Unbranded Research Poll Ads on Facebook

This is the first time I have seen an unbranded "research" ad on Facebook that uses their new interactive platform (polling, events, etc). Below is a screenshot of an unbranded "research poll" about car insurance and consumer purchase habits. The ad unit clearly uses the same infrastructure and format as the branded poll units (see samples here) but, unlike the others, this is aimed at collecting data rather than promoting a brand or fan page. This too is interesting because, as part of branded campaigns, the polls are usually aimed at capturing attention rather than consumer behavior data - for instance, Saw VI polls were somewhat outlandish and bizarre... such that you were driven to participate and see how others vote. Facebook has a note below the poll that this data can be shared anonymously - but because there is no brand associated with the unit and because the header says "Sponsored", it is still a strange interaction (I took the poll specifically to see what brand would pop up upon completion). Once the poll is answered, it collapses and thanks you for "participating in [the] research poll". In contrast, after voting in a branded poll unit, it displays the popular vote and which friends participated.

The Research Poll - which appears in the same 'premium' location as other units

Upon completion of the poll, you are thanked for participating... a different experience than with branded units

The Rise of New Media, Our Entitled Voices & Chuck Klosterman

In his newest book, Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman (my favorite current author) tackles reality, perception and voice. In describing the theme of the book, Klosterman says: "most of the core questions dwell on the way media perception constructs a fake reality that ends up becoming more meaningful than whatever actually happened."

His first essay Something Instead of Nothing concludes with a fitting description of "New Media", it's rise, and our voices / roles within it:

I fear that most contemporary people are answering questions not beacuse they're flattered by the attention; they're answering questions because they feel as though they *deserve* to be asked. About everything. Their opinions are special, so they are entitled to a public forum. Their voice is supposed to be heard, lest tehir life become empty.

This, in one paragraph (minus technology), explains the rise of New Media.

I include this excerpt because it speaks to questions I hear daily: Why do people blog? Why do people post so frequently to Twitter and Facebook? What do people have to say that is important? Now I do not entirely agree with Klosterman because, as he notes, technology does play a significant role in enabling the conversation and, equally importantly, connecting our voices (through relationships, experiences, relevancy, etc). As such, I believe that 'connectedness' is as much of a motivator as ego.

Facebook's New "Activity" Measurement

Ala LinkedIn and other popular services that encourage users to become more engaged and active, Facebook appears to have rolled out a new "activity" measurement for users. While other sites also help users advance through new features and relationships, Facebook's measurement is unique because it is public. For instance, the below unit appears in my suggested panel and lets me know how "active" a particular friend is. It then encourages me (very interesting!) to "write on her wall" or do other activities to make her more active.

It's a brilliant idea because Facebook, better than anyone, knows that social encouragement and activity are what drive long-term user engagement and usage.

Facebook's New "Best Of" News Feed

Because the "real time web" can be overwhelmingly active and noisy, Facebook has decided to simplify the newsfeed with a new "Best Of" feed that summarizes the "most interesting" activity from your network's last twenty-four hours. Billed as the "News Feed", there is also an opportunity to then toggle to the "Live Feed", which is the real-time, chronological version of your stream. According to Facebook, they differ by:

News Feed When you log into Facebook, you'll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the "News Feed" view. News Feed picks stories that we think you'll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed Once you've caught up on what you missed, you can click through to "Live Feed" to see what's happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you'll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking "Edit Options" at the bottom of the home page.

This is very clearly a move towards filtering and representing activity / relevancy... which is challenging because: 1. the real-time web is, by definition, chronological, thus creating an interesting user-experience challenge / opportunity 2. defining "what is most interesting" is also challenging. Facebook has many data points: comments, likes, shares, etc... all of which will mature / improve over time It will be interesting to note the ongoing value of being within the "News Feed" versus the "Live Feed" and what it means for the engagement, readership and so on of a piece of content. If dramatically higher (as I would expect), this will change marketing behaviors and potentially force page owners to focus to particular posts within a day (as opposed to numerous).

Facebook of course made this announcement through their Facebook Page:

Modelinia's Heidi Klum Halloween Contest on Facebook

Want to spend your Halloween with Heidi Klum at her famous Halloween costume party. According to OMG on Yahoo, "Heidi Klum loves Halloween. That's why she throws a big costume party every year that all the A-listers in Hollywood attend." This year, you and a guest can join Heidi Klum at her Halloween party... thanks to Modelinia's Halloween contest on Facebook. The contest is fun, viral and quick: it ends October 25th - so submit your pictures and vote quickly.

There are three easy steps to: 1. Become a fan of Modelinia on Facebook (facebook.com/modelinia) 2. Upload a photo of your best Halloween costume 3. Share on Facebook and get your friends to vote!

Step 1: Become a fan of Modelinia on Facebook

Step 2: Upload a Photo and Vote

Step 3: Share your Photo on Facebook and Encourage Friends to Vote

New Facebook Gifting Ad Unit - Saw VI's Facebook Campaign

Facebook has been rapidly innovating with their ad platform and rolling out new ad formats. We have seen:- Fan Page ad units - Polling and rich video units - Direct response / Sampling units

It looks as though a new ad unit has been rolled out: Gifting. The flow is simple:

1. A user sees the ad and is able to select a friend to give the 'gift' to (the gift is the notification and the unique icon):

2. As you give the gift, you are able to select friends (with the auto-fill tool) and add a personalized note:

3. Once you give the gift, it shows up with below the ad in the Google Chat-like format:

4. That gift is then posted directly to the recipient's wall and a notification is sent:

For Saw VI, this is a follow up to their other Facebook Ad Campaigns (they previously ran a fan and Event RSVP campaign). This latest 'gift' campaign seems to be more focused on continuing the viral loop and reinforcing the movie's branding. It is an interesting format - but I am not sure you would want to launch a Facebook campaign specifically with it... perhaps if, like the Rockstar direct response ads, it were tied to also becoming a fan (and it very well could be - I happen to already be a Saw VI fan!).

JibJab's Monster Mash is an October Hit; Great Example of Facebook Connect & Growth

Congratulations to JibJab who is the 8th gainer this week on InsideFacebook's Top Facebook App Gainers. JibJab's new Monster Mash Sendable has become a Haloween hit. Yesterday, they announced 5,000,000 views - it was announced on October 6th on Facebook. JibJab does a terrific job of using Facebook Connect to help publish stories and, most excitingly, to pull photos from your friends that can be inserted directly into the JibJab cards. Once you create your card, you can then publish it back out to those same friends using Facebook Connect. It's a terrific integration that makes the user experience more efficient and social - and the sharing experience more effective (both for the creators, recipients and JibJab).

Note: You can become a fan of JibJab on Facebook here.

JibJab Enters InsideFacebook's Top Facebook Apps

A screenshot of publishing my Monster Mash card through Facebook Connect and into the Facebook Feed:

My JibJab Monster Mash video - using a collection of sports stars. Can you name them?

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

'Facebook News' - It's Already Being Delivered on & through Facebook

Facebook has become my newsreader. It is a merging of:

- social news (both of and from my friends) - major news sources (a fan of Washington Post, New York Times, etc) - industry news (your network tends to share circles around particular topics, from tech to sports to pop culture) - breaking news (whether on Twitter or Facebook, news moves quickly and often through the real time web. Today alone, dozens of posts about the Dow breaking 10,000, the rumored Playfish / EA acquisition, and so forth)

Now that Facebook has moved beyond social sharing and continues to grow ahead of Twitter, tools need to open up both on *and* off Facebook.com to allow for better management, commentary and finding of articles and news.

I once spent several hours setting up my Google RSS reader... and haven't logged in to check it for months.... because the content all exists in some format within Facebook. The Google Reader toolset however, doesn't and the sharing / commentary functionality would help news-hubs on Facebook that are relevant to my network, their activity (sharing, reading, commenting, etc) and across Facebook's much-larger network. The "Facebook Notes" feature is partially there, but imagine Facebook News (news.facebook.com) that merges content and commentary across friends, fan pages (like the New York Times) and public content. And while people spend time 'grouping' their friends, it is done on a person or geographical basis - more important though would be on a content basis: social, applications, news, sports, etc.

Meanwhile, news sources like HuffingtonPost should continue to do the reverse by innovating atop of Facebook Connect. And by adding a social layer to their content, HuffingtonPost itself becomes stickier and they see an increase in traffic from the integration.

There are also mobile implications here since the Facebook App should at least allow for improved sharing (such as email a note / URL - perhaps blog it, share it directly, etc). I am regularly within the feed - either on my iPhone or computer - and find myself wanting to share that content and open a private discussion around it. On mobile, the only current option is to comment and like:

Facebook Newsfeed: Now Just One Image (Rather than Three)

I have recently written several posts on the importance of promotion within Facebook's newsfeed and the growing trend of larger (and more annoying) imagery. Facebook has clearly noticed because, according to InsideFacebook, they have issued a new platform policy requiring publishers to use one in-stream image.... meaning, users shouldn't see three-image mosaics for applications like Farmville and Zygna: