The SEO Sommelier®
In late February Facebook announced “A Simpler Way to Organize and Optimize Campaigns on Facebook“. See the chart below. In essence, they are inserting a layer between the Campaign and the Ad levels. As someone coming from the world of PPC this missing layer always dumbfounded me…
Well, now (and in my opinion at least 5 years too late) the New Campaign Structure is finally rolling out to Facebook Advertising. [Read more…] about Facebook Ad Sets are officially rolling out
Facebook just announced a new app called “Paper” and while watching the intro video it hit me: Facebook is moving way from “The Social Network” (Yes, just like the tile of this post this is a pun at the title of the movie, but also a term that accurately describes what Facebook currently is).
We all know that Facebook won the “social networks wars” – there is no discussion here. Facebook has 1.2 Billion users and the closest competitor Twitter has almost 650 million registered users. In other words: Facebook has twice the user base of its closest rival.
You can no longer lump all platforms and apps together into one “Social Network” bucket. People are beginning to use specific apps for specific purposes rather than using Facebook (or even Twitter) for everything. Using specific apps for photos, messaging, and videos is already happening as the adoption of Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine over the past year has shown.
This trend has allowed apps to take traditional services to the next level: SnapChat, for example, combines photos, text, and freehand visuals to create a more immersive messaging experience (see above). And the next kid on the block is Secret – an app that let’s you share creative messages anonymously with your close friends:
“A slight layer of anonymity is simply a tool to draw out this expression, while an emphasis on strong connections (via the address book) makes such expressions more valuable to both senders and receivers” – MG Siegler
While Facebook has it’s fair share of successes and failures over the years, you have to give them credit for seeing a trend and trying to get out in front of it. E.g. hashtags, mobile, messenger. In this case the trend is the single-purpose app. The age of the great “social network” which Facebook won is coming to an end. People are now moving towards services that have a singular focus – people no longer go to an app to do everything “social”, they go to them to do one thing. And, the best of these services entice you to do that one thing over and over and over again.
As we are now entering the era of the great “unbundling” of services that have traditionally been behind Facebook’s great wall, services such as photos, videos, news, etc., are being let out to try to stake their own claims.
This of course creates quite a few opportunities for new services to rise to the top. None will probably ever reach the size of Facebook at its peak (which it has yet to reach).
Bootom-line: This is an exciting time in “social” with loads of opportunity, because the age of “the social network” is going to end soon.
P.S. Now, I just need to figure out what this means for social media marketing…
facebook buys instagram for a cool $1 billion.
“New: Add Interests” on Facebook (Taken with instagram)
The rumors have now been officially confirmed: Facebook has overhauled the profile pages and introduced the so called “timeline”. But what are we talking about? Below we’ll show you the first steps of the new timeline.
In essence, the timeline is a visually and very graphic way to present all of your activities. It is arranged chronologically, allowing visitors of your profile to understand your development and see a chronicle of your life. Something similar has never been implemented in any other social network in this form, thus Facebook has definitely created a USP for itself.
Actually, the timeline will not be rolled out for a few weeks, but with a little trick you can already make yourself an impression of it.
After you have enabled the timeline, Facebook offers a tour in order to get to know the new features. Five steps teach the basics to users.
I – Cover
The first and most important eye-catcher for your timeline is on the cover. This allows you to display particularly beautiful or important moments as well as create an emotional impression with visitors. Of course you can change the cover as often as you want and therefore use other images as wanted or needed.
II – Views
In this area, the central or main information of your profile are presented. Besides your personal information, photos, “Likes”, and other applications, such as where you have checked in are displayed.
III – Activity Log
Clicking the “View Activities” button shows a log of your activities on Facebook. With this you (and only you) can easily view the entirety of your activities since you joined Facebook and make changes to the visibility of them on your timeline – this includes the deletion of posts.
IV – Stories
In the timeline, the activities that you actually want to have published are visually processed and depicted. The extent of what is displayed ranges from status updates to photo and video postings. In addition, it is possible to quickly and easily add contributions to the past. For example, you can supplement stories or as in my case add life events such as wedding or the birth of a child. You simply click on the bar in the middle to create new posts and then place them on any one date.
V – Star or Hide
Of course you can also edit your history. The star icon allows you to highlight specific posts on your timeline. On the other hand the the pencil icon allows you to alter the activity by hiding it or deleting it completely from your timeline.
After completing the tour gives Facebook give you a few more tips for the journey. New events can now be added via the “life events” menu. In addition, you are prompted to integrate new social apps and edit posts regarding their visibility.
Open Graph 2.0
Due to all of the excitement over the new Facebook Timeline another innovation that was actually supposed to be the main component of the f8 conference was virtually overlooked. Facebook has announced new partnerships and collaborations with with film and music streaming companies that will allow user to follow television shows or listen to music.
The key point is that friends are automatically informed of all activities (if you add the apps to your Timeline) and can automatically receive valuable tips and recommendations. This opens new ways of discovering music, movies, etc.
The spectrum of such “social apps” will steadily expand in the future. So, in the future it should be possible to share the video game you are currently playing, your last jogging routes, or even your most recently used recipes with friends.
According to Zuckerberg, some of these apps are advertising based and thus will be free to users, while others will build upon a subscription model.
