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Facebook: Prepare for More Sharing

by Anna Eschenburg on January 19, 2012

At an event last night in San Francisco, Facebook announced even more ways for users to share by significantly expanding the number of Open Graph applications to 60. Previously, users could share what they were listening to with Spotify or reading on Washington Post, but the expanded list includes everything from Airbnb to Living Social and Pinterest.

The platform is now open to all developers, meaning the opportunities are endless for what ‘actions’ Facebook users can take. Ford has already created two applications that integrate with OpenGraph to take advantage of the instant sharing. Expect more brands to join them and thousands of applications to be released in the coming months.

Facebook, through their Open Graph, is quickly cementing themselves as the infrastructural backbone for emerging social sites. When a new service pops up, logging in via Facebook Connect is the easiest way to find friends already on the service and invite others to join. Tying this into the timeline will expand the viral opportunities for new services. This will also be important for brands, but it will require new thinking in how they interact and engage with their consumers and followers. Now every interaction with the brand is a potential marketing opportunity. This is a truly authentic way for brands to spread their message and also underscores how important it is for brands to have relationships with the right influencers.

Below is a full list of all the applications:

Music

Spotify, Rdio, Slacker, Turntable.fm, MOG, Rhapsody, SoundCloud, iHeartRadio, Earbits, Jelli, Saavn, Songza

News & Links

Washington Post, Rockmelt, Wall Street Journal, Digg, The Daily, Buzzfeed, The Guardian, Yahoo! News, The Independent, IBNLive, Wetpaint, InHindi, USA Today, Joinsmsn

Charity

Causes, Artez Interactive, FundRazr

Travel

Where I’ve Been, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Gogobot, Wipolo

Food & Dining

Foodspotting, Urbanspoon, Yummly, Snooth, Foodly

Shopping, Design & Fashion

LivingSocial, Sneakpeeq, Polyvore, Oodle, Pose, Lyst, Pinterest, Fab, Payvment, GiftRocket, LAX World, GiantNerd

Fitness

MapMyFitness, RunKeeper

Entertainment

Flixter (Rotten Tomatoes), Goodreads, Words With Friends, Castleville, Bubble Island, Hulu, DailyMotion, Zeebox, Draw My Thing, Cinemur, Kobo, DiamondDash, Snapstick

Events/Ticketing

StubHub, Ticketmaster, Ticketfly, ScoreBig

Miscellaneous

BranchOut, Ford – Mustang, Ford – Grab-a-Badge, Autotrader, Appsfire, Color, [s]edition, Grockit, Chegg, Artfinder

Will you be adding any of the latest applications to your Facebook Timeline? Access them all here.

January 19, 2012 Facebook, OpenGraph

Facebook Takes Timeline Public

by Lauren Proctor on December 15, 2011

After three months delay, Facebook Timeline is finally live for the platforms 800 million users. the new debut brings the infamous cover image to light, along with the ability to feature specific updates with by clicking on the star to the right of an update. Users can also fiddle with a tool called Activity Log, which keeps track of every Facebook-related action a user has ever taken since they signed up for the social network in the first place.

Although Facebook has hinted at the release of Timeline for Brand Pages, the feature hasn’t been extended to brands for the time being and Facebook says they have nothing to announce when it comes to brand timelines. Enough pontificating, let’s get your Timeline ticking.

How To Get Facebook Timeline

1. Users should go to https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the green “Get Timeline” Button.

As soon as a user opts in the new, visually striking design will take the stage with existing profile information, and a new layout for showing things like Friends, Photos, and Likes. This seems to bring Likes to a more prominent place in the profile, which could be great for brands on the platform.

Although Facebook has most recent life highlights covered, there is a spot for adding historical events and images dating all the way back to birth. Users have seven days to review everything that exists in their Timeline before others can see it. After that users have full control over exactly what, and how much information is visible to specific friends or the public.

What do you think of the new Facebook Timeline? Is it everything you hoped it would be? Let us know in the comments, if you can pull yourself away from creating your own Timeline long enough.

December 15, 2011 Facebook, Facebook Timeline, Get Facebook Timeline, Timeline

fCommerce Conversion Rates Exceed the eCommerce Average

by Lauren Proctor on November 15, 2011

If it’s true that people spend money where they also spend time, it’s time to get serious about social commerce. Today the Internet boasts 200 million global consumers accounting for $8 trillion dollars in global annual revenue. This represents 21 percent of GDP growth in the world’s largest economies over the past five years, meaning that if the Internet were an economy, it would have a greater weight on GDP than agriculture or utilities.

Consumers have opened their wallets to the worldwide “e-conomy,” but as blogs and social networks account for 23 percent of all time spent online, it’s only natural to expect that the transactional spaces of the Internet will follow the attention of the consumer. This opens up significant opportunities in social commerce, but analysts predict brands have barely begun to scratch the surface.

According to Booz Allen, social shopping will grow 500% over the next four years, accounting for $30 billion of spending by 2015. Brands like Gilt, 7 For All Mankind, and Threadless have already started experimenting with Facebook commerce, producing some early stage results worth paying attention to.

Social commerce company Moontoast reports that brands experience an average of a 68 percent lift in community growth after social commerce is introduced. Bringing the point of sale to Facebook walls and newsfeeds has proven an effective engine for community growth, but according to the company, social networkers are also solid shoppers. According to the brand, 47 percent of active social media users are more likely to be heavy spenders on shoes, clothing and accessories.

What’s more is that consumers are ready to buy those things on Facebook. Moontoast has seen impression-to-order percentages between 3.4 and 9.4 percent, meaning social commerce has a higher conversion rate than the eCommerce average. Whether this is the result of novelty or the rise of an entirely new shopping experience, it’s time to start taking notes on social commerce.

Only Fools Rush In

Despite the temptation to rush at conversion rates exceeding the 2.9 percent eCommerce average, social selling isn’t a perfect match for every brand. Facebook commerce would scream strategic misfit in a community ethos where commercial transactions are outside of the scope of conversation, but for brands like Burberry, Best Buy or Nike, fCommerce is a revenue driver with a true innovation halo.

November 15, 2011 F-commerce, Facebook, fcommerce, Social Commerce

Brand Followers Follow Through With Their Wallets

by Lauren Proctor on November 12, 2011

As time spent online shifts increasingly to social media, consumers are embracing brands more and more each day. The number of people who liked ten or more brands increased twofold from 2010 to 2011, but researchers are finding fans and followers don’t stop with a single click of affection.

According to an infographic we posted on the Halogen Blog this summer, 63.59 percent of Facebook users said they always or usually consider the brands they like when in the market for a purchase in the product category. The same goes for 71.67 percent of Twitter users following a brand on the platform.

The research points to likes and follows as a signal of brand affinity, but a new infographic (posted below) is showing consumers are following through with their wallets. 25 percent of Twitter’s 106 million users follow a brand on the platform and a full 67 percent of those consumers purchased from that particular brand. If social media isn’t part of your customer acquisition strategy, it’s about time to start thinking in that direction.