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Inside Facebook

Inside Facebook

Facebook Roundup: Goldman Sachs, Security, HTML5, MySpace, NPR, Cuba and Teens

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 09:00 PM PST

Facebook Accused of Negligent Security – Sophos security firm and BitDefender have both taken Facebook to task for not providing adequate security and protecting user privacy. Most recently Sophos found that 40% of social network users were sent malware, up from the year before — Facebook’s rebuttal is that the report doesn’t detail how many of those were actually successful, and adds that attacks have decreased in effectiveness.

Facebook Hosts HTML5 Tech Talk - Facebook announced it will host a Tech Talk on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. PST to explore how Facebook, Zyng and Sproutcore are going to use HTML5.

MySpace Not Closing, Partnering with Facebook? – MySpace reached out to Facebook recently to "talk about unique ways we could work together which truly benefit bands and the fans that are on the Facebook platform," according to Roberto Fisher, vice president of product for MySpace Music. Fisher went on to tell Digital Music News that the company is "hanging in there" because he believes MySpace has different things to offer fans than Facebook.

NPR, Facebook Media Success Story – NPR's digital strategist Andy Carvin appeared at an Online News Association meeting this week to talk about how the organization's 1.4 million fans communicate around Facebook. NPR's main goal is building a community on Facebook, as opposed to just driving short-term clicks, which gives them success such as growing its click generation from 1.5 million to 1.4 million pageviews a month.

Facebook Shuts Down, Reinstates Cuba's Page - According to an odd mix of sources mostly outside of the US, YouTube and Facebook reportedly shut down a Cuban political channel and Page from a group called Cubadebate over “copyright” issues — both then quickly reinstated the group after being denounced by the Cuban government.

Two Thirds U.S. Teens Facebook Friend Parents – A recent study from Kaplan Test Prep found that about 65% of teenagers friend their parents, 38% ignore parental friend requests and 16% said friending parents was a condition of joining the social network.

Facebook Gets Flack Over Name – Facebook is on the receiving end of accusatory talk over its name, according to TechCrunch. A long-distance calling company Talkbook, is trying to cancel Facebook's trademark on its name.

Majority of American Adults Use Facebook - The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released a report, "The Social Side of the Internet," and found that about 82% of American adults use social networks, among other interesting statistics.

Facebook Temporarily Disables Suggest to Friend Option on Pages to Fix Bug

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 04:37 PM PST

Due to a bug that was causing the multi-friend selector to not load properly, Facebook has temporarily removed the “Suggest to Friends” option from Pages. Rather than allow users to encounter the error, Facebook removed the feature’s link from Pages until it can fix the bug. Admins can still see the link, but it is dysfunctional.

Other news outlets have reported that Facebook purposefully removed the feature, which would have hampered Page growth, but this is not the case.

Page admins should not fret, as their users will soon regain the ability to invite friends to Like a Page. Admins who try to click the Suggest to Friends link on Pages they control will see a gray line appear but no way to select friends.

The Suggest to Friends feature helps Pages grow socially. Though Facebook prohibits Pages from specifically incentivizing users to invite their friends, some Pages like that of Lil Wayne use the “About” box located just below the link to draw attention and encourage users to click it. These calls to action will seem confusing until Facebook reactivates the feature and restores the link to Pages.

If users or reporters are ever confused by a broken or removed feature, they can check the Known Issues on Facebook Page. It posts updates that can help them determine if the problem is only occurring for them, and whether Facebook is aware and working on a solution.

Facebook Turns Down Additional $500 Million and Caps Goldman, DST Round at $1.5 Billion

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 01:54 PM PST

After three weeks of fervent media speculation, Facebook has come forward to confirm a $1.5 billion financing round through Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies. The round, which valued Facebook at $50 billion, was done in two parts. The first part was a direct investment of $500 million by both firms, and the second involved $1 billion raised from Goldman’s high-net worth clients overseas.

Although the company could have raised an additional $500 million through the Goldman vehicle, it decided to cap the offer. While Facebook didn’t say what it would spend the round on, it did say it took the offer to “bolster its cash reserves” without substantially diluting its existing shareholders. Facebook said it didn’t initiate the round. Goldman and DST did.

Facebook added that it expects to pass the sensitive 500-shareholder limit sometime this year so it will start filing public financial reports in April of next year. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will make a public offering at that time, although other technology companies faced with a similar situation in the past like Google decided to file for an IPO anyway. Facebook spokesperson Jonny Thaw declined to comment on the company’s IPO plans.

Technologies and Goldman Sachs Also Recently Made $500 Million Direct Investment Investment Values Facebook at $50 Billion
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Jan. 21, 2011 — Facebook today announced it has raised U.S.$1.5 billion at a valuation of approximately $50 billion.

The transaction consisted of two parts. Today, Goldman Sachs completed an oversubscribed offering to its non-U.S. clients in a fund that invested $1 billion in Facebook Class A common stock. In December, Digital Sky Technologies (DST), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and funds managed by Goldman Sachs invested $500 million in Facebook Class A common stock at the same valuation.

"Our business continues to perform well, and we are pleased to be able to bolster our cash position with this new financing," said David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer. "With this investment completed, we now have greater financial flexibility to explore whatever opportunities lie ahead."

The investment generated a significant number of questions from interested parties and Facebook has addressed the most common ones below.

Why did Facebook raise this money? DST and Goldman Sachs approached Facebook to express their interest in making an investment, and Facebook decided it was an attractive opportunity to bolster its cash reserves and increase its financial flexibility with limited dilution to existing shareholders.

Why did Facebook choose to raise $1 billion in the overseas offering? Under the transaction's terms, Facebook had the option to accept between $375 million and $1.5 billion from the Goldman Sachs overseas offering, at the discretion of Facebook. While the offering was oversubscribed, Facebook made a business decision to limit the offering to $1 billion.

What are Facebook's plans for the proceeds of this transaction? There are no immediate plans for these funds. Facebook will continue investing to build and expand its operations.

Does this investment mean that Facebook will have more than 500 shareholders?

Even before the investment from Goldman Sachs, Facebook had expected to pass 500 shareholders at some point in 2011, and therefore expects to start filing public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012.

Facebook Adds Six More Ad Providers to Platform Whitelist

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 10:40 AM PST

After releasing an initial whitelist of companies that have formally agreed to its platform terms for advertising providers late last year, Facebook has been making more updates — adding in a wide range of large companies, established online ad networks, and newer startups. Since we last covered new additions a couple weeks ago, Facebook has added six more. They are:

• ADTELLIGENCE
• Bizmey
• Casale Media
• Mediastay
• One iota
• Sometrics

Some of these companies have deep experience providing advertising of varying quality on the web, including adware and spyware. You may recognize Casale Media, for example, as the folks that provide unsolicited ad pop-ups that appear behind your browser, that you might not notice until you’re shutting down your computer.

Which is why, even as it adds to the list, Facebook continues to warn developers to not give ad providers a free pass just because they’re listed: “These providers are not approved by nor affiliated with Facebook and, therefore, it is your responsibility as the developer to ensure compliance with Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines even though the companies on this list have agreed to the policies as well.”

Katy Perry Sends Facebook Live to the Top of This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Apps

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 08:44 AM PST

Facebook’s perennially active feed of life at its headquarters, Facebook Live, heads up this week’s AppData list of emerging Facebook apps, or those still under a million monthly active users, with over 400,000 MAU. At least that many people showed up to watch pop star Katy Perry meet Mark Zuckerberg, as well as demo some social networking tech.

Top Gainers This Week
Name MAU Gain Gain,%
1. Facebook Live 757,727 +412,928 +120%
2. Что твои друзья думают о тебе? 795,481 +314,454 +65%
3. 購物天堂 483,697 +311,378 +181%
4. TheFacepad 800,323 +221,369 +38%
5. The Pokerist club — Texas Poker 355,220 +204,706 +136%
6. 朋友大配對 405,295 +202,583 +100%
7. Günlük Burç Yorumları 273,724 +198,060 +262%
8. Miscrits: World of Adventure 835,830 +179,122 +27%
9. Pizza World 179,007 +178,960 +380,766%
10. 樂業超市 312,793 +172,425 +123%
11. Bingo Island 807,621 +166,183 +26%
12. CineGratisYa 469,778 +150,218 +47%
13. Paradise Life 918,154 +142,777 +18%
14. How old do you look? 476,159 +137,506 +41%
15. Cooking Mama 295,838 +135,611 +85%
16. SpeedDate 588,769 +132,562 +29%
17. Tavla 650,090 +125,970 +24%
18. Kamera Şovları 210,665 +125,301 +147%
19. พืชVSมนุษย์หุ่นฟาง 152,537 +124,055 +436%
20. Gambino Poker 537,681 +123,584 +30%

Although it may rise, Facebook Live usually falls back down again after whatever event it’s covering is over. It’s followed up by Что твои друзья думают о тебе?, which we first spotted a week ago; in Russian, it’s a simple friend quiz, which posts to users’ walls.

Absent an official iPad app from Facebook, TheFacepad continues to grow (along with rival Friendly for iPad). But its continuing weakness at retaining users suggests that when Facebook does release its own app, it won’t have much trouble taking over the market.

The trend this week in games is board and card titles, but there are a few interesting examples, like Miscrits: World of Adventure, which puts a new spin on the well-known Pokemon-style monster collection genre. We cover the games in a bit more depth this morning over at Inside Social Games.

lørdag den 22. januar 2011 at 07.13