Inside Facebook

Facebook platform update: page tabs, payments, fan gates, more
Facebook career postings: D.C., counsel, engineering, data, speechwriter, more
Facebook adds new APIs for pages to manage Timeline, messages
Facebook hires and departures: interns, engineers, sales, more
Tab applications for musicians look to innovate after Facebook removes default landing function

Facebook platform update: page tabs, payments, fan gates, more

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:37 PM PDT

Facebook shared a number of updates on its developer blog today, including new features, API changes and bug fixes.

New link makes apps easier to add – Tab application pages now include an "Add App to Page" option to make it simpler for admins to add custom tabs to their pages. The link is found in the gear menu on pages associated with page tab applications (see right). Developers can enable this feature in the advanced section of the Dev App.

Payments reports updated – Daily detail reports for developers accepting payments now include a new order type. The new "J" type is a reversal of a chargeback that happened out of the window. Facebook says this shouldn't affect developers' payout totals, but this gives developers data on the orders.

Fan gate bug fixed – Facebook resolved an issue that prevented fan gates — tab apps that hide content until users Like a page — from working properly when pages converted to the new Timeline design. Even though pages cannot set default landing tabs, tab apps continue to support fan-gating now that the bug has been fixed.

Time zones to be removed from events – Facebook will disable event start and end times from being returned with time zones from the Graph API as of April 1. Events are intended to be created with times that are specific to the location of the event. This goes along with the changes to events announced Wednesday.

For more details about upcoming breaking changes and a list of other bug fixes this week, see Facebook's Developer Blog. We covered the latest changes to the Pages API in more depth here.

Facebook career postings: D.C., counsel, engineering, data, speechwriter, more

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PDT

Facebook added a few interesting positions to its Careers page this week. Most notably there was a Director of Public Policy in Washington, D.C., job, a lead commercial counsel job and an executive speechwriter listed. There were also several engineering and data center positions posted on the Careers page. As far as Facebook’s LinkedIn feed, the jobs were for analysts, engineers and recruiting.

Posts added this week on Facebook's Careers Page:

Director, Public Policy (Washington, D.C.)
Lead Commercial Counsel
Executive Speechwriter
Keynote Presentation Designer
Engineering Bootcamp and Training Program Manager
Front End Software Engineer, Sales Tools
Software Engineer, Sales/Mktg Tools
Operations Engineer (Contract)
Performance and Capacity Engineer
Site Integrity User Experience Engineer
Front End Software Engineer, Sales Tools
Software Engineer, Sales/Mktg Tools
Partner Engineer, Games (London)
Sourcing Manager, OEM and ODM Servers
Data Analyst, Mail
Data Operations Analyst, MicroStrategy
Data Center Network Technician (Ashburn)
Data Center Technician (Prineville)
Linguist
Product Privacy Specialist
Public Policy Manager EU (Brussels)
Manager, Server Sourcing and Procurement
Associate, Business Operations, SMB
Marketing Mix Science Specialist (Menlo Park)
Measurement Partnership Lead (Menlo Park)
Principal, Monetization (Menlo Park)
Technology Partner, IT
University Recruiting Coordinator (Events)
Security Specialist – Contract
DSO Account Manager (Hong Kong)
Client Partner, German (Dublin)
Analyst, SMB Growth (Buenos Aires)
Strategic Partner Manager, Gaming (Singapore)
Strategic Partner Manager, Gaming (Tokyo)
Client Partner, Sweden
Analyst, Payment Operations (Austin)
Client Partner, German (Dublin)

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.

Facebook adds new APIs for pages to manage Timeline, messages

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:30 AM PDT

To support the launch of new features for pages with Timeline, Facebook now offers APIs to manage a page's messages, milestones, About section, apps and posts.

These additions allow page management applications to control important areas of organizations' Timelines so that page owners don't have to switch between platforms. Developers anticipated these APIs after Facebook introduced the new pages on Feb. 29.

An important new API gives the ability to manage a page's messages. This lets page representatives see and respond to private messages users send through the new optional feature for pages. Some organizations might prefer to have these messages incorporated into page management or customer service applications rather than having representatives access them directly from the Facebook page. Software solutions keep things more organized and have other collaboration features that Facebook does not, for example being able to assign tickets to different users.

Another API now available allows apps to manage a page's milestones. With milestones, page owners can add important events to any date on a page's Timeline. These stories show up larger than other posts on the page.

Apps will also be able to edit a page's About section, upload a cover photo, change tab app icons and hide or unhide page posts via the API. Documentation details are available here.

Facebook hires and departures: interns, engineers, sales, more

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:00 AM PDT

Facebook changed the way it organized its Careers page this week, removing two previously prominent categories: Interns & Co-ops and New Grads, Masters & PhDs. Among jobs removed from the Careers page were engineering positions, an SEO Manager, many intern positions and more. The company's LinkedIn feed noted that a few engineers and a sales rep were hired.

New hires per LinkedIn:

Randi Warner, Salesforce Application Engineer – former developer of support operations at LogMeln.
Michael Ristvedt, Sales Representative – former social media specialist/sales representative at Full Swing Solutions.
Christopher Chedeau, Software Engineer – former front-end web developer at Curse Inc.

Prior listings now removed from the Facebook Careers Page:

Operations Acceptance Engineer
Network Operations Engineer
Network Provisioning Engineer
SEO Manager
Market Researcher – User Support
Analyst, Business Operations – API
Analyst, Business Operations – SMB
Associate, Monetization
University Recruiting Lead
HR Business Partner
HR Business Partner (Dublin)
HR Co-ordinator – Contract (Dublin)
HR Specialist EMEA – Contract (Dublin)
Lead, EMEA People Services (Dublin)
Multimedia Designer
Commission Analyst
Director, Business Operations
EMEA Business Operations Associate, Dublin
Finance Manager, Product & Engineering
State Tax Manager
Head of In-Market Strategy and Business Development (Toronto)
Product Design, University
Software Engineer Research Tools, University – Contract
Security Engineer, Security Operations, University
Analyst, Ad Review Operations (Austin)
University, Online Sales Consultant, Danish (Dublin)
University, Online Sales Consultant, Norwegian (Dublin)
University, Online Sales Consultant, Swedish (Dublin)
Analyst, User Operations (Austin)
Physical Security Systems Designer, Offices
Client Partner – German (Dublin)
Client Partner – Polish (Dublin)
Client Partner (Toronto)
SMB Growth Manager
Sales Manager Sweden
Strategy & Platform Associate (Toronto)
Fraud Analyst, Risk Operations (Austin)
Fraud Investigator, Risk Operations (Austin)
Analyst, User Operations, Italian (Dublin)
Associate, User Operations, Site Integrity
Strategist, Market Solutions, Auto (Los Angeles)
Event Marketing Associate
Data Center Design & Engineering Intern
Front End Engineer, Intern
Product Design, Intern
Business Operations, Intern
University Business Intern: Business Operations (Dublin)
Production Engineer, Intern
Software Engineer, Intern
Market Development Intern (London)
Security Engineer, Security Operations, Intern

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

Tab applications for musicians look to innovate after Facebook removes default landing function

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT

Companies that create tab applications for artists' Facebook pages are employing new tactics like Open Graph integration to counter the loss of landing tabs.

Most page applications have experienced significant drops in daily and monthly active users now that Facebook removed the default landing tab option for pages with Timeline. Apps like BandPage, Band Profile, Vevo for Artists and BandRx – which allow artists to put songs, tour information and commerce functions on their pages – used to make frequent appearances on our weekly top Facebook apps lists. Now they're some of the week's biggest losers, according to our AppData tracking service, losing between 80,000 and 670,000 daily active users since Timeline launched for pages on Feb. 29. These numbers are expected to keep falling as more pages switch to the new design, which is mandatory starting March 30.

Some of these apps have already taken steps to maintain relevance. BandPage announced Open Graph integration that shares stories about videos users mark as favorites and concerts they mark as "want to see."

ReverbNation, maker of Band Profile, announced a suite of new apps for specific functions. The icons for these apps take advantage of the larger thumbnails now available for tab applications. Instead of having a single app with videos, tour dates, merchandise and more, musicians can add individual apps with easy-to-identify icons that users are more likely to click on and use. (See “Play,” “Join” and “Schedule” below.)

Vevo was one of the early adopters of Open Graph on its music video website. The company also offers a tab app for artists, but for now, actions within those apps don't translate to Timeline. Vevo could do something similar to BandPage and allow users to share their activity like watching videos, commenting and adding favorites.

It's unclear whether these measures can attract the same level of traffic band apps saw while serving as the default tab for a page, but these Open Graph integrations could increase engagement overall. Previously, users would land on an app the first time they visited an artist's page, but they wouldn’t necessarily return because interaction with pages typically happens in the News Feed once users become fans. But with Open Graph integration, users might take more action in an app to fill in their Timelines. This activity is also sent to Ticker and News Feed, leading friends to discover the app content and ultimately the artists' page. We’ll keep an eye on daily active users as a percentage of monthly active users to see if engagement does increase.

Companies that make band apps and other tab applications will have to diversify their offerings now that they can't rely on default traffic. Developing mobile-compatible experiences — like Wildfire’s recent example — and helping clients take advantage of Timeline and Open Graph seem to be steps in the right direction.