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- Thanks to Our Sponsors
- Facebook Roundup: Loading Time, HuffPo, Congress, Facebook Movie, Hyundai and More
- Platform Update: Out with the Old Insights, Further API Migration Deadline Extensions
- Facebook Moves Friend Requests Link to the Home Page’s Left Sidebar
- The Best Facebook-Integrated Devices from CES 2011
- Sharethrough Helps Advertisers Place Their Videos Deep Within Social Games
- New Year’s Greetings Fill This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Apps
| Posted: 07 Jan 2011 10:00 PM PST Inside Facebook extends a big thank you to our sponsors for supporting the continued growth of Inside Facebook. Check them out below!
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| Facebook Roundup: Loading Time, HuffPo, Congress, Facebook Movie, Hyundai and More Posted: 07 Jan 2011 09:00 PM PST Facebook Site Loads Fastest – Facebook's home page loads faster than all other social networking sites, according to a recent survey from AlertSite. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 Facebook's home page loaded at an average rate of 1.06 seconds. YouTube followed, then LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace. [Image via AlertSite]
Huffington Post Adds New Facebook Integration – The Huffington Post has implemented a beta trial of a new social feature called Stories You Might Like. Different than popular social news integrations which base suggestions off of the activity of friends, Stories You Might Like pulls a user’s own Likes from Facebook Connect to give recommendations about stories on those and similar topics. The feature appears in a sidebar panel of the Huffington Post home page. Currently the suggestions are rather inaccurate, but with time the integration could create an improved news reading experience for those who don’t have similar interests to their friends. MySpace Set to Layoff 50% of Staff - AllThingsD reports this week that MySpace is set to layoff as much as 50% of its 1,100 employees in the U.S. and abroad in an effort to wring profits from falling revenues. 'The Social Network' Still Going Strong – The Facebook movie, also known as "The Social Network," has won all kinds of awards during the awards show season but as Oscar season nears, Sony Pictures is busy promoting the movie. The film has already made $93 million in the U.S. and $104 abroad, but Sony Pictures is re-releasing the movie in 600 theaters in the U.S. today and launching the DVD on January 11 with 8 hours of bonus features. Congress Livestreamed on Facebook for First Time – Congress broadcast live on Facebook for the first time Wednesday, as Congress' first convening of 2011 was livestreamed to the Republican Congress' Pledge to America Page.
Tunisian Govt Hacks Facebook - The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the government in Tunisia has been "modifying web pages on the fly to steal usernames and passwords for sites such as Facebook." Consequently, groups, Pages and profiles are deleted, including those used by journalists and bloggers in that country. Doctors Consider Friending Patients on Facebook – A French report surveyed 405 residents and fellows at a hospital there to find that the majority of doctors have profiles with their real information on Facebook. Most, 85%, would automatically decline a friend request from a patient, 15% would consider it and 6% had received a request and 4% accepted them.
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| Platform Update: Out with the Old Insights, Further API Migration Deadline Extensions Posted: 07 Jan 2011 07:33 PM PST
Old Insights Dashboard to be DiscontinuedFacebook has finished moving all the functionality of the old Insights dashboards for apps and Pages to the new version of Insights which was originally launched in April. The last additions to the new Insights tool — a specific date range system and improved accuracy for native data visualizations — were implemented at the end of December. Since there are no remaining advantages to the old Insights tool, Facebook will discontinue access at the end of January.
Additional API Migration Deadline ExtensionsFacebook announced in August that a set of APIs would be deprecated at the beginning of 2011, but since the changes would break apps depending on these APIs, Facebook extended the deadline until January 7th. Now, after receiving feedback and notifying the developers of any applications still calling these APIs, Facebook has again extended the deadline. The migration away from the deprecated APIs will be automatically enabled for all apps on January 12th, but developers will be able to “manually disable the settings on the ‘Advanced’ tab of the Developer application until January 31.” The Updated Facebook for Websites DocumentationIn an effort to make it easier for websites to integrate Facebook features such as social plugins, Login with Facebook, and personalization, a new version of the getting started guide for websites has been added to the documentation references. The update adds better sample code, such as FB.api and FB.ui versions of code to personalize a site through the Graph API. Over two million websites have already integrated, but Facebook wants sites without sophisticated engineering teams to also be able to provide their users with a social experience.
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| Facebook Moves Friend Requests Link to the Home Page’s Left Sidebar Posted: 07 Jan 2011 06:43 PM PST Facebook has moved the active link for friend requests from the Requests panel in the bottom of the home page’s right sidebar to the “Friends” navigation link in the top of the left sidebar. Similar to application requests, pending friend requests will still appear as text in the Requests panel, but users must click the navigation link which denotes pending requests with a counter in order to visit the Friends page and respond to friend requests.
This change may signal that Facebook is preparing to remove the Requests panel, as the only active links still present there are Page, family, and old group requests. The freed up space could be reallocated to show Places check-ins of friend or more engagement ads. Facebook has been going back and forth lately on how to inform users about pending requests. It recently began showing app requests as notifications. This has angered some game players who now have their notifications channel, which previously alerted them to wall posts and photo tags, overrun by requests for assistance in games like CityVille. Facebook completely removed these app requests from the Requests panel, but then reinstated them there due to complaints about user retention from developers.
Now friend requests as well as app requests appear as inactive links in the Requests panel, which when clicked generate a prompt pointing towards the navigation links on the far side of the home page. While it’s important for Facebook to determine the optimal location for requests, these frequent changes will confuse and irk some users. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Best Facebook-Integrated Devices from CES 2011 Posted: 07 Jan 2011 01:44 PM PST The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas featured the launch of many new products that include Facebook integrations. The emerging trend is the inclusion of either Facebook social sharing features, or device-specific Facebook apps on devices that don’t require a connection to a computer. Most of these products don’t focus on comprehensive interactivity or simulating the Facebook web experience, but instead offer access to core features like photos and the news feed in different shapes and sizes of devices. Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg has conducted interviews with many of these companies, which you can watch on Facebook Live. Here are our picks for the best new integrations: Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor with NOOKfriendsThe new color version of Barnes & Noble’s ereader includes new social features which allow users to share quotes and recommend books with their Facebook friends. When users highlight a piece of text while reading, users can instantly quote the text and post it as a status update. Users can also select a passage, add their own context, and post it their own wall or the wall of a friend. By removing the manual text entry, Barnes & Noble makes sharing a much quicker and more natural part of the book reading experience, while simultaneously gaining exposure for the NOOKcolor in the news feed.
HP ePrintCenter with the Facebook Photos AppDebuted at CES, the new HP Photosmart eStation includes a detachable 7-inch Android display which includes full-featured Facebook app. HP also recently released a line of printers which connect directly to the internet and allow users to download apps which can be used on printer touch screens. The Facebook Photos app lets users print photos from their profile and those of friends without connecting a computer to the printer. Since many Facebook photos aren’t high enough resolution to print as full-pages, the app makes it simple to print multiple photos on the same page. In-store kiosks at Target also allow users to print from Facebook, but now users can print from home without having the manually save photos from Facebook to their hard drive.
Chumby 8 with the Facebook AppChumby released its new eight-inch screen Chumby 8 tablet device at CES this year. Both Chumby 8 and the original Chumby 1 allow users to browse photos and their news feed through its Facebook app. Users can set up different accounts and custom feeds within the Facebook app, or download one of the 1500 other apps. While the Chumbys offer significantly less functionality than Facebook’s mobile apps for phones, the unique alarm clock form of the Chumby 1 and digital picture frame form of Chumby 8 offer a more whimsical social media experience.
Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame with Facebook Integration
Western Digital WD TV Live HubThe new <a href="http://www.wd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sharethrough Helps Advertisers Place Their Videos Deep Within Social Games Posted: 07 Jan 2011 11:07 AM PST
The need for Sharethrough arose in 2009 as brands realized that on the internet, distinctive, entertaining video content drives more awareness and buzz than commercials such as pre-rolls. Brands would spend the money to produce creative clips, but had no way to guarantee views or kickstart viral circulation. For a cost per view, Sharethrough distributes these videos through a variety of ad units including Facebook engagement ads; YouTube Featured Videos; sponsored stories on social news sites like Digg and Reddit; blogs; on the ad space, offer wall, and within the actual gameplay of social games. The videos are sometimes shown with a special Sharethrough wrapper which includes tweet, Like, and Share to Facebook buttons, facilitating virality. Sharethrough’s studies show users watch videos shared by friends for three times longer than videos they’re shown through advertising, yet it offers these organic, earned views for free along with a client’s paid media buy. Audience targets are dynamically optimized, and clients get real-time performance analytics.
The 25-person, San Francisco-based Sharethrough has taken $6 million in funding over two rounds, and has worked with General Motors, Sony, Xbox, Nestle, and Victoria’s Secret. Migration of Video Marketing to FacebookGreenberg says that “Facebook is becoming the centerpiece of the video marketing world. Now, when brands request a marketing proposal, they always say it’s important for the campaign to revolve around their Facebook presence.” Brands see that if they can entertain with quality content, they create window in which users are more likely to subscribe to future traditional marketing announcements via the Like button. Along with performance metrics such as views and shares, clients are requesting date on how many Likes campaigns generate. Today, 30% to 40% of Sharethrough’s business is buying space on the Facebook home page and Facebook apps. “Twitter is a big deal, but Facebook is the internet” says Greenberg. For this reason, Sharethrough only provides social media sharing buttons for these two sites and YouTube, instead of overwhelming users with buttons for less popular sites. Clients are unsure whether it’s better to direct Likes to their Page or an Open Graph object representing their video, but Like buttons are clicked two to three times more often than the higher-touch Share to Facebook button. Advertising on Social GamesDespite the importance of Pages to business on Facebook, Sharethrough has concentrated on developing two strategies for advertising on social games. Instead of merely appearing beside games, these methods make video advertising either a natural extension of the game experience, or a way to help users win. The company doesn’t do intensive matching between an ad’s target demographic and the typical audience of a specific social game, as Sharethrough’s model isn’t dependent on a high click through rate. However, this kind of targeting could increase sharing rates, producing free earned views which attract clients. The first strategy is to arrange a deal with developers to give users in-game points or currency for watching a video. Brands get to step in and help users advance in exchange for their attention. The Sharethrough video option can appear in the game’s offer wall or elsewhere. This option is especially appealing to younger users who don’t have the money or credit cards to buy currency or complete typical offers such as a subscription to Netflix. Users appreciate the assistance, and construct a better perception of the brand.
The second strategy is to embed the video directly within the flash interface of the social game. For instance, Sharethrough will work with the developer of a car game to put an in-dash LCD screen into the vehicles users play with. Clicking the screen folds out a traditional video ad unit. Users feel as if watching the video is part of the game, and are more likely to view the whole video and have a positive impression of the ad’s brand. “These videos are hyper-integrated, organic, authentic – there’s no incentive but they fit the flow of the game” explains Greenberg. Sharethrough’s founder says his company’s growth relates to its early adoption of the ad network platform model. “Advertisers are starting to understand that they have to create content people care about, and we’re drafting off that trend.” As users have so many options of where to consume videos that want to see, overt marketing messages become more repulsive. Brands who create compelling content aren’t at the mercy of the crowd anymore, though, as Sharethrough lets them trade in their “post and pray” distribution plan for guaranteed views that seed viral success. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Year’s Greetings Fill This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Apps Posted: 07 Jan 2011 08:15 AM PST
Yeni yıl tebriği is the first of the New Year’s apps, and notable only for the fact that it’s in Turkish. Most of the remaining apps in the category are in English, starting with Happy New Year Greetings; in all, there are 11 holiday-themed apps. GodsWar Online is the first non-holiday app, and it’s a game, too. This massively-multiplayer game is one of several that have launched of late, mostly copies or imports of Asian free-to-play titles. What makes this one stand out is that it actually loads and runs smoothly, whereas technical problems have plagued its competitors. There’s not much more on the list worthy of notice. TheFacepad, right below GodsWar, is the only one that stands out, and it’s actually just another iPad connect app, of which we’ve seen several. Although growing quickly, TheFacePad’s stickiness is much lower than most mobile connect apps, which suggests that users don’t like it that much.
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Facebook announced the discontinuation of the old Insights dashboard, an extension of the deadline for migration away from deprecated APIs, and a revamp of the Facebook for Wesbsites introduction documentation in its weekly 
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Social video ad distributor 
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