Tag Archives | Facebook

My Take On Timeline and Ticker

By on September 23, 2011 in Life Online

Lots of people have said what they like about Facebook’s announcements at yesterday’s f8 conference. I’m all for innovation, and I agree that many users (including myself) whine about changes, get used to them, and then whine when the next set of changes comes down. But I do have some observations and questions about these impending updates:

  1. FB needs to make it a Privacy option (which should be the default!) that one’s comments and likes don’t show up in the Ticker, or that they only show up in the case of mutual friends. I’ve now lost count of those posting “please unsubscribe to my comments and likes” as their FB status. People do NOT want everyone, even their friends, seeing their every move on FB.
  2. The “set it and forget it” aspect of the “frictionless” app experience is going to upset people, as well. What if you don’t WANT everyone knowing what you’re listening to, what you’re cooking, what you’re doing? What if in your early enthusiasm you add Spotify, or Nike+, or whatever… and don’t (if the option is even there) only make it for certain Lists? Recruiters and bosses are going to have a field day with this.
  3. FB is assuming that people will spend all day, every day, with FB running to document their lives. I’m not convinced that will be the case with the majority. Even among those who might be inclined are many who can’t or won’t use FB while they’re at work, on vacation, etc. I suspect many will begin populating their timelines with gusto and then, like so many bloggers, lose the pace once they realize the ongoing effort and disclosure required.
  4. Many people (especially those in high school and college) have hundreds, if not thousands, of Friends. That ticker’s going to whiz by like a slot machine. How useful will the discovery aspect be if the ticker’s scrolling rapidly?
  5. The huge unanswered question: What is FB going to do with all the data it’ll be compiling on its users? With whom will they share it? What will the ramifications be for privacy, identify theft, marketing?

What are your thoughts?

Comments { 2 }

Your Own Site Matters More Than Ever

By on July 20, 2011 in Life Online, twitter

In under a month and still in beta, Google+ has attracted 18 million users, or 2.4% of Facebook’s base (per Business Insider). That’s a fairly impressive figure.

Time is a finite resource. The time people are now spending on G+ (or turntable.fm, or Namesake, or any other hot new service) is, almost certainly, time taken away from Twitter, Facebook, etc. You’ve probably spent a considerable amount of your own time building and engaging on those services. And now your fans – and you – are turning at least some of their attention elsewhere.

You can’t be everywhere at once. Neither can your customers, fans, clients, etc. You can try… but in spending so much time trying to build and maintain your presence on the various social services you can end up neglecting your own site.

And that’s a danger.

Your own site is the one place where YOU control the content, the context, and – perhaps most importantly – the list. If your Twitter or Facebook or Blogger account were wiped out tomorrow, could you easily reach or recreate all those followers and fans? No.

Even with apps to help, it’s just much easier to tweet than to blog. I get that, and am as guilty of it as anyone. The social services make it incredibly convenient to post a photo, thought, or video. Apps like TweetDeck and HootSuite make it even easier by letting you post to multiple services at once.

I’m not advocating that you stop doing that. In fact, I’m a big proponent that businesses, artists, etc. should be, within reason, where their fans are, and not try to force customers to come to them. Having said that, there will always be another service, another app.

Your only constant online is the content that YOU own and control: your site, your mailing list. Reward those who do visit your site/blog with exclusive content or offers, with being the first to get exciting news (via your blog, RSS, mailing list) before you post it elsewhere. Make sure the content there is as rich and valuable as what you post elsewhere, and you’ll always be able to reach your core base regardless of whatever services they (and you) use.

What are your strategies for managing the shifting social media audience? Please add them in the comments below.

Comments { 2 }

Why Doesn’t Facebook Have Bookmarks?

By on May 6, 2011 in Life Online

Whenever I scan my Facebook news feed, I see items I’d like to read, watch or comment upon, but don’t always have time to do so at that moment. If Facebook wants to expand its domination of C2C and B2C online communications, it should offer users a bookmark/favorite option.

If in addition to “Liking” a given post, we could actually save it to read or watch later, it would only accrue to the benefit of all.

  • We wouldn’t miss stories, photos or articles that interest us.
  • Page admins would have an additional metric to measure (how many people favorited their item).
  • Destination media (videos, blog posts, etc.) would benefit from otherwise missed traffic.
  • People could see (if the underlying privacy settings allow) which items their friends felt were interesting enough to bookmark, allowing “influencers” to have even more influence.

Does anyone know if FB has something like this in the works? Would you use it if they offered it?

What else do you think FB is missing (snark aside!) that would make it more useful?

Comments { 4 }

No, Facebook Doesn’t ‘Own’ Your Private Photos

By on April 27, 2011 in Life Online, Privacy

Another panicky status meme is making the Facebook rounds. And while there’s a grain of truth buried in it – as there is with many memes – it’s surrounded by some scare-mongering misinformation.

The current status meme reads something like this:

ATTENTION: This Friday, Facebook will become owner of the publishing rights of ALL your private photos. You need to make a simple change: go to ‘account’, ‘account settings’, ‘facebook adverts’(along the top), ‘ads shown by third parties’, choose ‘NO ONE’ then SAVE. Takes seconds to fix. And please share share share. (for those who haven’t done this yet..)

That right there is two completely separate issues rolled into one. Let’s take them one at a time.

First: Facebook doesn’t “own” your private photos. In fact, section 2 of their Terms (have you ever read them? you might want to) explicitly states “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook” (emphasis mine). They further state on their Facebook Ads Settings page, “Despite what you may have heard, Facebook does not give your personal information to advertisers—including your name, profile picture or any of your photos.”

According to those same terms, when you upload your photos or other intellectual property, y ou give Facebook a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post… this license ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.”

Why the non-exclusive license? So that they have the right to a) have your content on their servers and b) serve it to others, in accordance with your privacy preferences.

That brings us to part 2. Yes, Facebook is now (and has been) integrating their content into third party websites, and doing something they call “social advertising” on Facebook itself. That’s when they show you, in your sidebar, that such-and-such friend of yours “Liked” a given page or product, for example.  If that sort of thing wigs you out – as it does me – you can visit the Facebook Ads settings page, click on both Edit Third Party Ad Settings and Edit Social Ads settings and make sure you select “No One” for each of them.

My long-held opinion and personal preference is that the default sharing settings should always be the most private. Users should have to affirmatively opt-in to more public levels of sharing of their data and IP. However, since Facebook is provided free to users, it needs to make money in other ways, such as through advertising. They sell ads by mining our data, and our content (if we let them). So be it. We’re always free to choose not to use it, after all.

And while I’m no Facebook apologist, repeating erroneous information like “Facebook will own all your photos on Friday!” obscures the real message, which is: It’s a good idea, and your responsibility, to regularly review all of your Facebook privacy settings and make sure they’re how you want them to be.

Comments { 31 }

Interesting Links 4.19.11

By on April 20, 2011 in Links 'O The Day

Evidently the discipline of doing this daily has eluded me, but I’m picking up the pieces and carrying on. Here are the links I found interesting today:

 

Comments { 0 }