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Inside Facebook

Inside Facebook

PageLever Now introduces real-time analytics for insights platform

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:30 AM PDT

Facebook analytics platform PageLever has introduced PageLever Now, which newest features include Facebook engagement analytics displayed in real time.

With real-time insights, page admins can now pinpoint the exact time when fans are engaging with their page's posts. The tool features a graph that traces fan activity over the last 24 hours to help page managers decide when to publish their page posts and optimize engagement. It will also allow page manaagers to see the time frame in which a post remains relevant and help prevent them from overflowing fans' News Feeds with too many posts.

The real-time graph shows when a post's engagement dies down, telling page managers if they should hold off on introducing a new post as fans are still engaging with the previous one. PageLever co-founder Jeff Widman tells us that the new feature will benefit those looking to understand their audience's engagement habits with discernable evidence.

Below the real-time engagement graph, instead of listing page posts in chronological order, PageLever Now lists posts in order of current social relevancy. For example, if an admin has just published a new post, but a fan has just commented on a previous post, the post with more recent activity receives priority and is pushed to the top. Widman tells us this is the first time he has seen this feature for a Facebook analytics tool.

In addition to page insights, PageLever has added new features to its dashboard, making it easier for admins managing more than one page. This includes a sidebar listing each page for which user is admin, a built-in page post publisher, a calendar of scheduled posts and image search.

PageLever, which was founded in August 2011, added post tagging and alerts to its insights platform in May.

The Hangover, Iron Man, Scarface and more in this week’s top PTAT gainers among movie pages

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:00 PM PDT

The Hangover is this week’s top gaining movie page when it comes to the People Talking About This metric. The page has received 303,765 additional engagements over the past week. Despite having not been in theaters since summer 2011, the page has seen engagement increase as it promotes a sequel in production now.

The top 10 movie pages saw PTAT growth between 147,588 and 303,765 engagements. We compile this list with our PageData tool, which tracks page growth across Facebook.

# Name People Talking About Daily Growth Weekly Growth 
1   The Hangover 329,139 0 +303,765
2   Iron Man 506,093 -112,132 +302,400
3   Scarface™ 241,767 0 +195,825
4   Boo 505,622 +38,344 +182,091
5   The Goonies 187,379 +237 +178,059
6   WWWAAAAAAZAAAAAAAAP 336,952 +30,334 +176,295
7   Breaking Dawn 401,751 +44,247 +169,232
8   Alice in Wonderland 98,434 -116,506 +156,380
9   Captain Jack Sparrow 296,784 0 +152,929
10   女人心事姊妹淘 212,308 +2,464 +147,588

 

The Hangover has started to see increased engagement as it looks to generate buzz for its next sequel, The Hangover 3. The movie has begun filming and the page has shared a few pictures of the set from director Todd Phillips’ Instagram. With more than 19 million page Likes, The Hangover series has acquired many fans from the previous movies. The page managers are taking advantage of the established audience and will likely use more social ads as the summer 2013 premiere edges closer.

At No. 2 is the Iron Man franchise, which is similarly prepping for its third movie to be released in summer 2013. Earlier last week, the page released a teaser trailer that has garnered enough buzz, it is surprising it is not the top gaining page for this week. Upon further inspection, this could be due to directing fans to view the trailer on a separate site instead of uploading it directly on the Facebook page. Uploading it directly onto Facebook makes it easier for fans to Like and share the post, allowing it to grow organically among its 11 million fans and their friends. However, the trailer is likely an iTunes Trailers exclusive.

At No. 3 is the 1983 film, Scarface. Having been released in theaters long before Facebook even existed, it is impressive to see the movie have over 7 million page likes. Unlike the previous movies mentioned, Scarface has no sequels planned, yet sees ample engagement week to week. Universal seems to use the page as a way to market to these 7 million fans and hope to drive home video sales. Most of the page posts remain relevant to the Scarface brand, but the studio strategically markets some of its other titles through the page.

Visit PageData to see more about the top talked about pages among movies as well as other categories.

Facebook rolling out option for fans to receive notifications about page posts

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:53 PM PDT

Facebook is rolling out a new feature for users to opt in to receive notifications every time a page makes a post.

This seems to be a solution for fans who don’t want to miss any page posts that might not make it into their News Feed because of Facebook’s algorithms. For example, some users might want to be aware of all posts from a news publication, an artist they really like or a small business that doesn’t post very often. The feature is similar to the “close friends” option, which alerts users each time a new update or photo is shared by someone on the list.

Facebook confirmed to us in a statement, “We are currently rolling out the ability for people to receive notifications from specific pages, friends or public figures that they are connected to. This feature will help people keep up with the people and things that they care about most.”

With users and pages making so many posts and taking so many actions, Facebook uses an algorithm to sort News Feed rather than being a full stream like Twitter. Although the goal is to make the feed more relevant and engaging, this sometimes leads users to miss posts that they might have wanted to see. Some users have tried using Interest Lists to get a more complete feed from pages they care about. With notifications, however, users will be even more likely to see all the content from a page or person. Notifications are off by default and settings can be changed at any time.

The social network has also recently tested a “subscribe” button on pages. This allows users to receive News Feed updates from a page without indicating that they "Like" it, but as far as we know does not generate notifications when the page makes a post.

Thanks to Moayed Mohammed for the tip and screenshot below. Notification image from AllFacebook.com.

Facebook status update box asks users Halloween-themed questions

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:36 PM PDT

Some Facebook users are seeing Halloween-themed questions today in their status update box. The box, which typically asks “What’s on your mind?” has been updated to ask a handful of different questions as seen below.

Other prompts include, “What’s your favorite Halloween candy?”, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”, “What’s your Halloween costume this year?” and “Describe your Halloween costume.”

Facebook has changed the News Feed publisher box in the past with questions such as “What did you learn today?” This is the first known instance of holiday-themed questions being used.

The update appears to be aimed at getting users to share more with their friends in a journal-like style similar to personal blogs such as Tumblr. These types of questions are also often asked by marketers aiming to start a time-relevant discussion with their fans and earn engagement. If these holiday themed prompts continue and users begin answering these questions on their personal profiles rather than on business pages, page managers may need to create new content strategies to engage their audiences.

In the future, Facebook may use this space to encourage users to share other information, for instance, asking people in areas affected by storms to share whether they’re OK. Another thought is that brands might be interested in sponsoring this space by creating a custom prompt for users in their target audience, however, Facebook might not want to integrate advertising in that way.

Thanks to David Turner for the tip and the screenshots.

New Facebook mobile ad placement options: operating system and device

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 09:52 AM PDT

Facebook has introduced new mobile ad placement options to Power Editor, allowing advertisers to designate that their ads be shown on a particular mobile device or operating system.

Previously, advertisers could use broad category targeting to reach users who have a specific device or mobile OS, but there wasn’t a way to guarantee placement on a particular device. For example, an advertiser who targeted iPad users and selected mobile placement might have ended up reaching a user while they were using an iPhone. Facebook solved this with new placement options when it rolled out mobile app install ads two weeks ago. A reader notified TechCrunch on Tuesday that these options were added to Power Editor, an advanced version of the Facebook self-serve ad tool.

As seen below, advertisers can select placement on iOS or Android, and among device types they can choose iPhone, iPod or iPad. With broad category targeting, advertisers have more detailed options, including specific generations of Apple devices or different brands of Android devices. We discussed some of these in our introduction to Facebook mobile ads here.

Facebook tests Timeline layout with single column of posts

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 09:02 AM PDT

Facebook is testing a new format for user Timelines, which puts all posts in a single column on the left and any activity modules in a narrower column on the right.

This layout addresses one of the common complaints about the new profile: users previously had to look back and forth on the page as they scrolled through to read their stream. Some users found the two-column layout frustrating. With this design, the line down the center has been removed, making the profile look less like a timeline. However, the timeline of dates still exists in the top right of the page to jump to a particular month or year.

In this test, the publisher and all posts beneath it have gotten wider. Modules like “Recent Activity,” “Friends,” “Places” and those for any Open Graph apps are all to the right, similar to how they are on the original Timeline. The difference in this design is that these modules are no longer the same size as posts, and when there are no more modules to show, the Timeline appears blank rather than filling in with status updates or wall posts.

Facebook confirmed that it is testing this design with a small percentage of users but did not offer any additional information.

torsdag den 1. november 2012 at 07.47