By now everyone is aware that Facebook announced several new innovations meant to overcome significant user challenges. These included data portability, apps management and how we manage our groups of friends. The best place to understand these changes is Inside Facebook - one of my daily must-reads. I would argue that many of Mark Zuckerberg's changes are intended to increase usage of features that have been a part of Facebook for a while. This will deepen engagement - more time spent, interactions, commitment and deliver greater utility and value. This will increase opportunties for brands just as it will raise the bar on what is expected from them in Facebook.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a discussion with a brand marketer who now discounts the value of the "like" button. It's too easy for users to click. The impact in the News feed is too small. They only count larger interactions like comments or wallposts as meaningful KPIs in their reports.
Paul Adams, a researcher at Google has a terrificly valuable presentation on the Real Life of Social Networks. He outlines some of the research he has done mapping real behavior to what is currently available in social networks online. While he does outline the need for better group management - one of Facebook's innovations yesterday - the significance of his presentation is far greater. I strongly recommend this: