Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook’s Sponsored Stories Ads Appear in the New App Ticker
- Facebook’s 2011 f8 Developer Conference Could Include HTML5, iPad and Music Launches
- Facebook Hires and Departures: Engineering, Credits, Policy, Data Center and More
- Facebook Careers Postings: Communications, Sales, Recruiting and More
| Facebook’s Sponsored Stories Ads Appear in the New App Ticker Posted: 25 Aug 2011 02:15 PM PDT Facebook’s new App Ticker that is displayed on the games Canvas page and lists news of friends engaging with games will also show abbreviated versions of Sponsored Stories, Facebook’s social ad unit. Sponsored Stories bought by advertisers are now eligible to inform users about the app their friends use from within the App Ticker as well as from their regular spot in Facebook’s ads sidebar. This is currently the only way that ads are mixed into any of Facebook’s content streams
Reaching the Right AudienceFacebook released Sponsored Stories in January as a new way for advertisers to serve highly relevant ads promoting their Facebook properties. The ads show which of a user’s friends have recently Liked a Page or Page’s updates, used an app or game, or shared content from a Facebook-integrated website, amplifying the reach of what were news feed stories. Until the launch of the App Ticker earlier this month, Sponsored Stories only appeared in the ads sidebar to users browsing Facebook. Now, gamers will see entries in their App Ticker marked “Sponsored”. These are in fact the same Sponsored Stories, albeit in a condensed format that just shows the name and face of a user’s friend and the title of an app or game they’ve used, but no image of the app or game. Sponsored Stories about Pages and websites may also appear in the App Ticker, though we’ve only seen ones about apps and games so far.
Previously, developers could try to gain new gamers through App Used, Game Played, and App Share Sponsored Stories, but these would be shown to all users including those who rarely or never played games. They could target Sponsored Stories about one of their apps to users of another app they controlled, but otherwise trying to reach gamers was less predictable. With placement in a new channel that only reaches gamers, these types of Sponsored Stories are now more likely to reach their intended audience and drive installs from users with better monetization potential down the line. Promoting Usage of Trusted GamersInexperienced gamers might be lured to try out a new app just because any of their friends have installed it. However, developers are trying to draw hardcore social gamers with the most monetization potential. These users know which of their friends are actually active players that can be relied upon to accept requests and cooperate in games, in other words which friends’ implicit game recommendations through Sponsored Stories can be trusted. Therefore, Facebook may need to refine its targeting and display algorithms for App Ticker Sponsored Stories so that game usage of these trusted gamer friends is more frequently displayed. These might not necessarily be a user’s closest friends with regards to social signals such as Likes of each other’s news feed posts or tags in the same photos. Instead the App Ticker Sponsored Stories should highlight friends who accept a user’s game requests, frequently interact in-game through gifting, visiting, and competitive activities, and play the most games.
Along with determining what friends have Sponsored Stories about them appear in the ticker, these algorithm tweaks could determine which friend’s photo is displayed in Sponsored Stories when the names of multiple friends that have used an app are listed. If Facebook can surface trusted gamers in App Ticker Sponsored Stories, developers buying them will see better performance. This could make the ticker an important paid growth channel in addition to driving free, organic growth, leading developers to spend more on the social ad unit. AJ Glasser contributed to this article. Walk-throughs and strategies for using Facebook’s Sponsored Stories ad unit can be found in the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network’s comprehensive guide to marketing and advertising through Facebook. |
| Facebook’s 2011 f8 Developer Conference Could Include HTML5, iPad and Music Launches Posted: 25 Aug 2011 09:02 AM PDT Facebook this morning announced that it will hold 2011′s f8 developer conference on September 22nd in San Francisco. It will feature keynotes, networking, breakout sessions, and an after party. Facebook is now distributing invitations to developers, partners, and press, and those who don’t receive invitations can register to buy tickets here or watch a livestream of the whole event at f8.facebook.com. While specifics about the conference’s agenda are sparse, we expect Facebook to launch several products about which information has leaked over the past few months, which we detail below. These include its HTML5 mobile gaming platform, the official Facebook for iPad app, and its music dashboard. Improvements to its mobile photo offering may also be launched, either in the form of new standalone apps or as additional features to its primary mobile apps.
The company explains that f8 “is your opportunity to learn about our new products and understand how to get the best out of your existing social apps and web sites. Best of all, you get to hear directly from the Facebook engineers who build these products, and interact with developers from around the world.” Several major product were launched at Facebook’s last f8 in April 2010, including the Like button, social plugins, the Graph API, and Instant Personalization. Developers will likely be eager to attend the 2011 f8 to hear about new opportunities to create social apps and websites. The conference will be held at San Francisco’s Concourse Design Center. Amongst “a day filled with new product announcements”, there will also be a Q&A with Facebook’s engineering and product teams, and strategy sessions detailing best practices for developing apps and experiences that utilize Facebook data.
There will likely be some big surprise announcements at f8, particularly around new developer tools that expand access to Facebook data, but here are details on the products we do expect to launch: HTML 5 Mobile Gaming Platform aka Project SpartanFacebook has been building an HTML5 version of m.facebook.com that will be capable of running applications through mobile browsers. Around 80 third-party developers including Zynga and The Huffington Post are reportedly preparing apps for the platform. It will permit Facebook to expand its Facebook Credits virtual currency to mobile, allowing it to make money on mobile purchases of virtual goods by sidestepping Apple’s App Store and the Android Marketplace. Expect details of the HTML5 platform to be released and third-party developers to present their new apps at f8. Official Facebook for iPad AppTo date, Facebook has opted not to release an official iPad app, leaving third-parties to create tablet-optimized editions of the service. A working version of the app was leaked in July, though, so it appears that Facebook for iPad will be ready for launch at f8.
If the design stays similar to what we saw in the leak, the iPad app will feature multi-pane navigation to contrast with the grid view home screen of the iPhone app. Users will be able to simultaneously Chat with friends and browse the service. It may also tie directly into the HTML5 mobile platform, allowing games to be played within the app. Music DashboardFacebook has been reportedly established partnerships with several online music services that it could aggregate into a music dashboard accessible from the home page. Spotify will likely be involved, as could Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, Mog, or Grooveshark. It may let users stream music, view what their friends are listening to, and possibly purchase subscriptions to premium music services with Facebook Credits. The music dashboard and its related partnerships could be unveiled at f8, bringing users a unified, native music experience on Facebook. Mobile Photos EnhancementsIn June, documentation was leaked showing a prototype of a new mobile photos app. At f8 Facebook could launch the new features as the second standalone native app following Messenger, or as enhancements to the primary mobile apps such as Facebook for iPhone. The app appears to offer a photo feed, multi-shot uploads, support for video, Instagram-like filters, and the ability to tag a Place or Event where photos were taken.
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| Facebook Hires and Departures: Engineering, Credits, Policy, Data Center and More Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:57 AM PDT
New hires per LinkedIn and Other Sources:
Prior listings now removed from the Facebook Careers Page:
Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry. |
| Facebook Careers Postings: Communications, Sales, Recruiting and More Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:55 AM PDT
Posts added this week on Facebook's Careers Page:
Jobs posted by Facebook on LinkedIn:
Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry. |
This additional placement of Sponsored Stories will improve the ability of advertisers to reach gamers, which could be especially useful for developers looking to gain new users. However, to make the ticker’s sponsored app discovery stories as appealing as possible, Facebook will need to show them about friends that users trust as wise, active gamers.
Facebook looks to have hired staff to work on Credits, engineering, client partners, data centers, policy and intellectual property, according to listings removed from the company's | You are subscribed to email updates from Inside Facebook To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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