Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook Roundup: Ph.D. Fellows, Menlo Park, Deals, Credits, f8, Valuation, Engineering, Friendster and More
- Platform Update: Developers Can Pull List of Granted Permissions, Reference Doc Improvements
- Identified to Challenge LinkedIn by Building Job Candidate Profiles From Facebook Data
- Music, Videos, Friends and Elections on This Week’s Top 20 Emerging Facebook Apps by MAU
- Facebook’s Extended Partnership with McAfee on “Roadblock” Helps Clean Your Profile and Computer
| Posted: 29 Apr 2011 07:00 PM PDT
Specifically, Adrienne Porter Felt and Kurt Thomas of the University of California at Berkeley both study computer security, Yinan Li of the Universitiy of Wisconsin at Madison studies databases, Wei Liu of Columbia University studies machine learning, and Marke Olszewski of MIT studies compiler technology. Facebook to Grow to 9,400 Employees by 2017 – According to public documents in Menlo Park, California Facebook plans to grow its workforce at its new Menlo Park headquarters from 1,400 to 9,400 people by 2017. Facebook Deals All About Credits – AllFacebook reports that Facebook sources are saying that the company is not initially taking a cut of the revenue from its new Deals program. Instead it reportedly seeks to expand the reach of Credits, the in-Facebook currency.
Facebook Valued at $70B on Secondary Market - Reuters reports that a group of investors are trying to sell $1 billion of Facebook stock on secondary markets for amounts that would put the company's total value at $70 billion; these investors previously tried to sell the shares for a value of $90 billion, but couldn't move the stock. Details of Russian Facebook Ownership – Gigaom reported this week that Russian investor Yuri Milner holds a 2.33% stake in Facebook, 1.41% stake in Zynga and a 4.63% stake in Groupon, among other investments and holdings. Facebook Institutes "Hackamonths" - Facebook Engineering's Dave Ferugson posted a note to the Facebook Engineering Page this week in which he detailed Facebook's new "Hackamonth" program for engineers. Essentially the program will allow engineers to temporarily leave their current team to work on a different project; the goal is to have about 10% of the company's engineerings participating each month. The Hackamonth program could become a recruiting talking point that lures engineers who are tired of working on the same project for years on end at other tech companies. Details on Facebook's Messages Server – The Facebook Engineering Team published a note this week that details the internal functioning of the Messages application server. Facebook Advertises on Gmail – Facebook is running ads on Google, according to this screenshot. [Image via jing]
Friendster Deletes User Info on May 31 – A message sent to registered Friendster users announced that users should export their data because the social network is going to delete all of it on May 31. The company, from which Facebook purchased patents in Auguest 2010, notes that it will delete blogs, photos, comments, groups, etc., but keep accounts active and become an entertainment site, reported TechCrunch. Blog Suggests New Feature for Facebook – A new blog, Yo Zuck! Implement This, takes suggestions for Facebook and creates mock-ups of their implementation. Youssef Sarhan is in Dublin and runs the blog, and has suggested a translate function, notification change and other interesting features. [Image via Yo Zuck]
MakeMeReach Raises €3M – The French Facebook-approved ad network and Facebook app developer MakeMeReach raised €3 million to fund international outreach for its services. Currently the company employs 25 and will use its funding to double staffing to move into Italian, Spanish and German markets, TechCrunch reports. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platform Update: Developers Can Pull List of Granted Permissions, Reference Doc Improvements Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:00 PM PDT The Platform Update published today on the Facebook Developers Blog announced that developers can now pull the list of permissions a user has granted their application using the Graph API. It also outlined a new commitment on Facebook’s part to improve its Graph API, FQL, FBML, and SDK reference documentation. By calling “https://graph.facebook.com/me/permissions?access_token=…” in conjunction with a user object, developers can see the complete list of permissions a user has currently granted one of their apps. This can be useful for determining what kind of new functionality could be added without asking for new permissions. It can also be used to check if a user has retracted any permissions at a later date through the applications privacy dashboard. Previously, this functionality was encompassed in the the REST API’s Developers Blog Platform Updates will now include data about reference documentation improvements so developers can track Facebook’s progress in bringing them up to date and fleshing them out with examples. As this project is completed it should help reduce developer reliance on forums and other informal documentation and make the Developers site a more comprehensive resource. Facebook also moved the dev site onto the same hosts as Facebook.com, significantly lowering latency as shown below.
Despite Facebook’s Operation: Developer Love and Roach Motel days, this week’s Developer Forum activity data shows that of 448 new topics, only 3 were answered by a Facebook employee. This means that few questions are being met with official answers, making it harder for smaller developers to progress development on their apps. This Week’s Inside Facebook Highlights for DevelopersHow Your Website Can Use the Facebook Send Button Facebook Insights API Now Shows if Page Post Likes and Comments Come From Mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Identified to Challenge LinkedIn by Building Job Candidate Profiles From Facebook Data Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:51 PM PDT Identified is a new professional network that builds candidate profiles using relevant Facebook biographical data but doesn’t give recruiters access to sensitive social data. Recruiters can search all candidates by a variety of requirements such as GPA or school attended. It’s yet another contender in a wave of startups that are trying to create a viable competitor to LinkedIn off the Facebook platform. By combining easy profile creation with passive recruiting functionality for employers, Identified could have a shot. Its service is especially attractive to users who don’t want to recreate their existing social network in a professional context.
Identified launched in October and quickly added 20,000 candidate profiles thanks to partnerships with the career centers of 25 top universities. The site now has 374 companies with recruiting profiles including Google, Accenture, Disney, and at one point Facebook, though its profile is now absent. Identified has secured $5.5 million in funding from angels including Google’s Eric Schmidt and Bill Draper of Sutter Hill Ventures. It plans to apply some of the funds towards a major user acquisition push this year. The site is aiming to diverge from the job board model popular with other social recruiting sites and apps like Work For Us, and Pursuit, which recently shuttered after its founders were hired by Facebook. It’s more similar to BranchOut, but with a focus on forging connection with companies rather than between users. When job seekers create their free account, Identified pre-populates their profile with their Facebook data such as their employment and education history, and profile photo, but none of the social data such as tagged photos or status updates that job seekers might not want recruiters to see. LinkedIn job descriptions and specialities can be imported, and a resume can be uploaded. Users can then browse companies, including a set of “Recommended Companies” at which users have first- or second-degree contacts. They can click “Apply” buttons to notify companies they’re interested in being contacted about jobs there, but users don’t submit full-fledged job applications unless a company directs them to an offsite job listing. They can also browse discussion topics such as “What’s the corporate culture like at Genentech?”, message other Identified users who are their Facebook friends to ask for referrals, or browse a feed of company updates that clients can publish to announce openings and other recruiting news.
Identified account executive Lucas Loeffler tells us companies aren’t forced to contact candidates through the site’s internal messaging feature, and can choose to download resumes and reach out via the contact info listed in user profiles because Identified “just wants to facilitate hires” in whatever way provides value to its clients. Recruiters can refine searches for candidates by job title, employment history, education, minmum GPA, location, proximity, whether they’ve used the Identified “Apply” feature, know an employee, were referred by an employee, and more. The company earns revenue when recruiters purchase a Hiring Solutions “Pro” Subscription for $500 per month to be able to contact an unlimited number of users. Identified plans to raise this price in the future, though there are cheaper plans available.
Identified’s VP of Sales Erick Kostelnik tells us that the company is banking that the definition of a Facebook friend will continue to expand. Eventually, it will encompass more and more professional contacts, thanks to more robust privacy controls that let users hide sensitive content from these contacts. He says “Why create a LinkedIn profile if I can enter my work and education history on Facebook?” This makes sense especially considering Facebook’s larger total size and the higher average number of friends on the site — which is also compounded at the second degree level. Soon Identified will be launching a ranking system that assesses users by their work and education history as well as the rankings of their friends, scores companies by the quality of their employees. This will allow the site to suggest users companies that are the right fit for them, so those who’ve worked at top companies and have friends that have too are shown the most prestigious employers, while those without higher education will see employers with less-skilled positions. These improvements could make Identified an alternative or complement to LinkedIn for those who want to be matched with employers and passively receive offers rather than spend their time sending invites to build a redundant network. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Music, Videos, Friends and Elections on This Week’s Top 20 Emerging Facebook Apps by MAU Posted: 29 Apr 2011 11:30 AM PDT
The list of top 20 emerging apps was compiled based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook and covers apps that grew the most in the past week, ending at between 100,000 and 1 million monthly active users. Top Gainers This Week
Topping the list this week was the Turkish Müzik Dinle, or Lyrics, that allows users to listen to music, see rankings and download files. The app promises to allow users to give musical gifts to their friends (presumably by sharing), create your own music, and practice playing it; the app grew by 348,800 MAU.
Two video apps were on the list, VideoPort with 399,100 MAU; the app allows users to watch videos (then posts a story), Like them and share them to the feed. Then there was Süper Video !, which grew by 234,200 MAU, which displays videos to be viewed, shared, and Liked. Another pair of video apps dissect a user's Facebook friends. Social Statistics grew by 291,600 MAU mostly in the United States and shows a user's posting frequency, sway with friends, and a Wall post summary for the past month. Compatibility With My Friends grew by 263,000 MAU and calculates the compatibility of you and your friends based on Likes and comments with a percentage, then publishes a feed story with the results, a photo of the results and a link to the app.
Kiss – bacio – bisou – beso – kus is an app that grew by 278,200 MAU and allows users to share "kisses" with their friends. There are three levels of viral channels with this app: you send an invite to your friends (the "kiss"), then a pop-up asks for your email and password so you can send the app to other friends, then a feed story is published about the app.
The Chase Community Giving app grew by 209,900 MAU; the app is to allow users to vote on charities to receive funding. Voting is open, you must Like the Page in order to vote (spreading the app through the news feed) and the app publishes a feed story with your vote. SEÇİM OFİSİ, or Election Office, is a Turkish app that allows users to "vote" for a candidate or party, publish a feed story, and then keeps you updated on pre-election activities in that country. The app grew by 182,100 MAU. Finally the Facebook app for iPad, MyPad for iPad, grew by about 342,000 MAU and the FMBL Tab Maker grew by 250,500 MAU. The app allows Page admins to make a tab with their own FBML code. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facebook’s Extended Partnership with McAfee on “Roadblock” Helps Clean Your Profile and Computer Posted: 29 Apr 2011 10:10 AM PDT Account hacked? Facebook appears to have extended its partnership with McAfee to offer users a free 6-month trial of anti-virus software as part of Facebook’s “Roadblock” account restoration tool. Facebook announced a one-year partnership with McAfee in January 2010, but now the Roadblock tool — complete with McAfee branding — is being promoted in links from the official Facebook Security Page and the Help Center. Helping users rid their profile and computer malware like Koobface and Yahos keeps security threats from spreading on Facebook and increases overall trust in the site.
The Koobface worm, which used stolen accounts to spread itself through Facebook Messages, became a major security issue in 2008. In addition to infecting their profile, the worm installed malicious code on a user’s computer that could help it spread later, so Facebook worked with Microsoft to develop a joint solution. Though the two prominent worms have been mostly eradicated from Facebook, those who suspect they may be infected can visit Roadblock, and Facebook asks users to recommend the tool to friends who may have been hacked. Fred Wolens of Facebook’s Public Policy team tells us “Roadblock was built in conjunction with McAfee and protects users from various malware strains that target Facebook, including Yahos and Koobface.” While he declined to comment on details of the Facebook-McAfee partnership, had it not been extended it would have expired in January 2011. After verifying their account with an email code or security question, learning about how Koobface spreads, and changing their password, users a provided a link to McAfee. There they can start a free trial of the anti-virus software for PC, a $20 value.
The extension of the partnership benefits McAfee, as users need to enter their contact information to start the trial, seeding future sales of the anti-virus software. Facebook gains by reducing the chances that worms like Koobface will resurface. The interconnected nature of the the site makes it vulnerable, so Facebook must combine pre-emptive and reactive threat reduction strategies to improve the public’s perception of the service’s security. |
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Facebook looks to have done a lot of hiring in sales and user operations recently, according to its feed on