As an infant, social media spurred conversations, enabling users across the world to share photos and links. As it progressed into toddler phase, brands jumped on board exploring ways to best communicate with customers. Evolving into a boisterous adolescent in 2011, social media contributed towards riots, social movements and political revolutions as its true power and force gains momentum to create change for individuals, brands, businesses and political regimes across the world.

2012 is the year when social media comes of age.

If it didn’t already, social media will infuence sales in 2012 – ROI will develop and become measurable where marketers continue to seek appropriate methods of accounting for budget spend. Attention currency remains vital in 2012 with brands seeking initiatives that will maximise time spent with the business. We run down Part 1 of the future of social media and creative technology for 2012.

Facebook becomes the media:
Social media became the medium of choice for citizen journalists. With the onslaught of daily updates about political crisis in Egypt and the Arab Springs, the immediacy of social media is forcing major media organisations to change the way they approach news. In the recent case of Indian student Subhash Bidve killed in Salford on Boxing Day, his father learnt of his death via Facebook before police had time to issue a formal statement, highlighting just how vital a role the media outlets play in how we receive and consume news stories today.

Video streaming services such as UStream and Bambuster allow citizen journalists to broadcast live video connected via Twitter or Facebook, used for the first time providing updates for the Occupy movement both in the St Paul’s occupation and Occupy Wall Street.

Often removing the need for a reporter on the ground, these services offer a window to the world, a pair of eyes and point of view in every city around the globe to broadcast from.

Social commerce:
Social shopping and the concept of fashion entrepreneurs will develop into 2012, with services such as ShopMyLabel offering commission based affiliate sales from users own personalised storefronts on Facebook. Expect to see bloggers making the transition from tastemakers to businesses, as they maximise on their following to sell accessories and DIY fashion to fans. Astraea jewellery by blogger Penelope Armstrong of Fashion Fade is sold via Facebook and Paypal as an ideal outlet to begin F-commerce.

Apps including The Fancy and Svpply bring together that aesthetically pleasing Etsy storefront to a social platform as product-sharing networks, where items are pinned and ‘fancied’ with seamless transactional links and clickthroughs, expect to see these apps become especially effective for generating exposure for smaller independent brands with great products.   Highly successful for image-led fashion and homewares brands such as Aubin and Wills and Burberry, expect to see tech savvy retailers experimenting with these platforms in 2012.

News aggregation servcies:
Slotting in nicely with curation of the Internet, aggregators such as Flipboard and Zine tap into 2012’s trend for content curation and discovery. As social media develops and users relationship with it matures, along with the number of friends and people following, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff on first glance at a feed. These services pull together content from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google Reader to visually bring to life content in personalised magazine-like formats.

Expect to see a rise in the use of list making services such as Listorious to order content. Despite Facebook Subscribe and groups, the average user does not have time to organise their feed. Aggregator services overcome this by pulling together the best of the web in a visually appealing way.

Gamification:
The term has been bandied about will come of age with intelligent, location-based applications that encourage mass participation with thought-out content that truly engages users. Applications such as SCVNGR will direct users around real-world maps via their device, performing challenges and tasks – either for fun or sponsored by a brand to win prizes.

Examples of this in action, connecting the online world with offline works especially well for reinventing activities such as going for a walk. Natural Lands Trust used SCVNGR recently to encourage kids to engage with the natural woodlands, plotting treasure trails, competitions and activities accessed via phones and tablets to encourage kids to get out more.

Augmented reality:
Image layering and gaming using smartphone cameras wil become more commonplace, as applications explore ways to innovate in tying AR layers to real world objects. Apps such as Stiktu allow users to create augmented reality image layers that tied to real world images so that whenever and wherever the original image is scanned, the attributed image will display.

Instagram and the Museum of London made waves in 2011 with StreetMuseum, expect to see more informational AR services used within art galleries and museums as personalised tours and exhibition experiences via mobile are shared with Facebook and Twitter. The trick here is how to weave augmented reality into branded communications – expect some hits and misses as the technology finds its feet in 2012.

Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2 of our Need to Know: Future of Social Media & Creative Tech 2012 series next week.

The startling statistic is that social networking – with Facebook as the leader – is growing at an alarming pace. As of October 2011 Social networking accounts for nearly 1 in every 5 minutes spent online, as the most popular Internet activity for 82% of the global internet population of 1.2 billion.

Most engaged countries:

If you’re thinking about launching a global brand or internationalising your brand aboard using Facebook as the facilitator, these global stats are key for ensuring brand message reaches its desired audience.

In October, Facebook reached more than half (55 percent) of the world’s global audience and accounted for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world. It also accounted for every and 3 in every 4 social networking minutes.

The Phillipines, Russia and Argentina most are the world’s three most socially active countries. In October 2011, social networking accounted for an astounding 43 percent of total time spent online by Filipinos, and the typical Filipino spent a significantly higher than average 8.7 hours on social networks during the month.

The average hours per visitor were highest in Argentina, Russia and Israel – perhaps due to the p0litical unrest in the Middle East – but acts as a stark indicator the impact the global adoption of Facebook is having on the way we communicate today.

Although cultural and demographic differences will affect adoption rates and must be considered before comparing statistics from any two countries, generally, Latin America as a whole leads the way with Asia-Pacific (predominantly China) as the least engaged.

Over 55s:
Previously Facebook was only used by the digitally-savvy 18-24 age group, but as adoption spreads the reach of social networks has caught up to near enough equal across the board of old and young demographics.

In fact, people aged 55 and older represented the fastest-growing age segment in global social networking usage, increasing nearly 10% since July 2010 to 80% in October 2011.

Not only does this present huge opportunities for marketers to showcase their products to a demographic notoriously under-catered for, it also presents countless chances for businesses to tap into a group of people with time on their hands and disposable income in their pockets to spend.

For an older market, Facebook and social networking sites present an ideal way of keeping in touch with relatives both locally and globally as the ultimate online family photo album. It also appeals to an older demographic in terms of Social CRM services; product reviews and recommendations by friends, customer service questions and complaints, all help encourage trust in parting with cash online.

Women:

Whether this can be contributed to the ‘housewife effect’ or that women have personality traits more  in-tune with Facebook’s services, the research reveals that women spend 30% more time on social networking sites than men, as 2 hours extra per month.

Across every age group women are up to 10% more engaged with social networking sites but adoption rates amongst men are rising, up 10% from July 2010.

Understanding audience behaviour traits is one of the first steps of converting these millions of eyes into money. Facebook has been collecting usage data  from its global new additions, with 2012 expected to be the year that Zuckerberg fully capitalises on it.

The research does raise questions however, as the service becomes well and truly mainstream. Facebook launched as a way for college students to keep in touch with an emphasis on tech-savvy users. With the introduction of adverts into the news-feed as of next year, only time will tell audience response to the commercial changes and how this will affect usage.

Possibly we’ll see a decline in figures in the current day 18-24 age groups as they move onto alternative social networks minus advertising, remembering the ‘good old days’ of Facebook. What is for certain though is the way people use Facebook will change, as it becomes a passport and gateway to other services. Either way, social networking is most definitely here to stay.

Presented in a pleasing infographic, the research reveals some interesting statistics useful to incorporate into brand marketing strategies for social media. However it does over-simplify results, not considering the overall implications that different brands will attract different consumers with varying wants and needs from a platform.

We sum up the findings with some suggestions to develop your social strategy further below the drop:

1) Concentrate on building a Facebook presence if you want to reach the mass market:

Facebook reigns king as the platform of choice for the mass market with 85% of those asked with a profile, compared to 49% on Twitter.

Enagagement levels were far higher on Facebook with 74% using the service daily compared to 35% on Twitter.

Facebook users had more friends, with 57% with 100+ friends, compared to 25% on Twitter, translating into more opportunities to see for the brand if users share content via Facebook.

2) Users are becoming more comfortable interactive with brands online, brands should make this as easy as possible:

The like was the most common interaction with a brand over social networks. 58% of those surveyed had liked a brand on Facebook with 39% tweeting about a brand and 29% retweeting about a brand.

41% have shared a brand video or link to company site, which indicated the importance of shareability of content that is optimised for not only desktop but mobile devices.

3) Brand sentiment is shifting to positive. Harness this and find  opportunities to increase kudos with minority audiences:

The presence of brands on social network sites is encouraging positive sentiments from customers. Where previously CRM was seen as a customer service tool, a brand only  mentioned as a way to voice negative feedback, consumers are now swaying to praising brands online.

50% more people said their brand status updates on Facebook were only positive and nearly twice as many people said their brand tweets were only positive. Harness this power of positivity by asking you community about which products and services they like and which campaigns worked well to discover what you should be repeating for future success.

Females are 2.3x kinder on Twitter. Instead of just targeting the ladies, work on strategies that can improve relationships with men to improve all-round brand kudos.

4&5) Understand the different types of Facebook  users and leverage their behaviour to create better brand communications:

The infographic explains this well, not every Facebook user will react in the same way to your content. Understand your target consumer, what category do they fall into on the chart: Mary, Joe or Fred?

Consider generating content that caters for these different needs so that your core demographic always feels included.

6) Give consumers what they want, predominantly discounts:

Again, understand consumer requirements of a brand social space and provide your faithful with what they want. Whether it is news, product information, questions and feedback, how-tos, interviews or coupons and discounts, be intelligent with what you provide.

Coupons and discounts were by far the favourite type of content with 80% of respondents listing them as their most appreciated.

7) Chose your communication tools wisely, depending on purpose:

32% of users said they preferred short updates from Facebook and Twitter, followed by 27% liking emails and 22% traditional offline ads.

At the bottom of the scale was videoclips and audio/podcasts, highlighting a key area for development for brand social channels. Remember; just because users don’t currently use a certain type of media or platform, it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth investing attention. That way brands can become possible pioneers to  set themselves apart in an increasingly growing social media sphere.

The thought provoking Facebook application that we developed for global children’s charity Plan UK is certainly turning heads as it has also been featured in New Media Age and The Next Web.

Did you know that a staggering 75 million girls in most of the world’s poorest countries are born without their births being registered and are often forced to be child brides without any documentation to prove their age? Our unique app allows Facebook users to imagine what life would been like growing up without a birth certificate by pulling data from their profiles and creating a personalised video storybook.

Plan Your Story is part of Plan UK’s Because I Am A Girl campaign which aims to raise awareness and vital money for their Girls Fund projects.

If you would like to see what all the buzz is about and would like to try the app for yourself click here: http://www.planyourstory.org

Like what you see and want to share the message with your peers? Here are a few tweet suggestions to get you started:

Think a birth certificate is just a piece of paper? Then check out #planyourstory to see how life would be without one http://ow.ly/7Hd6S

View how @planuk visual storytelling app puts you and your life at the heart of this story www.planyourstory.org #planyourstory

Just seen how different my life would be without a birth certificate, view yours w/t @planuk new app http://ow.ly/7Hd6S #planyourstory

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #PlanYourStory too!

Thank you for your support and let us know what you think of the campaign by commenting below.

Google’s chief business officer Nikesh Arora also this week claimed the company did not see Google+ as simply a social network: ‘It is a platform which allows us to bring social elements into all the services and products that we offer. So you have seen YouTube come into Google+; you’ve seen Google+ with ‘direct connect’ go into our search business,’ he told the Telegraph.

‘We are trying to make sure we use social signals across all of our products… It’s not just about getting people together on one site and calling it a social network.’

Visualising Return On Influence (ROIn):

Allowing brands to easily visualise where, when and how their content is being shared enables companies to highlight key social influencers in their network. Unlocking powerful Return On Influence (ROIn) this means brands cam begin to monetise social media, one of the greatest challenges in the social media marketing sphere.

We take a quick run through the four key improvements for brand pages and what these will mean for your business.

1. Post Editing – Even the most diligent community manager has posted a typo or wrong information. Yes, it should never happen but it does. On Google+ brand pages added an edit function much to the rejoice of community managers.

2. Segmenting Likers – Large communities are diverse things. Among thousands of Followers/Likers, there is a wide array of interest. Google+ allows you to segment your community so that your posts are as relevant as possible.

3. Hangout with your Fans – Face-to-face connections are about as close a connection you can make with people when online. The Hangouts function gives community managers an excellent way to make a deep connection with their community. Expect to see weekly hangouts where members and managers meet and discuss how to improve the community.

4. Frozen Photo Strip – This one is a simple shift. In Facebook, the photo stream moves around. You can’t designate an order to them and it drives some people nuts. Google made them static. It’s a small change that can really add to the branding and image of a page.

Google+ Niggles and No-gos:

Despite the changes there are  still, some would say, shortfalls of the service. Apart from specific developer niggles we explain what Google+ currently cannot do:

1. Places – Considering the strength of Google Maps and in light of big scope for location based searches, you would assume that Google would implement to easily silence Facebook comparison critics.

2. Ownership of brand pages – Considering many people may be working on a page at any one time, still only one person can “own” or “post to” an account. There’s no way for a social media team, or a customer service team, to split up duties or on the other hand identify who is posting to the account. Google, take heed and creating a hierarchy of logins with certain privileges, please as trusting the sacred Google password to an entire social media team may just be too much for developers to bear.

3. Brand circles – Some argue Google have missed a trick not tackling the brand page as an alternative implementation of Circles, to combat irrelevant content for users. Rather than adding a brand to one of your circles, there was a suggestion that you would add yourself to one or many of a company’s circles that you found relevant.

The use of Direct Connect may overcome this. Tying Google search and Google+ pages together, Direct Connect allows users to easily find brands and pages they want to follow. Simply by adding ‘+’ to the front of the keyword in the search bar, companies can direct traffic to their Google+ brand page, which also helps the index of  your brand raising  it within search rankings as a result.

The verdict?

If brands are going to create a presence for themselves on Google+ they should claim their brand page ASAP. Owning a brand page can not only help elevate results in Google search, but by creating a unique page using the scrapbook icons – fixable, thereby avoiding Facebook’s pesky floating problem – A mention of your brand page from these key figures will and you’ll gain traction with influential bloggers and opinion leaders for true value amongst early adopters.

Google+’s main feat for brands, pitching themselves way ahead of Facebook, is the ability to track leaders of influence and points at which content or topics sparked discussion, via timelines. Utilising the services provided, brands should view Google+ as a professional platform as a thinking man’s Facebook or LinkedIn on dress-down Friday. Only by understanding how Google+ works will brands be able to create true value from  the platform.

Internet adoption amongst children is at an all-time high; 95% of  12 to 15 year olds have internet access at home via a desktop computer and the time spent online increasing yearly up from 7 to 11 hours per week between 2004 and 2009 - it goes without saying that kids will want to be a part of the biggest online community in existence.

One million British children aged seven to 12 visit Facebook everyday, despite the social network requiring members to be aged 13 and over

While Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards commented favourably on the high figure stating “almost universal use of the internet at home by 12 to 15s – both for their education as well as their entertainment – is a positive step forward”, concerns have been raised about children and their exposure on sites including Facebook.

Too much, too young?

An Ofcom study revealed that 54% of 8 to 15 year olds and 1 in 5 10 year olds have a social networking profile on sites such as Facebook, up from 45% in 2009. This equates to the same percentage of adult users. Furthermore a study by Mintel reveals over one million British children under 12 use Facebook daily, with only 5% saying they did not use the site at all. That’s a staggering statistic for a site that requires users to be 13 to sign up.

Figures issued by Facebook state that the site closes 20,000 underage user accounts per day, a mere drop in the ocean compared to statistics found by intelligence service Neilsen who estimate 7 million underage users across the world.

These statistics are hardly surprising considering the large number of products and services children come into contact with that point to exclusive or additional content on Facebook. Whether its television programs like The X Factor or celebrities and popstars Beiber and the Kardashians, young people want to connect with their favourite stars and shows with social networks offering a gateway to get closer than ever before. What is surprising however, is not just the number of parents aware of children under 13 setting up accounts on social media sites, but the number of parents actually helping them do so.

Parental responsibility?

A recent study by Microsoft revealed that far from restricting children’s use of the site, parents are are actively helping their kids to create accounts regardless of Facebook terms which state profile accounts for children under 13, or the setting up of accounts on behalf of another person, is not allowed.

“There has been outrage about underaged children being on Facebook and as it turns out, many parents are not only okay with it — they are helping their children set up accounts” said Danah Boyd, a Microsoft researcher and co-author of Why Parents Help Their Children Lie to Facebook About Age.

A survey from Harris Interactive randomly sampled 1007 parents aged 26 and over, with children aged 10 to 14. More than half of parents who had 12-year-olds knew they were signed up and worryingly 35% helped them.

If parents are prepared to bypass rules to allow children to sign up, albeit for their own protection, what example does this set to children about rule breaking later on in life? Whilst some parents argue that they do not want to be told how to be a good parent, others claimed they want their kids to get used to using the internet early.

They may have a point. Mark Zuckerberg made a speech at an innovation in schools summit supporting the use of Facebook for the under 13s, saying the age limit would be challenged at “some point”. Currently restricted under Children’s Online Private Protection Act (COPPA), aUS law that gives parents control over what information websites collect from children under 13, he talked of the educational benefits Facebook could bring to the young. ”My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age,” Zuckerberg said. “Because of the restrictions we haven’t even begun this learning process. If they’re lifted then we’d start to learn what works.”

Changing media consumption patterns for kids

Developments in technology and the sharp increase in digital media adoption have driven discussions in American Congress to make updates to the COPPA to cover all social networking sites and mobile apps. In the UK however, the law does not restrict users under 13-years-old from using the site, although Facebook’s terms and conditions do.

So why are so many children under 13 clamouring to sign up? So what does all this mean? Considering the rapidly rising rate of internet and mobile adoption amongst Generation Z (or iGen, referring to those born between 1997 and 2003) children are consuming more and more digital media due to increasing ease of access, just not all of it legitimately.

Children spend so much time online that the study conducted by Ofcom revealed children aged 12 to 15 would rather lose access to TV over other technology. 28% of those surveyed said the item they would miss most should they not have access to it would be their mobile, with internet at 25%, compared to only 18% citing television.

Mobile is now growing at a faster rate than the internet seeing a significant growth with children aged 8 to 11, rising from 55% a year ago to 61% in 2011. Around half of all British children aged 14 and under now have their own mobile phone and a tenth of those admitting to using Facebook everyday do so on their phones.

The answer…

The responsibility here lies with not just educating parents about the risks of allowing their children to have Facebook accounts, the ease of posting inadvertantly provocative images for all to see, but with advertisers who should uphold their ethical responsibilities.

Research found that 41% of 8 to 14 year olds surveyed use Facebook after school between 5-8pm. Not only does this pinpoint the key time for companies marketing products to the iGeneration aged 13 and over, but highlights a hotspot for parents to take additional care supervising online activity.

One solution is for only parents to know account passwords and monitor activity on Facebook at all times. Comments on ABC15’s Facebook page in response to the question “What do you think about parents that are doing this? Are children under 13 too young to be on Facebook, or is it OK as long as the privacy settings are locked down?” returned quite revealing answers, with some parents allowing children as young as 5 an account under a fake name with no images:

Whether by peer pressure to fit in amongst friends, playing games online or by sheer curiosity, it was Commodore 64 of the eighties, Tamagotchis of the nineties – children will always want to have the latest gadget. It just so happens that this particular toy is also played by adults and until we are able to break this fascination, how can we expect children not to want to join in too ?

Click here for the full Ofcom report.

Michael Jackson – as the King of Pop, a Jackson costume is not complete without pallid face as his whitest incarnation yet. Failing that, dress up as Dr. Conrad Murray with a cup of poisonous ‘juice’ to sample…

Twitter Fail Whale – for the discerning Tweeter the fail whale hat is the dressed down Halloween costume of choice. Minimal effort, maximum impact and one you can whip off quickly should the, ahem… tweet arises.

Gaddafi (or his assassin) – just when we thought the Man with the Golden Gun theme was buried and forgotten, cue a NY Yankees cap, baseball jersey wearing bounder who only went and shot one of the most wanted war criminals of the 21st century. Don’t forget the pivotal Golden Gun.

Amy Winehouse – solidly backcombed beehive and lashings of smudged eyeliner is all you need to recreate this young lady’s sad parting. Optional props include death report addressed to rightful owner and tattoo gun ready to mark the occasion.

Charlie Sheen – dressed in a black T-shirt and trilby hat, clutching a signed Polaroid of yourself, garnish with some incoherent ramblings about winning and Tiger Blood.

Witches of Wall Street – to show your support for the Occupy London camp outside St Paul’s, why not get suited and booted as a banker, complete with Darth Vader or witchy masks and Monopoly money stuffed down your trousers?

The Kadashians – if you’re spoilt for choice on which one, we suggest Kim. Think long dark wig, short skirt and a pocket full of psoriasis skin flakes to scatter at your feet.

Jersey Shore’s Snooki – every day’s a chance to sport a new Halloween creation for this lady, which one will you chose?!

Facebook page – grab a large piece of cardboard, create a cutout top left as a profile picture, fill in some atrociously self-indulgent wall posts and voila; you’re very own nightmare.

Lindsay Lohan – her latest prison mugshot got tongues a-wagging for looking like an alleged addict. Peroxide blonde mop and orange boiler suit is all you need to nail this one; crack-pipe optional.

Below is a cute little “Spooky Stats” infographic by Webtrends

Send us your favourites or any pictures of your own creations below.

The following quote was found from a study into mobile commerce by Harris Interactive on behalf of Tealeaf Technology:

“63 percent of all online adults surveyed said they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other purchase channels if they experienced a problem conducting a mobile transaction.”

With a huge focus on mobile CRM solutions, consumer expectations of mobile services are rising. What does this mean for brands? What should brands be doing to avoid problems with m-commerce transactions?

Firstly, the buying process should be quick, with the shortest route to checkout possible on the least amount of click-through screens. By making sign-up processes easier, through postponement or complete eradication, brands can minimise the risk of basket abandonment on mobile devices.

Sites should invest in mobile optimised browsing with fully functional but condensed content pages that enable easy menu navigation in simple formatting. Finally, m-commerce sites should include image galleries that offer scrollable, swipable or slide-able navigation or even easily playable videos; visuals are key to the m-commerce experience.

The Tealeaf Technology study also revealed that 85% of clients expect their experience on mobile devices to be better or equal to that online at a desktop or laptop. To illustrate this point, we bring you companies doing m-commerce well:

• Marks & Spencer topped the recent m-commerce benchmark study from eDigitalResearch for the second time offering condensed but fully-functioning page versions for mobile devices
• John Lewis leapfrogged into the number 2 slot after a sharp focus on m-commerce  increased security measures and branding
• ASOS’s incorporation of Facebook into their m-commerce offering allows customers to shop for products without leaving Facebook
• New Look’s revenue increased by 45% as a result of their m-commerce site launched in April, including an 800% increase in site visits

Marks & Spencer's mobile site topped eDigital's Benchmark Mcommerce study

Other e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Google, Ebay (via Paypal) and Apple translate their offer to mobile by offering one-click transactions. While shortening time spent on mobile devices this however requires users to pre-enter credit card details; a factor that some users may not be totally comfortable with.

Derek Eccleston, research director at eDigitalResearch comments on the research findings and future of m-commerce; “Comments indicate that shoppers are less forgiving of bad mobile experiences as they come to expect more and more from the growing possibilities of mobile technology. With the m-commerce revolution in full swing – where the consumer now holds the power to shop when, where and how they want – it has never been more important to provide a seamless mobile customer experience.”

“Our consumer research shows that more and more consumers will be heading onto their mobiles to browse, however far fewer are confident to make a purchase. Top mobile sites therefore need to provide all the functionality, information and details that a mobile consumer needs and expects to encourage them to shop”.

Smartphones and Smarter Shoppers

In reality, customers access m-commerce sites on a spur of the moment; on a whim based on a need at a specific place and time. Brands have to maximise on this need by offering consumers the quickest, hassle free route to what they want. Otherwise, as the study from Harris Interactive on behalf of Tealeaf Technology presents, brand reputation can be damaged discouraging customers from returning, not just to mobile but to the brand’s other purchase channels.

Opportunities

Brand History:

The new Timeline design features give the ability to scroll back along the feed to specific date at the click of a button. This heightened transparency may require attention – those bad feedback comments you thought you had buried under months of good will now be easily unearthed. However this also gives users and brands alike the option to fill in their backdated history. When was your company created? Is there a key story behind its inception or anecdotes, images or videos that can be added from an anniversary event? What other key milestones feature in your brand history? In tough economic times people look to brands with heritage, denoting reassurances of their quality. By adding further content, brands can establish richer emotional connections with their customers, driving loyalty, sales and also smiles.

Analytics:

The news design allows for greater insight into analytics. Along with seeing the actual reach of posts via ‘Friends of fan’ and ‘Weekly total reach’, the ‘People talking about this’ feature gives a quick snapshot of who is interacting with your content and what exactly is being said so further interaction can be generated. In addition the number of friends made and likes gained is totaled and summarised at the end of each month, making for a more in-depth analysis of what campaigns and activities have worked best for your brand.

EdgeRank:

Like a popularity contest the more posts that are liked or commented, the more prominent they become.  These posts are then prioritised and pulled into users News Feed. Facebook’s EdgeRank formula will play an even greater role as brands vie to have their posts interacted with, making the cut and being elevated as Top Stories in the main News Feed. To combat critics’ accusations that Facebook has become too business based, user photos will appear larger than brand photos on Pages. Brands that constantly broadcast their message with no thought toward social interaction may see their engagement levels drop. With the onus on creating valuable content, the evolution of Facebook means it will now be more beneficial to fully engage with your brands core advocates than simply racking up thousands of ‘Likes’ on a page. Content creators take note!

Open Graph:

Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol enables brands to integrate their web pages into the social network. The ‘Like” button is getting some friends and now brands can move beyond the like response as Facebook introduce more contextually relevant actions such as ‘watching’, ‘reading’, ‘listening’ and ‘shopping’ options. App developers can in fact customise responses to incorporate any verbs and nouns linked to your brand. By approving these apps as a one-click opt-in, whether it’s Running with Nike+, Cooking with Foodily or Listening with Spotify, users voluntarily share more and more pieces of information, as their activity appears in the news Ticker when they use the service.

“Before on Facebook it was about getting people to ‘Like’ the brand,” claims David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation for 360i. “Now, it’s about getting people to take social actions enabled by that brand.” Known as actionable intelligence, brands will work hard to integrate themselves into each users ‘digital autobiography’. Thus by introducing more options to share Facebook will be able to paint a far more accurate picture of users’ lives allowing for enhanced advertising targeting and opportunities for brands to interject with their product, service or offering.

Personalisation:

Brands will be able to further hone in on Facebook users by targeting people’s ‘Milestones and Experiences’ posted on their timeline. For example, you have just got engaged to your fiancée and posted a photo of your engagement ring as a ‘Life Event’. Marketers can quickly turn this action into a sales opportunity by serving up wedding related advertising to the excited bride planning their big day, or to guests mentioned in the update that maybe buying wedding outfits and presents. The recent study by Upstream on attitudes to mobile marketing found that personalisation techniques increased the relevance of advertising, with 59% preferring offers based on personalisation over offers focused on timing, lifestyle and location. Therefore taking the consumers name and life story into account, especially on mobile when our time and attention span is limited, makes for a highly effective social experience in an increasingly cluttered market.

Threats

Content ownership:

Any content that either you or customers post – whether it is comments, photos, videos or third party apps – is owned by the creator. However by posting it to Facebook, users are effectively signing a waiver for the content’s release for the site to do whatever it sees fit. A phenomenon of web 2.0 is the economic repercussions this has for content hosts such as Facebook; Mark Zuckerberg reaps the economic benefits of the distribution and production of all the content that Facebook users generate. Known as sharecropping, the more content that is generated, the richer Zuckerberg becomes.

Zuckerberg’s Law of Sharing and the Paradox of Choice:

Coined Zuckerberg’s law, the Facebook founder predicts that the amount of content that can be shared online roughly doubles each year. Likened to Intel, who discovered that computer processing power doubles roughly every 18 months: “They understood the social impact they were having, Facebook shares a pretty similar approach.” Zuckerberg applied this theory to social media, coining it the Law of Sharing. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, Facebook users are posting an estimated 30 billion pieces of content every month, and this is on the rise.

With sharing opportunities climbing via third party Facebook apps, users can become overwhelmed by choice and options forcing them, ironically, to share less. The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less by American psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that by lowering options of choice, customers become less anxious in making a decision. Translated to social media, with so many options to share what brand of shampoo you washed your hair with, what track you are listening to on your iPod or where you will be having your after-work drinks this Friday, people may begin to recoil from divulging such information to the public. What deems one bit of content more shareable than another? If you start to share in this way, where does it stop?

Fan Power:

In the days of the simple ‘Like’ button fans liked your page and you had a captive audience. Not any more. Users can now interact with pages without becoming fans. Although this can improve your impressions it can leave your page open to attack and may reduce conversions by those who are actually interested in your brand. EdgeRank will become more important than ever with posts that are interacted with and with the other posts merely sidelined to the Ticker in top right corner.  With updates not showing up on users News Feeds due a lack of interaction may create a catch 22 scenario as they become less and less aware of your brand’s activity. The solution? Brands needs to maintain momentum and engagement with users or run the risk of literally dropping off the Facebook radar – which is likened to social media suicide and a predicament no brand would want to entertain.

As a business and a brand, understanding the impact of customers interactions with Facebook’s revamp is necessary to pre-empt any problems with not only your layout, but how you can build the new Open Graph personalisation features into your online properties. Separating good social media marketing from simple metrics, the ‘new’ Facebook divides brands into those simply interested in the number of fans, and those who actively listen to their audience. Brands that effectively interact and integrate engaging, relevant and authentic content – enriching the fan experience, will be what sets the winners and losers apart.

The first new feature that Facebook geeks can’t wait to get their hands on (I want my invitation!) is Timeline “the story of your life”.

Facebook profile be gone – with the new Timeline users can browse your life like a magazine. Scrolling down a two column page made up of photos, links and videos posted to your wall, Timeline has a distinctly magazine feel including boxes that look like Myspace did circa 2008.
The purpose of this new feature ? According to Zuckerberg to give users a “new way to express who you are”.

Introducing Timeline — a New Kind of Profile

Like every new Facebook development, reception from users is always divided but this visual, more design-based way to organise content, pictures, activities via apps and maps is a great way to have a visual memory of your life, whilst discovering your those of your friends.
If you can’t wait to test Timeline, with a little Facebook geekery, you can find some tips on how to enable the Facebook Timeline right now via Techcrunch.

The second new feature discussed at F8 is the change of the Social graph. Facebook allow developers to create apps using the new OpenGraph feature, which will interact in real-time with other users in their timeline. For example, OpenGraph will enable users to listen to music that one of their friends are listening to, via Spotify for example.
After developing great partnerships with big brands like Netflix, Nike+, Zynga, when the developments launch, everything your read, listen, watch and even cook will be included in your Facebook Timeline.

A New Class of Social Apps on Facebook

These exciting new features will not only change the way we post to Facebook and interact with content, but also present fresh opportunities to boost engagement between brands and customers.

We can’t wait to test it, can you ?!