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Inside Facebook

Departure of Facebook iPad Developer Highlights the Company’s Slow-Moving Mobile Strategy

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:59 PM PDT

The lead engineer behind Facebook’s yet-to-be-launched native iPad application left the company out of frustration with continual delays around the release of his work, according to a blog post he published today.

His move underscores the fact that Facebook has not had a major mobile-related launch since November of last year at a critical time when Apple and Google are moving full-steam ahead with the Android platform and the iPad. We’re expecting to see a big announcement out of Facebook on its mobile strategy in the next two to three weeks, however.

The developer Jeff Verkoeyen said that even though Facebook’s iPad app was largely ready to go in May, the company held off on launching it for several months because of undisclosed reasons (presumably Facebook’s complex relationship with Apple or indecision over how much to invest in native versus HTML5 in the short-term).

Verkoeyen is moving to Google where he’ll work on the mobile team, after being employed at Facebook for less than two years.

> Continue reading on Inside Mobile Apps.

Spotify Gains 1 Million New Facebook Users Following f8

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 02:45 PM PDT

At f8 last Thursday, music services such as Spotify, Vevo, Rdio and Mog gained the ability to publish the listening activity of their users to Facebook’s new home page Ticker. The exposure to the friends of their users through the tickers has led to big gains for some music partners.

Most significantly, Spotify has gained one million new monthly active Facebook-integrated users since f8 to reach 4.4 million MAU. It spiked from 1.12 million to 3.25 million daily active users the day after f8, and appears to be settling back to roughly a quarter million new DAU. Rdio, MOG, and Deezer have also seen significant gains in their numbers of Facebook-integrated users.

The total user growth for these services could be even higher. Exposure through the Ticker could be encouraging more users to sign up but not necessarily integrate their accounts with Facebook. This won’t be the case for Spotify, though, as it now requires new users to have a Facebook account, even if they don’t grant the app publishing rights.

Our AppData tracking service for Facebook apps only records users who grant these apps access to their Facebook accounts, so these figures should be interpreted as representative of recent user count changes rather than as absolute total user counts.

With few other Open Graph apps contributing stories to the Ticker, the home page redesign and new ability to publish activity without users having to explicitly share each listen is creating a bonanza for music apps that were prepared for the changes. The redesign appears to have rolled out already to all US users, although we’re not sure what the total potential user base was here.

Spotify in particular was poised for explosive growth, as it already had the largest user base with 2 million paying customers compared to the next largest competitor Rhapsody which has 800,000. Spotify had also been aggressively pushing users to connect their Facebook accounts in order to view the playlists of friends via large prompts on the app’s homescreen.

Spotify is falling from its peak the day after f8, with 1.61 million DAU yesterday and 1.48 million today. Still, user counts are stabilizing and so the service could come away with as many as 30% more Facebook-integrated users than it had before f8. Spotify is also the top “Featured Music Service” in Facebook’s new Music dashboard. The rapid growth of Facebook-integrated users has big implications for Spotify’s bottom line, as CEO Daniel Ek said those who connect their Facebook accounts are twice as likely to become paying customers.

Rdio, the music app we’ve seen the most of in the Ticker besides Spotify, has shot up from 23,000 to 29,000 Facebook-integrated MAU since f8. Its DAU count spiked from 3,800 to 8,000 the day after f8, but is now rapidly declining. Dedicated Rdio users might be seeing so many of their friends using Spotify thanks to the Ticker that they may considering switching services.

Mog saw strong growth from the release of its free subscription tier the week before f8. Since the conference, it has mildly grown from 32,200 to 36,800 MAU, with DAU fluctuating between 3,000 and 3,500.

Vevo, the ad-supported music video wing of YouTube, has seen strong sustained growth since f8, jumping from 85,00 to 94,000 MAU. Unlike the other apps, DAU continues to climb, building on an initial spike from 7,700 to 10,100 to now reach 10,300. Lesser known partners Earbits and Songza also saw some growth since f8.

Meanwhile, some of Facebook’s music partners have lost Facebook-integrated users since f8. This could be because they didn’t have Ticker integrations ready, their integrations broke down, or they’re being outcompeted by those with functioning integrations.

SoundCloud, iHeartRadio, and Deezer all lost DAU since f8, or have fallen lower than their initial DAU count following a spike the day after the conference. With music suggestions coming straight to the news feed, users may be seeking out less internet radio and free streaming services.

It will take a few weeks for more of Facebook’s music partners to launch their Ticker integrations. The same goes for users experimenting with the services they see their friends using and choosing the one that fits them best. Once other listening apps as well as reading, video, and non-partnered lifestyle apps get their Open Graph publishing set up, there will be more competition in the Ticker and the bonanza for the music partners who were ready at launch may end.

Until then, though, it appears that Spotify will strengthen its lead  as the Ticker bombards Facebook users with implicit social recommendations for the service.  As users may not want to simultaneously run multiple music desktop and web apps, Facebook’s recent changes could produce a “winer-take-all” scenario where users choose the music service used by the most of their friends, and right now, that’s Spotify.

Facebook Now Allows Advertisers to Use Tracking Tags and Promote Old Page Posts with Sponsored Stories

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 12:30 PM PDT

Advertisers can now use tracking tags with several of Facebook’s Sponsored Stories types, allowing them to clearly measure how much traffic the social ad units are driving to their Pages and applications for the first time. A new field called “Optional URL Tags” now appears in the self-serve ad tool, allowing advertisers to append tags that can be tracked with third-party analytics tools. This helps advertisers determine which clicks to their properties came from Sponsored Stories, and more specifically from specific campaigns, targeting parameters, and ad creative.

Facebook has also increased the flexibility of Page Post Sponsored Stories such that advertisers can buy additional traffic for any of their Page’s posts, not just the most recently published update. These changes will make it easier for advertisers to determine the value of Sponsored Stories and integrate the ad unit with their existing Facebook Page publishing strategy. This could attract more ad dollars to Facebook’s unique way of amplifying word of mouth.

Tracking Tags Increase the Utility of Sponsored Stories

A Facebook Help Center page confirms the introduction of “Optional URL Tags” which was originally named “Optional Tracking URL”. The name was likely changed because advertisers enter just their tags, not the whole URL, and because Facebook may be weary of the privacy implications of the word “tracking”. The Help Center page explains that “Previously, for Sponsored Stories leading to Apps or to content off Facebook, it was difficult to distinguish whether clicks coming to your App or website were from a Sponsored Story or News Feed story.”

Tracking tags can now be appended to Domain Stories for amplifying shares of off-site content, App Share Stories for amplifying shares from within Facebook apps, App Used or Game Played Stories for promoting usage of apps on Facebook, and Page Post Stories for driving traffic to news feed updates by Pages. Advertisers could tag their ads to indicate their Sponsored Story type, geographic or demographic targeting, what Page post they promoted, their bid, or what campaign the ad belonged to.

Facebook doesn’t offer any tracking or analytics software, but these tags can be recognized by third-party advertising software to show the source of a click and identify trends in performance. For example, by tagging their ads with what age group their Sponsored Story ads are targeted to, advertisers could view what age groups responded best across campaigns.

Ads API partners will be able to append tags to their ads and feed the tracking data into their sophisticated targeting and bid management systems to improve the efficiency of Sponsored Stories campaigns run through their tools and services. This in turn help advertisers drive cheaper, more qualified clicks through Sponsored Stories. With both self-serve and Ads API advertisers able to use Sponsored Stories more effectively, the Facebook could see the social ad unit become a tool powerful enough to attract new advertisers and shift spend of existing advertisers to ad types only it offers.

Page Post Sponsored Stories No Longer Interrupt Publishing Schedules

All of Facebook’s Sponsored Stories are triggered by a user action such as clicking a Like button, except for one — Page Post Sponsored Stories. To make its social ad units easier to explain Facebook has reclassified Page Post ads in a “Sponsored Page Post” subcategory within traditional Facebook Ads rather than as a Sponsored Story.

It has also corrected the biggest problem with the ad unit. Previously, Pages could only sponsor their most recent Page post, meaning if they couldn’t publish any new updates if they wanted to buy traffic for an especially important post. Rather than ceasing to publish to the news feed for a sustained amount of time, this likely limited Pages to short Page Post ad campaigns, or dissuaded them from using the ad unit at all.

Now, as first spotted by Justin Oh, Facebook has added a “Page Post Selection” option the self-serve tool’s builder for Page Post ads. Advertisers can choose from a list of their Page’s recent posts or enter a specific “Custom Post ID” number that can be found at the end of URL of its timestamp. To automatically promote their Page’s latest post the same way the ad unit previously worked, advertisers can select “Most Recent Eligible Post”.

With this new tool, a Page could pay for ad units promoting a story about a big product release, announcement, contest, or application while continuing to publish posts that are less critical to drive traffic to, such as photos or messages of thanks. It also allows Pages to run multiple simultaneous Page Post ad campaigns for different posts. This will allow a brand’s advertising and Page management teams to work more independently rather than wasting time coordinating pauses to the Page’s publishing schedule.

Page Post Selection also unlocks opportunities for marketing campaigns that reward users or unlock content when a Page post gains a certain number of Likes or comments. For example, a Page could publish an update saying it will give away 50% off discount coupons for a day when the post reaches 5,000 Likes. If the post doesn’t reach the milestone organically through news feed exposure, the Page could buy Sponsored Page Post ads until it received 5,000 Likes rather than have the campaign appear to have failed.

In the same vein as the new Timeline profile redesign allows users to make their most important life moments more visible, Page Post Selection for Sponsored Stories will let brands amplify the reach of their most important or compelling content. As Facebook typically strives for a consistent browsing experience across the site, Timeline could be coming to Pages, which would fit well with the enhanced flexibility of Sponsored Page Posts.

For now, though, brands will be able to pay not only to drive traffic to their Pages, but to any post they’ve published that could aid their business.

Walk-throughs and strategies for using Sponsored Stories to grow your business are available in the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network’s comprehensive guide to marketing and advertising through Facebook.

Featured Facebook Campaigns: “Homeland,” Capital One, Zynga, Lufthansa, “Dexter” and Tiger Balm

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:23 AM PDT

Branded games, Facebook Connect and sweepstakes are big on the campaigns that started this past week. Several TV shows are creating buzz for their premieres by promoting social games based on plot lines. Capital One's placement in three Zynga games seems to have given the Page a huge boost while Lufthansa's promotion of Oktoberfest is fun but hasn't really produced a lot of Page growth. Finally, Tiger Balm is giving away a trip to Hawaii and trying to figure out who its competitors are via a sweepstakes entry.

You can see the full week's coverage in the Facebook Marketing Bible, which also includes detailed breakdowns of over 100 other featured campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

"Homeland's" WatchCareful.ly

Goal: Engagement, Brand Loyalty, Viewers

Core Mechanic: A branded website that utilizes Facebook Connect to allow users to play a few games tightly related to the upcoming show "Homeland."

Game: The games are actually really interesting because of how they mimic the types of games played on the Facebook platform everyday, but in a "Homeland"-specific iteration. For example, there's a video to watch, words to descramble (a secret message), photo alteration ID (intelligence) and listening to talking then answer questions about the conversations (quizzes).

Method: The show is about a CIA agent suspicious about the loyalties of a Marine recently rescued and returned from Afghanistan, and the games on the website are tightly woven into this narrative. The games are fun and interesting, not too long or boring, but the Facebook authorization feature doesn't really publish content to the stream — it seems like the show is missing out on some social distribution here. Once they complete the four levels, users can unlock content such as the unedited pilot of the show and show-related documents that give background on the characters.

Impact: Perhaps for the sharing problem, the Page currently stands at about 15,000 Likes before next week's premiere. The WatchCareful.ly website is promoted both as a tab on the Page, and in status updates on the Page. PageData shows that the Page grew significantly starting last week.

Capital One, Zynga's Three-Game Promotion

Goal: Network Exposure, Engagement, Brand Loyalty, Page Growth

Core Mechanic: Capital One and Zynga are engaging in a three-game promotion across CityVille, FarmVille and The Pioneer Trail.

Game: In CityVille, players may place branded Capital One banks in their cities, resulting in a decorative item, energy, experience points and other payouts. In the other two games, players may interact with characters from Capital One's commercials. FarmVille's integration allows users who visit or participate in Capital one's farm receive a breedable, limited edition Capital One Goat with a high value, as well as the chance to get some "animal grow." In The Pioneer Trail, players can earn branded quest rewards and permanent in-game items.

Method: In each game the integrations redirect users to Capital One's Facebook Page. The CityVille integration is on for 30 days, while the other two will last for 10 days.

Impact: As mentioned, this integration redirects to Capital One's Page, which began to see some significant growth last week right after the partnership launched. The Page is currently at 2.3 million Likes and a week ago it was at 1.5 million, according to PageData.

How are top brands in the industry designing their Facebook marketing campaigns? See the Facebook Marketing Bible for detailed breakdowns of hundreds of Featured Campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

Spotify, Photos, Page Tabs, Friend Quizzes and BeKnown on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Apps by MAU

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Facebook's most recent redesign seems to have pushed photo and music apps to the forefront in our list of applications that grew by the most monthly active users this week.

A handful of photo apps, as well as Spotify, were on our list, in addition to a bunch of friend quiz apps, which may have also received a boost from the redesign. The titles on our list gained the most MAU of any apps on the platform, growing from between 599,600 and 11 million MAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

Top Gainers This Week

Name MAU Gain Gain,%
1.  The Sims Social 59,574,530 +11,050,401 +23%
2.  TopFace 8,583,048 +2,812,712 +49%
3.  60photos 12,900,228 +2,190,669 +20%
4.  Static HTML: iframe tabs 55,650,779 +2,184,618 +4%
5.  Text Page 1,916,397 +1,901,305 +12,598%
6.  21 questions 32,548,776 +1,318,828 +4%
7.  BeKnown 2,759,991 +1,163,153 +73%
8.  Static Iframe Tab 13,557,501 +1,020,472 +8%
9.  MyCalendar – Birthdays 15,640,430 +983,493 +7%
10.  Truth Game 12,456,549 +879,630 +8%
11.  Spotify 4,151,457 +870,517 +27%
12.  Static IFRAME Tab : ThumbsUp Icon 4,183,237 +831,872 +25%
13.  Friend Buzz 1,148,451 +801,158 +231%
14.  Friends Photos 4,890,030 +787,715 +22%
15.  My Friend Secrets 6,005,492 +778,999 +15%
16.  schoolFeed 2,214,372 +756,238 +52%
17.  Pioneer Trail 13,467,689 +718,699 +3%
18.  Static HTML… [Second Tab] 5,783,406 +676,993 +13%
19.  Truths About You 9,136,618 +631,139 +7%
20.  Between You and Me 10,017,163 +599,579 +6%

Photo apps on our list this week included TopFace with 2.8 million MAU, 60photos with 2.1 million MAU and Friends Photos with 787,700 MAU, this latter app appears to be a Badoo app. These apps basically ask user to rate their friends' photos and then publish to the stream.

As mentioned, Spotify was also a big app on our list, growing mostly in the United States and the United Kingdom by 870,500 MAU. Then there were Page tab apps on our list, including: Static HTML: iframe tabs with 2.1 million MAU, Static Iframe Tab grew by more than 1 million MAU, Static IFRAME Tab : ThumbsUp Icon grew by 831,900 MAU and Static HTML… [Second Tab] by 677,000 MAU.

Quiz apps on our list, which as mentioned may also have grown because of the redesign, specifically the right-hand ticker. 21 questions grew by 1.3 million MAU, Truth Game by 879,600 MAU, Friend Buzz by 801,200 MAU, My Friend Secrets by 779,000 MAU, Truths About You by 631,100 MAU and Between You and Me 599,600 MAU. These apps work the same way: by asking you questions about your Facebook friends, then posting the answers to the stream.

Other apps on the list included MyCalendar – Birthdays with 983,500 MAU, asking users to first add friends to the app before use. Then the Connect app schoolFeed grew by 756,200 MAU, basically an app that creates a social network for our high school after synchronizing your profile. Text Page is an app that's no longer usable but still grew by 1.9 million MAU and BeKnown, the professional networking app, grew by 1.1 million MAU.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top weekly gainers by daily active users on Wednesday, and the top emerging apps on Friday.

tirsdag den 27. september 2011 at 08.12