Facebook Home Review: The Ultimate Mobile Experience?
Facebook Home launched on select Android devices April 12, and offers a very different experience from the mobile app. Facebook claims it’s their best mobile experience ever, but is it truly? As of April 15, Home has an average rating of less than 2.5 stars on Google Play which seemingly answers the question.
However, most reviewers are mistaking Facebook Home for a regular app when it’s actually something quite different. In the video below, I walkthrough the UI, bust some misconceptions, show off an awesome feature called Chat Heads, and share my findings…
How To Conquer Facebook’s Redesigned News Feed
Facebook, like any social network, goes through changes. Sometimes they’re good and sometimes they’re poorly received. Facebook announced one of its biggest redesigns since Timeline with a brand spanking new News Feed.
The change is pretty drastic and brings such features as better targeting what you want to see, not to mention a bigger emphasis on images. Within hours of the new News Feed being announced, blogs were already pumping out what it means to marketers. There were good points and overall the message is very clear…
Get More Visual Or Suffer
Social media has been shifting to become more visual for several years now. Pinterest really drove that point home considering it’s only been around three years, was invite-only until August 2012, and has already caught up with Twitter. Facebook’s News Feed redesign looks great and breathes fresh air into the site. Images and video are far more pronounced and the new targeting options give users greater control over exactly what content they want to see.
But I digress. There’s a bigger issue at hand when it comes to marketers making the most of the new News Feed…
Complaints Vs Doing
Ever since Facebook introduced Promoted Posts, marketers have claimed they are there to extort money out of them in order to reach more of their fans. I get it. I understand the logic behind such a claim. The system is now setup to make more money and it is what it is. However, we need to shut the hell up and either get to work or move elsewhere.
Facebook has over a billion users, the largest of any social network. As long as they continue to have a huge reach, users continue to use the platform (which they are despite claims of deleting their account), and they continue to make more and more money, nothing is going to change. We can keep complaining about Facebook limiting our reach unless we pay up, but it’s not going to get us anywhere.
Here’s the reality: To make the most of News Feed or any change for that matter, is actually do something. Don’t like this or that about it? Tough. Adapt or invest elsewhere. Facebook has consistently demonstrated their lack of communication. You either adapt or you die. In this instance, you more suffer the loss of building an effective social media presence, but you get the idea.
It all comes down to focusing on delivering great, more visual content. Period. No matter how “corrupt” or “unfair” Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm is in delivering your content to your friends and fans, complaints won’t fix it.
Getting smarter and working harder will. If you don’t do it, somebody else will.
Should Companies Be Allowed To Promote Your Facebook Posts?
Facebook has many ways of making money. Promoted posts, Sponsored stories, and maybe even video ads coming soon. By using the world’s largest social network, many things come with the territory.
While I’ve always been a fan of what Facebook has to offer, the lack of transparency has always been a bit frustrating. Here’s a recent story and would love to get your own thoughts…
Why Auto-Play Video Ads On Facebook Are Terrible
If you watch videos on YouTube, it’s impossible to miss the auto-playing video ads. Sometimes you can skip them after five seconds and sometimes they last 15 seconds and you can’t. Either way, the consensus is that pre-roll video ads suck.
Facebook has really amped up its advertising solutions and one such solution that may be coming is auto-playing video ads. In the news feed. Here’s the problem with that…
Enhancing Relationships With Graph Search
Facebook Graph Search has users both up in arms and intrigued. No matter which side of the fence you’re on, we can all agree that great relationships are key to living a great, successful life.
They say in business it’s not just who you know, but what you know. That “what” doesn’t necessarily have to involve your knowledge of making XYZ happen, but can also involve what you know about others.
Using Graph Search, you can learn even more about your friends and connections using just a few different queries. With this information, you can build even deeper relationships. Check out the video below to see what I mean…
How To Look F***ing Professional On Facebook
There are many Facebook apps out there to enhance your experience. If you want to waste time and get nothing done there’s FarmVille, but if you want to look more professional and land that next great gig or client, there’s FaceWash.
FaceWash works pretty simple: You connect it to your Facebook account and it scans everything you’ve posted for profanity. It includes words like “sucks” or “crap” which is weird, although it does a pretty good job. From there you can review your posts.
Here’s a quick video review which walks you through the process:
4 Major Improvements With Facebook Graph Search
Facebook Graph Search was announced in Apple secrecy fashion and brings a much upgraded search engine. What makes it different from say Google comes down to how it gets the information. Whereas Google delivers links, Graph search delivers answers tied to your social graph.
It can sound confusing, but below is a quick demo of how the new functionality works.
Local Businesses Need Pay Attention
Graph Search makes it very easy for Facebook users to find businesses, restaurants and retailers nearby or in cities around the world. Not only that, but users will even be able to get as targeted as “Restaurants nearby that my friends like”. Going even further, you could find specific places nearby that a particular friend likes.
Word of mouth and recommendations from friends are King. While many currently rely off of apps such as Yelp, this experience is now easily integrated with Facebook and will help people find the places that their friends care or connect the most with.
Better People Discovery
In the previous search experience, finding people was always pretty basic. You search a name and can sort by location. Now, you’ll be able to not only search for people like you would in the past, but search based on interests or occupation.
Graph Search lets you get super specific with queries such as “Personal trainers who live in New York City and like basketball”. Getting very specific will likely be overkill for most, but hey, it’s an interesting feature to have.
This also translates to better aiding recruiters and companies looking for an ideal individual.
Learn More About Your Current Friends
One of the biggest pieces of advice that’s been shouted from the mountain tops is “Know your customer”. The more you know, the better. The same thing applies with your friends, particularly if you’re a business owner. Chances are, you’re friends with potential prospects and even customers.
Thanks to Graph Search now pulling in interests from users’ social graph, you can learn a lot that you probably wouldn’t know otherwise. For example, “Music my friends like” or “Books that Amanda Hugankiss likes”. Every interest is a connection towards a new conversation and relationship enhancer.
The more knowledgeable you become about those around you, the more you’ll understand. The more you understand, the better your relationship can become. And as well all know, great relationships lead to business.
Find Your Future Hot Date
I’m just kidding on this part, though if you really wanted to, there is the possibility. What do you think about Graph Search? Do you plan on using it?
5 Things More Important Than Facebook’s EdgeRank
EdgeRank is on many marketer’s minds and with it being harder to get your content into the newsfeeds of others, it’s a big topic of concern for those who have a Facebook presence.
Let’s face it: EdgeRank determines the life and death of your content on the site. Since the introduction of Promoted Posts, many have claimed that Facebook is purposely rigging the system to make money.
We could argue for days on if the social network is treating business users’ fairly, but that probably wouldn’t get us anywhere. There are plenty of posts already out there.
It’s clear that EdgeRank is important for doing well on Facebook, however, there are some things a bit more important…
How To Deal With Facebook’s EdgeRank
Ever since the release of Promoted Posts, quite a few businesses and marketers have questioned Facebook’s actions and if they’re screwing them over.
I mean after all, they’ve spent thousands of hours, potentially thousands of dollars, and are only able to reach a small percentage of fans on any given post.
As with any issue, the first thing is to complain. I’ve done it and we’ve all done it. There are different opinions and Facebook claims they’re doing nothing wrong. One of the problems is that, after investing such time and effort, the mentality is “I did it/We did it”.
However, was it just us who built our Facebook pages? Sure. It’s easy to look at EdgeRank as very restrictive, but the fact is, Facebook was a big part of building our communities and still is. If it wasn’t for the free mostly free platform and ability to potentially reach millions, the social media landscape would be significantly different today.
Yes, we can argue about it. Yes, we can threaten to boycott Facebook. Yes, we can continue to be the victim and mark the big blue site the criminal. But that’s not going to get your page or profile jack shit.
Social networks change all the time. Whether we believe this or that, we can all agree that Facebook is still a great place to tap into an audience and further build your community. Whining and complaining will not get us anywhere. Adapting and consistently pushing forward will.
Still think Facebook is “holding you hostage”? Stop talking about it and leave. I can assure that there are plenty of businesses and marketers out there who are still pleased with what is being offered. With the recent changes, it’s time to accept the reality that you’re never going to reach the majority of your fans unless you pay.
Here’s the kicker though: Chances are, only a small percentage of your fans are your true fans anyways, people that listen to everything you have to say and recommend you or your services every chance they get.
Instead of looking at the whole EdgeRank situation as the worst thing ever, look at it as a way of better connecting with those who care the most.
After all, if every single fan who liked your page saw every single post and interacted on every single post, don’t you think it would be difficult to keep in touch with, again, those who care most about you and your business?
It’s time to move on. There are plenty of resources to naturally increasing interaction and not paying, not just on this blog, but many others. Those who whine and complain get no where. Those who change and adapt get places. This is no exception.
The Rise Of Crap And How Facebook Is Helping
The year was 2004. As it was called, The Facebook, was an online destination for college kids. Soon, The Facebook branched out to all colleges and universities across the nation. Then, after some changes in 2005 and in 2006, now called “Facebook”, opened up to the masses.
Since then, the numbers have skyrocketed. Having just 100 Million users in 2008, far less than Myspace, the amount of Facebook users increased 1000% to now over 1 Billion active users. Over the years, the newsfeed has evolved. Thanks to an algorithm called EdgeRank, it helped to better manage what content was displayed and by whom.
Facebook never has nor ever will give out the details on how exactly it works, but it’s very simple: The less someone interacts with your posts, the less they will see your posts in their newsfeed. This has lead to businesses and marketers coming up with new, more innovative ways of getting people to “Like” or “Share” their posts.
Wait. Did I say innovative? Just kidding. Unfortunately, Facebook has created a system that, while is still amazing for reaching a Worldwide audience, has transformed into something to where if you want more people to see your content who “Liked”, Subscribed, or friended you in the first place, you must pay for it.
There’s many cases where paying to promote a post is a good thing, but this gets us back to posting in the first place. Here’s the problem…
Shit Content Is Now King
Pages, in order to reach more of their audience, are resorting to absolutely mindless tactics. “Like this post if you agree”, “Share this if you think kittens are cute too!”, and so on. How is this in line with your objectives? How does this define your brand? I hate to break it to you, but sharing quote after irrelevant photo, is not going to increase your bottom line and get more people interested in your business and what it is you have to offer.
Now, this isn’t all businesses faults. As much as people are begging for likes and shares, this all goes back to Facebook’s changes with Edgerank. They’ve helped facilitate this shit content rising above and beyond the rest. Isn’t there a better way though to spread your message and bring better value to your audience than some cheesy image with a quote?
You bet your ass there is. Timeline was introduced to help tell better stories. Yes, it’s incredibly easy to resort to begging for people to interact with posts and it makes sense towards increasing activity. However, there’s going to come a time when people tune you out. We’re already starting to see it happen and certain strategies can only last so long before something else comes along to take over.
Find your story, share better stories, and communicate directly with more people. Many experts will tell you that you need to have a photo with every post and a call to action because, hell, it works. But do you want to be known as the page that shares funny photos or the page that shares amazing content and people actually know what it is you do?
Surely there’s a better way at approaching this and while I don’t claim to have the answers, there’s gotta be smarter people out there than myself that do.