Photo by castortroy520
So Facebook will be making some changes…again. Chances are you have no idea what is going to happen, so here are some of the basic changes, which I feel will have the largest impact on how Facebook and the way Facebook applications are used.
- Users will no longer receive notifications from applications (so when you receive a notification in the little bottom right box, it will be because of something a user did, not an app). For users, this means no more pesky information you don’t care about, but for businesses and apps, this means it will be more difficult to communicate with subscribing users. Facebook will actually implement a separate dashboard, which will feature notifications and other messages, but the user must visit the dashboard to see the information. See the Developer’s Roadmap
- On the upside, applications now have the ability to prompt users to allow access to their email addresses to send them info/notifications. This means as a user accesses your application, you can ask them to enter their primary email address to help build your database and receive qualified contacts. Facebook is also improving the application analytics (or insights), which are currently not easy-to-use or super relevant.
- Other changes will take place within the profile integration. “Boxes” on profiles will no longer exists. “Extended profile information” on profiles will be eliminated and profile “sidebar items” will disappear. Also, the Profile “tabs” will be reduced to 520 pixels wide instead of the current 760 pixels. Be care if you have existing images on these tabs because they will need to be reformatted.
- Also, The Open Graph API will allow any page on the Web to have all the features of a Facebook Fan Page. Once implemented, developers will be able to use Facebook Widgets or leverage any API, which will enable the transformation of any Webpage so it functions similar to a Facebook Page. For instance, this is the example provided on the Facebook Developer’s Road Map page.
“For example, AwesomeTees might decide that strategically they would like to locate their brand identity at www.awesometees.com. AwesomeTees will install the Fan Box widget, which will allow any Facebook user to “Become a Fan” of AwesomeTees, thereby establishing an official connection to AwesomeTees. The user will then have AwesomeTees listed in their list of connections on their profile as Pages are represented today. Additionally, any content that AwesomeTees publishes on AwesomeTees.com will show up in the stream on Facebook like it normally would. And, any time the user searches on Facebook, AwesomeTees will show up in the typeaheads and prominently in search results. “
This can create some great opportunities and influence the way people consume brands with Facebook because it is basically allowing a brand’s Facebook page be their Webpage.
Most of these changes do not have an identified date/time of launch, but Facebook usually provided 30-60 days warning before they eliminate anything. They also stage a new feature for approximately 30 days prior to launch.
Jen Cohen is a social media and marketing maven knocked down many times in 26 yrs. Something Creative http://somethingcreativemarketing.com
http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog
