When Facebook launched the Like button at last year’s f8, it quickly became one of the most popular and powerful tools on the Internet. According to Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, Open Graph is the most significant update to the Facebook Platform since it launched in 2007, expanding the capabilities and opportunities for social apps, from music to TV to news to lifestyle apps such as cooking, fitness, and travel. I will explore in this blog post how these three updates can help create a deep, exciting connection between you and your users, and drive new users to your app.

Introducing Timeline

Timeline is a page on which you can put the events and activity that matter most to you. Possibly the biggest revamp of the Facebook Profile is the ability to choose a large, unique image for a cover photo on the top of your Timeline. Mark Zuckerberg said the cover photo would provide a deeper insight into users’ personalities, as this will be the first thing people see when they visit your Timeline.

Here is a slideshow to illustrate the new Timeline. This is where you can tell your story from beginning, to middle, to now. “If the original profile was the first five minutes of your conversation, and the stream is the next 15 (minutes), then I want to show you the rest,” Zuckerberg said before introducing Timelines.

It was announced this morning that Facebook will officially be deprecating FBML in favour of the new iFrame tabs. The move to iFrame tabs is very welcomed by developers for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, Tabs are now consistent with the way Canvas applications are built allowing a more streamlined (and ultimately more cost effective) development process.
Secondly, the iFrame tabs opens the gates allowing deeper personalisation while setting the foundations for building applications with newer technologies resulting in faster, more efficient applications.

The official word from Facebook is:

“We are deprecating FBML. On Jan 1, 2012: FBML will no longer be supported on Platform. June 1, 2012: FBML apps will no longer work. All FBML endpoints are removed. If you are building a new application on Facebook.com, please implement your application using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. You can use our JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins to embedded many of the same social features available in FBML.”

It’s also worth noting that the Platform will still have the same constraints (520px width for tabs and 760px for applications) – there will be no visual change to the Platform, just the underlying technologies that developers are building on.

Facebook have written a post in their developer blog outlining their deprecation roadmap:

http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/568/

Royal Wedding Stories was launched a week before the Royal Wedding on the official Facebook Page of The British Monarchy, marking the first time in history that a wedding will be experienced online, worldwide, and with thousands, perhaps even millions of friends.

Anyone, anywhere in the World can tell their story and thanks to a fully integrated Bing Map the international distribution of well-wishing Facebook users can be fully visualised and recorded. Not only that, but the stories can be categorised by location so people can like, share and comment on those from their neighbours to amplify the stories in their area – this makes the whole thing more fun and interactive for the user.

Facebook was placed at the centre of a campaign that utilised all possible platforms, including Twitter, national newspapers, Youtube, and even Flickr. The Royal Wedding Stories app saw more than 35,000 visits following its soft launch, with over 1,000 photos being uploaded. The massive growth of this app caught the media’s attention, and by the Royal Wedding day the application had accumulated over 187,770 visitors. Over 12,000 stories were created, bringing nearly 250,000 visits to the Page in less than two weeks.

Users have the option of uploading a photo to personalise their blessing (as well as recording this day in history!). This is also the first time iPlatform enabled “HTTPS” for an app, going forward with Facebook’s vision of a continued commitment to security. Will and Kate themselves can use the app to track their popularity across the globe or to view the blessings from familiar places. Perhaps the Prince wants to check out the blessings from old University friends in St. Andrews in Scotland, or former pupils in Tortel, Chile where he spent part of his gap year.

The majority of users come from the United Kingdom, followed by Malaysia, India, and the United States. Gender-wise, 59% are female and 39% are male. 18 to 24 year-olds make up the largest proportion of well-wishers, at 26%, followed by 25 to 34 year-olds at 21.5%. The app proved effective in targeting the appropriate age group of fans and users, creating an event that truly spanned the globe. Unlike the wedding coverage of Prince William’s parents, social media has enabled its worldwide audience of 2.5 billion people to watch what they want, when they want, and post comments along the way.

Whether you are joining the crowds in central London, or having a party in Singapore, the Royal Wedding Stories App will allow people to be part of this historic event by sharing their experiences with others on Facebook. To access the facility, Facebook users will need to go to www.facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy and then select the ‘Royal Wedding Stories’ tab. Users will be able to access the app until 6 May 2011.

Coming into 2011, companies are beginning to understand what their goals should be in social media. Fans and followers give brands a potential base of supporters, but it is only through driving engagement that you can turn them into loyal customers, spreading your marketing messages throughout the web. David Parfect, Facebook’s UK Sales Manager, said in his speech titled ‘Facebook: It’s More Than Just Social Media’, “Don’t think in campaigns – it’s about long term relationship marketing.” Give people engaging content and they will share marketing content for you!

Here are some of the main points I took away from Parfect’s talk.

Tailored Content

When commuters stream through stations each morning, armed with whatever free newspaper they’ve collected at the entrance, they’re all essentially consuming the same content.

Social media enables tailored content, where a person’s activity on social networking websites and elsewhere on the web influences what adverts they see and what recommendations they receive. This in turn promotes virality – the more relevant content a user is subjected to, the more they will engage with it and the more this information will be passed down the line to like-minded friends.

On Facebook, it’s all about real people with real identities. It shows who we are and what we do. And Facebook’s algorithm looks to match your top/most relevant stories up to show what your friends are and what they do. Because of this relevancy – that trusted referral you can get through your friends – Facebook allows you to do personalised marketing on scale. Conversations are happening with or without the brands’ participation. But successful engagement brings further work – interactions are not just a stimulus for visibility, but from real people who want you to speak back.

Branded Communication on Facebook

As shown in the chart above, people interact in multiple ways. Great brands integrate various forms of media together. Build social into the wider strategy and link with offline media. Use Facebook to link back to your website and drive traffic back through. But remember – it’s creating relationships, not marketing. Brands use Facebook to get their message out, and users are also using Facebook to get their message out to the brands. Be human and hang out with your audience. Amplification will be far greater in that sweet middle spot.

Future Trends

Mobile will be massive on Facebook. There are over 10 million users in the UK that connect via Facebook Mobile – that’s a third of the total number of Facebook users in the UK. As we saw with Alton Towers’ check-in deals in February 2011 that drove 5,200 people to the amusement park, the collective power of smartphones, social networks and e-commerce will prove too much for brands to ignore.

Leveraging e-commerce through social channels will also increase. Levi’s uses open graph to track and show users what their friends might like, allowing shoppers to like, view and filter products based on social input/preferences. Shoppers can either view top products from “everyone” or specifically visit the “Friends Store”, a storefront with content chosen by Facebook friends.

The growing volume of public customer support through Facebook and Twitter is a challenge for businesses, who are still trying to work out how marketing and customer service can work together and share social channels. Integrating social media into the traditional business organisation is a big challenge. As social media professionals, we now need to help companies work out the real ROI from their social media activity. This is difficult, but doable – and I believe that brands and consumers will communicate together to leverage an open and connected world.

But you needn’t wait for a natural disaster to make Facebook work for your non-profit, as said by Sara Inés Calderón in her 10 Tips for Non-Profits on Facebook. There are many different ways to utilise the service for your non-profit, from creating an application to running a campaign or even buying Facebook ads.

1. Create a Competition, Game or Quiz

Finding creative ways to engage your fans is an important part of fostering an active Facebook community that will want to take their engagement from the virtual to real world by becoming involved in your group physically or fiscally. One way to do this is creating an application, game or quiz that fans can use once, or ideally, several times. This can include creating fun content that they can post to their Walls so friends in their networks can also learn about your organisation.

Today, the Fairtrade Foundation launches a social-media campaign to mark its annual promotional event, Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 28 February to 13 March 2011.

iPlatform is part of building the campaign in creating the Show Off Your Label, a unique competition with 14 challenges to get people showing off Fairtrade’s label with the chance of winning some amazing prizes. One of the challenges invites users on Facebook to upload a photo of themselves using their favourite Fairtrade product, such as a banana to create a ‘banana smile’.

2. Integrate with other Social Platforms

Fairtrade’s campaign utilised social media to the max, not only focusing on Facebook and Twitter, but also utilising their own website, emails, phone calls and web banners.

The best campaigns use multiple channels. You can optimise your existing Facebook Page to promote awareness, discussion, and attract new activists and members. Fairtrade’s “Show Off Your Label” catchphrase and graphics are featured in every promotion and all over the site.

3. Tie in with other Brands

Richard Stobart, head of consumer marketing at The Fairtrade Foundation, said the annual event provided a significant platform for brands to showcase their CSR credentials. iPlatform’s app for Fairtrade includes specific sponsors for each challenge, encouraging those brands to help drive traffic to the campaign. “Any brand with Fairtrade-certified products has an opportunity to join in the fun of Fairtrade Fortnight and talk about their relationship with producers in developing countries,” Stobart added.

4. Friend Get A Friend

The “Friend Get A Friend” method was encouraged on Fairtrade’s promotional video. “Tell your Friend. Your Friend’s Friend, And your 563 Facebook Friends about it. Help us make the world’s longest bunting.” When supporters can get instant feedback on the effects of their efforts (seeing fan numbers grow), it makes them even more motivated.

There are all types of features you can add to your Page that allow your fans to feel ownership of your organisation, like a fan badge or a web banner for their profile pages. In Fairtrade’s case, the added bonus of a promotion with an application is that, whether it’s published to your fan’s wall or their profile page, it also gets many users’ and their friends’ attention.

5. Listen to Feedback

Finally, communication is key in a social network. It’s important to monitor your Facebook Page to see what’s working and what’s not. Do your photo posts get more comments than your video posts? Are fans checking out your Application page or your blog? iPlatform builds a customised admin panel for each project that allows you to moderate and view entries. As the administrator of a Page you can always check an admin panel or Insights Dashboard for specific information on the age, sex and location of your fans to see what’s working with different groups.

Of course, these tips aren’t limited to non-profit corporations. Anyone can use social media to leverage those same motivations.

More Flexibility

Using iframes means you can now include on Facebook Page tabs all the functionality that we have always built in the main app canvas pages.

This also means that the way developers build applications on Page tabs will be consistent with the dominant way they are built on canvas pages, which should simplify development processes (and reduce support costs). It gives more flexibility to developers to build entire apps that can work within tabs, and potentially customise behaviour to different Pages.

Better Communication

Starting today, you can also navigate and interact with other areas of Facebook as your Page. This means you can choose to receive notifications about fan activity, Like and comment on other Pages as your Page, and get your own Newsfeed where you can engage with and share the latest and most important news with other Pages you like.

By March 11, 2011, you will no longer be able to create new FBML apps and Pages will no longer be able to add the Static FBML app.

iPlatform is now building new types of apps using iframes in Page Tabs.

It was a fun event where I learnt, amongst other things, that Channel 4′s Shameless has one of the highest engagement levels on Facebook while Skins, Eastenders and Hollyoaks are each one of the lowest in comparison.

Josh was making the argument that engaging with viewers should be a high priority for broadcasters at a time where there is now much more flexibility and choice, with TV on demand available both online and on television sets directly; the public are becoming less dependent on the times at which media companies decide to air. As programmes are watched on the web, conversations around them follow – broadcasters should be involved. Social media is a great channel to get people talking about your programmes and spreading the word to create the next hit show.

Some facts:

• 85% of fan page interactions are in the Newsfeed – fans rarely go to a Facebook page directly.
• Facebook’s algorithm is based upon interactions such as comments and likes, and the more engagement updates receive, the longer they will be held in the news feed.
• In Twitter, @replies and re-tweets directly increase visibility in the feed.
• Measuring and analysing engagement is key if you want to increase it – failing to address engagement levels can mean brands risk losing out on the value of social channels.
• Communication in social channels is two way – marketing and customer support channels occupy the same space.
• The more successfully you push a Facebook page or a Twitter account for marketing, the more your customers will use it to ask questions or grieve their complaints. Failure to deliver can alienate existing and potential customers.
• Silence is golden – Strictly Come Dancing maintained a quiet period between seasons to create a big bang in late 2010 rather than risk losing fans at a time when it was less relevant.
• Non-profit organisations are a natural fit for social media campaigns (See Channel 4′s Hugh’s Fish Fight). People (who believe in your cause) want to help, often don’t want to expend much time or money, and want to look good to their friends, family, and social network. A social media campaign lies at the nexus of these three motivations. And, most importantly, it gives your fans an easy way to act!

These certainly suggest that social media has a unique role in TV to expand conversation and interaction around programming content, from campaign to commentary to community building.  Looking at the best practices in the world of TV and social media are lessons we can learn from to take to the advent of social TV.

You simply cannot ignore social networking.
• We see a real acceptance of the dominance and importance of Facebook (and Twitter, to some extent).
• Businesses shift marketing budget into social platforms in huge amounts.
• Businesses dedicate real resource across departments – especially customer support.
Before you spend any money, get the communication management right.
Encourage existing customers to join you online before spending money advertising to reach others.
• When you get people to click that ‘Like’ button on Facebook, what it really gives you is the ability to speak to them.

At the last Facebook Developer Garage London event, I learnt from Thomas Neumark of the RSA that many of the problems which we face as a society can best be solved by understanding how networks work – understanding our connections with other people and organisations. Going further than that, the Internet – in the examples of Facebook, and in our own small way, iPlatform – has a really important role to play in this.

Image by Facebook, Visualizing Friendships

Our networks determine our behaviour, norms or even beliefs. With the promise of Facebook “to help people share and make the world more open and connected”, people’s actions can now be coordinated quickly and information can circulate more effectively. This explains iPlatform’s role in the launch of The Big March – an inaugural collaborative campaign hosted entirely online. Virtual marchers handed in a Petition asking the Government for help to protect children from bullying, violence and harassment. Joining forces with other companies and brands including Google, YouTube, Facebook, the National Union of Students, Robinsons Fruit Shoot, and the Metropolitan Police, iPlatform participated to make a united stand against bullying.

“We’d like to say a *big* thank you to our developer friends at iPlatform who have worked on the application in a pro bono capacity – they have made a wonderful contribution to the campaign!”

Beatbullying, minimentors.org.uk

This is not iPlatform’s first, as we were commissioned by Facebook to produce the CEOP application, an online child safety campaign. We think that every brand has an important place in society, and iPlatform continues to help all our clients to effectively engage with their customers and understand their networks. Preventing bullying has an obvious positive impact on society but don’t forget that your brand is a part of all of your fans’ make-up – and how they connect to society.

With 400 million users - 50% of which log in the network website every day – increasingly using the site as a tool for sharing stories with their friends, this may not be a surprise. However, we can say this also reflects the continuous implementation of Facebook Connect over the Web – more websites are sharing content into Facebook now than ever before.

These stats show how important Facebook has become for your business. If you want people to be telling their friends about your products or your content, you need to be either in Facebook, or using Facebook Connect!

Get in touch to find out how we can help.