users won’t see a panel of friends who Like that Places Page or previews of uploaded photos and videos, plus the option to suggest the Places Page to friends is dropped to the very bottom of the left sidebar.
Engaging with merged Places Pages is more difficult as well. The default landing tab is the Profile, which shows the Places address, a map, hours, and a description. Even if users have Liked the Places Page, they still see this tab upon visiting, and have to navigate to the Wall via the navigation panel in order to share their opinions or publish content. This is much different than traditional Pages, where those who’ve clicked Like can immediately post to the wall upon visiting. If getting users to communicate with each other and foster a sense of community is a business’ goal, the traditional Page is a better fit because those who’ve clicked Like see the Wall and publisher first. While this navigation format is similar to the newly redesigned user profile, users are accustomed to seeing tab applications along the top of a Page, not running down the left sidebar. Another serious deficiency of merged Places Pages is that admins cannot change the landing tab. Many businesses spend a lot of money or time creating custom tab applications or outsourcing this job to a Page management company. Being unable to show these apps to those who haven’t Liked your merged Places Page can hurt Page growth. Therefore, merged Places Pages miss out on much of the opportunity to condition access to tab app contests or content on a user Liking the Page. It’s possible that Facebook will address these issues in upcoming product updates, but that’s the way it works for now. Facebook says a “A solution for linking multiple Places to a single Facebook Page will become available in the future”, but it first needs to make this a more attractive option. The ability to set a landing tab promotes Page growth, which is important to Facebook as well as admins. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How the New Profile Redesign Will Affect Facebook Monetization Posted: 07 Dec 2010 11:11 AM PST The user profile redesign released yesterday alters how Pages are discovered, and will provide more user information for advertisers to target. User Likes have been moved off of the primary tab, but reinforced with images, and users are prompted explicitly and socially to enter more biographical information. Better ad targeting will increase revenues for Facebook, while its unclear how Page discoverability changes will affect spend on ads for Pages. We’ll examine the key changes below, and focus on how this will affect Pages and advertisers in the Facebook Marketing Bible later today.
Pages – Hidden, then Vividly RepresentedWhen Pages are easy to discover and there is organic growth, brands see Facebook as a healthy communication medium to which they should devote resources. This includes augmenting discovery with paid traffic through Facebook ads which make the social network money. Facebook’s other efforts to improve Page discovery include the release of a Page Browser, prompts for new users to add more Likes of Pages, and the introduction of a more compelling feed story for when friends Like a Page. The profile redesign removes the Likes panel from the bottom left corner of a user’s profile. Users see the Likes they have in common with the person whose profile they’re browsing, but there’s no longer a way to discover Pages on the primary view of the profile. This may decrease the rate of new Likes, especially amongst casual users who don’t click through to the info tab. This could scare brands who are only focusing on Page growth, but not other analytics such as click through rates of links.
However, within the secondary Info tab, Likes in the main categories (people, arts, entertainment, activities and Interests) now show their pictures. This makes Likes much more attention-grabbing than the text links of a user’s Likes from the old Info tab. That means more experienced users who do navigate to the info tab are more likely to discover new Pages. Pages in the people, sports, and music categories which appear first will benefit most, while Pages in the interests and activities categories which appear last may be hurt by the change. Facebook has released statistics that Likers, who are often experienced users, click outbound links 5.4 times more often, meaning Likes stemming from the profile redesign may lead to more conversions in the long run. It’s these conversions which translate into revenue for brands and increased advertising spend which benefits Facebook.
Advertiser Will Have More to TargetThe more information advertisers have to target through Facebook ads, the more relevant those ads will be to the recipients, and the higher the conversion rates will be. Facebook can then charge more per click, and advertisers will buy more volume. To improve targeting, Facebook now allows advertisers to automatically broaden age targeting, and view analytics on ads which include friend recommendations. Facebook is also testing engagement ads which utilize a user’s own words, and has filed for a patent for inferential advertising targeting based on a user’s actions, browsing behavior, and the interests of their friends. The new Profile Info Summary which now appears in the center of the profile shows a user’s job position and employer, concentration and university, current city, relationship status, languages spoken, hometown, and birthday. Previously this info (other than birthday) was only shown in the secondary Info tab, meaning that information’s author and their friends rarely saw it. The redesign causes a user and all their friends to see that information frequently, so users are naturally inclined to keep it up to date. Along with IP addresses and other data, Facebook can use this to ensure that when a user switches cities or employers, advertisers can keep showing them relevant ads and aren’t paying for the wrong audience. If a user leaves elements shown in the Profile Info Summary blank, they’re prompted to “add your…”, and there’s always a link to “Edit Profile”. This means that while users only need to enter their name, gender, and birthday to sign up for Facebook, they’re constantly encouraged to enter additional personal information which helps advertisers target them better.
Lastly, the redesign added a “Sports You Play” info category to the profile, allowing users to create a special connection to a community Page indicating they participate in that sport, not just appreciate it. Facebook may soon add a way for advertisers to target users based on the sports they play, creating big opportunities for the retailers and manufacturers of a wide variety of consumer goods.
ConclusionIt will take a few months for Page growth to show in the metrics and for bid prices and ad volume to adjust to the profile redesign. The changes seem to be a net positive for brands, advertisers, and Facebook, but users will also benefit from seeing ads and Pages they’re interested in. The redesign succeeds in putting pressure on users to enter more information without making them feel that they’re explicitly helping Facebook to make money. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top 20 Growing Facebook Pages: Harry Potter, TV, Zynga and Rihanna — and Wikileaks Posted: 07 Dec 2010 08:30 AM PST
Top Gainers This Week
Wikileaks has the most notable Page. It grew by 654,300 Likes to reach 839,900 this week, the fourth-most out of any on our list. The site, in case you haven’t read the news in weeks, has been busy sharing leaked government documents. While other technology companies are, for unclear reasons, blocking Wikileaks, some web sites, including Facebook, have not. The company appears to be holding that line. There was a small group of movies on our list this week. The "Harry Potter" Page added more than 985,900 Likes to make number 1on our list this week, coming in just over 11.5 million. The movie has been out for a while now and continues to rake in the money at the box office. Third place went to "Shrek" which added 720,900 Likes to the Page; the franchise has recently been promoting a set of DVDs and Blu Rays for the upcoming holiday season. Consequently, the Page added 720,900 Likes to reach a total of 3.1 million. In seventh place was Disney, which added 595,700 Likes to bump up to 14. 5 million; the company's recent release, "Tangled," has also been extremely successful in theaters. An assortment of tech companies were on our list this week as well.
YouTube came in second place after adding 724,200 Likes to its 24.3 booty. Facebook was ninth with 574,600 new Likes after a week in which CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on the show "60 Minutes" and former President George W. Bush participated in a life chat. Zynga's Texas Hold'em Poker came in at number 11 with 553,900 new Likes and passing 29.4 million after a ton of promotions on the Page. Musicians, as usual, were also prominent on the list. Rihanna was number 5 with 615,600 new Likes, 18.2 million total and four Grammy nominations. Then Eminem was twelfth with 551,600 new Likes and 23.1 million total without updating his Page. Shakira was at 15 with 517,500 new Likes; she's on tour. Katy Perry recently appeared on an episode of "The Simpsons," as well as a TV special for the military, and is performing and on tour; so, she added 407,500 LIkes to her 14.8 million. Finally, Usher, who's on tour, added 406,000 Likes to pass 10 million fans.
Television shows and channels made up a significant portion of the list, too. These included "SpongeBob SquarePants" at number 6 with 613,300 new Likes and 14.3 million total. Number 8 was "The Simpsons" with 592,300 new Likes to pass 16 million. Then there was MTV with 542,400 new Likes, 11.9 million total and a regular promotion of its programming. The Discovery Channel took sixteenth place with 497,600 new Likes to pass 1.4 million; there was a spike of 471,000 so it may have been a Page consolidation. Same with the number 17, ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Page, which added 222,000 of its 441,000 new Likes in one day to pass 1 million fans. Of course, Christmas is also upon us, so some of the growth was probably due to the popularity of the holiday, too.
Finally there were a few food companies that made the list. Red Bull took the tenth spot with 557,700 new Likes to reach 13.8 million, mostly by sports-related promotions. Coca-Cola was fourteenth with 541,800 new Likes to pass 20 million Likes. Number 18 Oreo is still doing its "Fan of the week" promo and added 417,600 Likes to come to a total of 15.6 million. |
If someone lists themselves in a romantic relationship with another user, that person’s profile picture and the relationship status appears at the top of the Featured Relationships pane on the left side of the redesigned profile as well as the Profile Info Summary. When users see this on the profiles of their friends, they internalize a social recommendation to list their own romantic situation. Relationship status indicates a great deal about the identity and purchasing habits of a user, so more users adding this info should lead to increased ad spend and more money flowing to Facebook.
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