By now everyone is aware that Facebook announced several new innovations meant to overcome significant user challenges. These included data portability, apps management and how we manage our groups of friends. The best place to understand these changes is Inside Facebook - one of my daily must-reads. I would argue that many of Mark Zuckerberg's changes are intended to increase usage of features that have been a part of Facebook for a while. This will deepen engagement - more time spent, interactions, commitment and deliver greater utility and value. This will increase opportunties for brands just as it will raise the bar on what is expected from them in Facebook.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a discussion with a brand marketer who now discounts the value of the "like" button. It's too easy for users to click. The impact in the News feed is too small. They only count larger interactions like comments or wallposts as meaningful KPIs in their reports.
Paul Adams, a researcher at Google has a terrificly valuable presentation on the Real Life of Social Networks. He outlines some of the research he has done mapping real behavior to what is currently available in social networks online. While he does outline the need for better group management - one of Facebook's innovations yesterday - the significance of his presentation is far greater. I strongly recommend this:
It's a great presentation - and the notes are well worth looking at in detail. I remember being blown away by the generosity of his thinking. Interestingly, as you point out, it seem Facebook is running some parallels with Paul's suggestions. It will be interesting to see how this all continues to evolve.
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | October 07, 2010 at 08:44 AM
But 10 year old kids aren't on Facebook unless its a parents account!
Posted by: Howie at Sky Pulse Media | October 07, 2010 at 08:47 PM
This is a STELLAR presentation. Thanks to @TomMoradpour on Twitter for sharing this with the community.
Posted by: Galactic | October 10, 2010 at 12:36 PM