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Why Only Some Facebook Developers Will Mimic Spotify’s “Private Listening” Mode

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 04:53 PM PDT

Spotify is rolling out a desktop version of its software that includes a “Private Listening” menu option to allow users to play songs without sharing news of their activity to Facebook. Announced in a tweet by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and reported by Business Insider, the setting lets users toggle sharing off, listen to songs, and toggle it back on later.

The change comes following privacy complaints, but Private Listening could also be designed to keep users from disabling Facebook sharing permanently or being too afraid to grant the app persistent publishing permissions in the first place.

Now the question is whether other frictionless sharing apps will add a similar private browsing option. Those looking to gain trust and subscribers might implement it while those only focused on user growth might not provide such an option. The other question is whether Facebook gets to retain that data even if it’s not published to Timeline or their friends.

Facebook launched frictionless sharing at f8 last week, allowing apps to ask users for permission to publish all their in-app activity to the social network. Activity stories usually appear in the Ticker, though popular stories can end up in the news feed or profile Timeline.

The social network has since come under some scrutiny for frictionless sharing, with The Hill reporting that the ACLU and Electronic Privacy Information Center have sent a complain letter about it and other changes from f8 to the Federal Trade Commission. Getting users to share their media consumption is in the interest of Facebook’s bottom line, as advertisers will be able to target ads to users based on their activity.

Toggling Off Sharing Indefinitely Could Reduce Virality

While frictionless sharing helps users avoid having to constantly fill out sharing prompts, it also means users only have two options for sharing — always or never. On top of privacy concerns, automatic sharing is the antithesis of curation. Instead of telling friends only about favorite songs or news articles, everything one hears or reads is shared. That’s even if a user was only exploring content and didn’t actually enjoy it.

With Private Listening, Spotify is introducing a “sometimes share” option. If users know they’re about to listen to something embarrassing, controversial, or that they don’t want to endorse, they can toggle on Private Listening first. Ek even describes the option as a way to “temporarily hide your guilty pleasures”.

But will users ever turn sharing back on? The incentive to protect one’s reputation will push users to enter Private Listening mode, but the desire to help friends discover new music might not be powerful enough for them to exit it. A toggle switch hidden in the File menu that indefinitely stops sharing could significantly reduce the Spotify’s virality, which has helped it gain over 1.5 million new Facebook-connected users since f8.

A Private Listening mode is a smart addition to Spotify, but a one-time opt out of sharing could help it protect privacy and maintain virality better than a toggle switch. For example, users could click a button that would turn off sharing of listens to the next song, album, or playlist, but then turn sharing back on. This way the desire to listen to a guilty pleasure or explore new content won’t thwart future sharing of more socially acceptable songs.

Private Browsing Is for Services Built on Trust

Developers of other Open Graph-enabled apps will have to decide whether they want to add a similar private browsing option. Bigger companies with an image to maintain such as media companies like the Washington Post might add an incognito mode to their social app to avoid criticism.

Subscription-based apps and services might also see the option as a way to build trust with users and convert them into customers. The New York Times has chosen not to use Frictionless Sharing to protect the privacy of its readers, but a temporary sharing opt out could work better. More media companies are going to have to make decisions here: Facebook is rolling out a new Recommendations Bar that has an opt-in-once feature, that also starts pushing activity straight to the Ticker without asking permission.

A private browsing option could protect Spotify and other apps from a chilling effect, as Poynter’s Jeff Sonderman explains. Without it, users may self-censor their activity rather than discovering new content because their activity must be shared.

Smaller, scrappier developers that require lots of users to fuel their virtual goods or ads-based business models may be less likely to offer a private browsing option. As apps don’t have to state whether they have an incognito mode during the permissions step, these developers will have little incentive to provide the option after they already secured an install.

Depending on how frictionless sharing impacts the user experience, Facebook may need to consider a solution to the need for private activity on its side. Making developers offer an incognito mode or a private use option would be difficult since Facebook doesn’t require apps to be approved before joining the platform. Plus it isn’t really in Facebook’s interest anyway if the company wants to collect as much data as possible on users without hurting the experience.

Spotify’s “Private Listening” mode could become a best practice for Open Graph apps with something to lose. For now, developers will be closely watching Spotify’s growth to see the impact of the sharing opt-out before choosing what to do for themselves.

Facebook’s Mobile App Platform to Include Seamless Login, Bookmarks, Requests

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 02:25 PM PDT

New Screenshots and functionality details of Facebook’s forthcoming HTML5 mobile site and application platform have emerged. Documentation of the updated mobile site and platform, externally referred to as Project Spartan, was briefly published to the Facebook Developers site last night, and TechCrunch recorded screenshots before Facebook took the pages down. We dug into the documentation and found many interesting facts about the mobile site that will impacts users and developers.

The Facebook mobile site will receive a significant redesign, users will be able to authorize and use third-party mobile apps from within the mobile site, these apps will be accessed through bookmarks shown alongside Facebook’s in-house apps, and users will have the ability to post to the news feed and send Requests/invites that are delivered as notifications.

For developers, the same SDK and APIs used for Facebook web applications will work on mobile, a new authentication mode called Authenticated Referrals will allow users who’ve already installed an app to login with two taps, and mobile apps will be optimized to work across all iOS and Android devices.

Sources at the company told us last week there would be a major mobile launch in “three weeks” but TechCrunch is reporting that the date has been moved up along with the native Facebook iPad app launch. It will likely come at either Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday or a Facebook press event on Monday. Regardless, these updates are coming, though Facebook will surely continue to refine the mobile platform. How users and developers react will influence the power dynamic between Facebook, Apple, and Android, and could be an important determinant of Facebook’s long-term success. (We first wrote about Facebook’s HTML5 strategy for third-party mobile web apps in February, four months before it was reported in other mainstream press like TechCrunch.)

Here we’ll take a look at the biggest changes evident from the leaked documentation and what they mean:

Mobile Site Redesign

The current design of the mobile site is not especially intuitive. Users must browse to entirely separate screens to access core functionality such as notifications or the publisher. This can makes the browsing experience exhausting and cause users to spend less time on the mobile site.

The new redesign previewed in the leaked documentation and seen here shows a more persistently available top navigation bar that lets users access their notifications, Messages, and friend request with fewer clicks. The notifications button reveals an overlaid drop down rather than opening a different screen, so alerts about new activity can be checked without losing one’s place on the mobile site.

Third-Party App Access From a Bookmarks Menu

News that users would be able to access third-party Facebook apps from mobile leaked months ago, but the documentation reveals exactly how they’ll be accessed. A button on the mobile site’s top navigation bar will slide out a list of all of a user’s installed apps — both Facebook’s in-house apps such as Events and Groups, as well as third-party apps and games.

A bookmark will appear in this menu for any app a user has installed. Thanks to “bookmark synching”, a bookmark will also appear on the homepage of a user’s web version of Facebook. Users will also be able to search for new or previously installed games through the mobile site bookmarks menu. This will make Facebook mobile search engine optimization important for mobile apps looking to gain new users.

Facebook won’t require developers to use a different SDK or set of APIs on mobile than they use to build apps on Facebook.com. This means some developers will simply have to redesign their apps for mobile, rather than having to re-code them. This could help quickly populate the mobile platform with apps. More complicated apps that use flash such as games will need to switch to HTML5, though Facebook has reportedly been working with a large set of top developers to make their apps compatible with the mobile platform.

Two-Tap Login and Requests Notifications for Growth

The authorization given to a mobile app upon install will be valid on the web as well, so users won’t have to grant permissions to an app twice. Once a user has installed an app, they’ll be able to quickly log into it later with a two tap process called Authenticated Referrals – one tap to select the app, and a second to confirm they are entering a third-party app.

Along with using or playing with an app, users can publish content to the news feed through a familiar sharing prompt. They’ll also be able to send Requests to friends, such as an invite to play or a call to complete an in-app action. These Requests are delivered to friends as notifications that they can click through to open an app.

Right now, these notifications don’t look especially compelling, and therefore might inspire users to try new apps or reengage with old ones. Facebook may need to make mobile app Request notifications more appealing if it wants to attract developers to the Platform with the opportunity for strong viral growth.

Initially, the Like button social plugin will be available for use within mobile platform apps. Developers can use the button to create a lightweight sharing flow. As part of the permissions process developers will be able to request a user’s email address so they can communicate with them, or market to them, outside their apps.

Technologically, there are still some functionality disadvantages of using HTML5 mobile sites rather than native smartphone apps. For example, they only native apps can access device hardware such as the camera and GPS. Facebook will need to make up for this with virality if it wants its mobile Platform to become popular with developers.

There’s no mention in the documentation of Facebook Credits spotted earlier this year, so its still unclear how payments will be processed within mobile apps. A big part of why Facebook needed to create the mobile platform was to allow it earn money from app sales and in-app purchases, which can’t happen if its is merely a social layer within apps sold through Apple or Android’s mobile app stores.

Launching the Platform without Credits support could attract some developers who don’t want to pay Facebook’s 30% tax. However, punching credit card details into a mobile device can be especially difficult and lead to significant drop-off, so developers may actually want Facebook Credits support because it could increase sales volumes. Third-party mobile payments companies could also step in here to facilitate developer monetization.

Facebook is on the cusp of a serious turning point. If it can make the mobile Platform fun for users and attractive to developers, it could create an important new revenue stream, ride the growth of smart phones, and gain leverage against Apple and Google. If users find accessing third-party Facebook mobile app clunky and developers don’t see enough potential for viral growth, though, the Platform could fail and Facebook might get cut out of the mobile money stream.

Facebook Hires and Departures: Engineering, Data, Measurement, Sales and More

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 11:43 AM PDT

Facebook hired a few engineers, data center staff, measurement researchers, and other staff according to the company’s Careers Page and LinkedIn feed. Account management, accounting and compliance staff may also have been hired this week.

New hires per LinkedIn and Other Sources:

  • Sebastian Szmigielski, Account Manager – Emerging Markets – formerly a Senior Media Planner at OMD Media Direction.
  • Duc Dung Nguyen, Software Engineer Intern – Student.
  • Christine Miller, PHR, Employee Relations Specialist (contract) – formerly Team Member Relations Manager at Virgin America.
  • Sandy Huynh, Recruiter – previously a University Relations Recruiter at Apple Inc.
  • Piotr Zielinski, Software Engineer – formerly a Software Engineer Intern at Facebook and engineer at IBM.
  • Feng Lu, Research Intern – formerly a Field Application Engineer at VIA Technologies, Inc.

Prior listings now removed from the Facebook Careers Page:

  • Data Center Site Coordinator (NC)
  • Data Center Capacity Planning Manager
  • Measurement Researcher (Chicago)
  • Measurement Researcher (New York)
  • Manager, Developer Support Engineering
  • People Analytics Manager
  • HR and Benefits Services Representative (Contract)
  • Lead Recruiter (Hyderabad)
  • University Technical Recruiter – Contract
  • Manager, Measurement Solutions (New York)
  • Commodity Manager
  • Technical Program Coordinator
  • P2P (Procure to Pay) Associate – Contract (Dublin)
  • Revenue Accounting and Operations Manager
  • DSO Account Manager, Japanese (Singapore)
  • Client Partner, Gaming (Austin)
  • Project Manager EMEA – Sales and Business Development
  • Client Partner, Media (Menlo Park)
  • Director, Global Accounts (New York or Palo Alto)
  • Global Head of Sales Training (New York or Palo Alto)
  • Compliance Manager (Palo Alto)
  • Manager, Online Operations (Palo Alto)

Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry.

Facebook Careers Postings: Data, Marketing, Engineering and More

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Facebook added quite a few new jobs to its Careers Page this week, and no small number of postings to its LinkedIn feed. Among the jobs the company is currently advertising on these platforms are different types of engineering, research, sales and user operations, marketing, measurement and ad positions.

Posts added this week on Facebook's Careers Page:

  • Audience Researcher (Palo Alto)
  • Product Specialist, User Operations
  • Quantitative Business Analyst (Palo Alto)
  • Sourcing Manager: Data Center Infrastructure Group
  • Sourcing Manager: OEM and ODM Server Group
  • Data Center Technician (CA)
  • Director, Infrastructure Efficiency and Sustainability
  • Research Coordinator (Contractor)
  • User Support Researcher
  • Director of Revenue Accounting and Operations
  • Quantitative Data Analyst – Business Operations (Austin, TX)
  • Strategic Sourcing Manager
  • Account Manager – Online Sales Operations
  • Client Partner – APAC
  • Compliance Manager (Palo Alto)
  • Specialist, Platform Operations (Menlo Park)
  • Director of European Brand & Agency Marketing (London)
  • Marketing Communications Manager (London)
  • Partner Engineer
  • Senior Strategist, Global Customer Marketing (Hamburg)
  • Senior Strategist, Global Customer Marketing (London)
  • Senior Strategist, Global Customer Marketing (Paris)
  • Analyst, Measurement Solutions (Palo Alto)
  • Analyst, Measurement Solutions (New York)
  • Manager, Measurement Solutions (Chicago)
  • Manager, Measurement Solutions (New York)
  • Manager, Measurement Solutions (Toronto, Canada)
  • Strategic Partner Development – Brand Marketers
  • Quantitative Business Analyst (Palo Alto)
  • HR and Benefits Services Representative (Contract)
  • Global Head of Sales Training (New York or Palo Alto)
  • Sales Manager – Global Marketing Solutions for Japan and Korea

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.

Announcing the 2012 Inside Facebook Election Tracker

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 08:00 AM PDT

As we round the corner on election season, we at Inside Network are excited to announce the launch of the 2012 Election Tracker monitoring fan growth and marketing reach on Facebook for electoral campaigns.

Inside Facebook's 2012 Election Tracker will begin by tracking Facebook activity for presidential primary candidates and current elected officials, and will add data for 2012 house, senate, and gubernatorial races as candidates for those races are announced. Data presented at the Election Tracker will be continually updated leading up to Election Day 2012.

As Facebook's reach surpasses an estimated 150 million users in the United States, more entities, including political candidates and current officials, are leveraging the platform to connect directly with their constituencies. The Election Tracker is meant to shed light on candidates' efforts in social media, and to introduce a tool for further analyzing the role of Facebook on the campaign trail.

As the nation's pundits and opinion pollsters gather data to make predictions for the 2012 election season, social media may prove to be an important framework for evaluating candidates' influence amongst key demographics that are increasingly engaging with brands, and each other, on Facebook.

The Election Tracker is produced in association with Facebook and can be found at http://elections.insidefacebook.com.

fredag den 30. september 2011 at 07.33