A lot of folks have been really upset the about the recent Facebook changes. However, after watching the recent F8 keynote, the impact is going to be so much more than just the 'look and feel'. Facebook has made some major changes and the implications are going to be far reaching and important for marketers to pay attention to.
Provided below are a few key takeaways from the keynote.
They've added verbs
When Facebook first launched it was mostly about connections between people. Over time it added the capabilities to connect with nouns - such as favorite books or restaurants etc. However, with the impending update they are now adding the capability for people to add verbs.
Updates in the new system could be, 'Mike is 'cooking' 'toast'. Which signals Facebook to keep track of my cooking activity.
You don't have to just like a book you can just read a book. Basically with the new update you can signal connections with anything in anyway you want.
Connections over time
Keeping track of your 'actions' is pretty cool, but wouldn't be cool if you could track that activity over time? Now you can. Facebook has added a new Timeline feature which is going to become the lion's share of your profile.
And, when you post updates it's going to keep track of your activity around your nouns, verbs and milestones providing you with the ability to look at 'reports' around specific terms. For example, imagine being able to look at a report of your cooking activity for the last year.
Spooky? Yes. A marketer's dream? Absolutely.
Lightweight Stream
Of course with all of these updates the biggest implication is the potential for information overload. Zuckerberg states, "This will allow for an order of magnitude more connections than you could before."
It's a good thing then that Facebook added the 'lightweight', Twitter-style stream to your wall. This is real-time updates that aren't important enough (based upon their Edgerank algorithm) to make it into your main wall.
This is both good and bad. On the one hand it keeps your main wall from being flooded. But on the other hand it puts a lot of control in Facebook's hands on what you see.
Edgerank becomes the 'dictator'
The most important implication of all of this is that Facebook's Edgerank now solely controls what you see on your wall. You no longer have the option to say 'most recent'...all you get is top stories. As determined by Facebook. It basically means that you are unable to 'opt-out' of Edgerank.
For marketers this is a bit of a double-edged sword. Sure it provides you with some increased ability to show up in your Fan's walls. But, only if you have a high Edgerank. If your Edgerank sucks, you may be S.O.L. So being relevant is even more important than ever.
It also means that providing content such as photos and videos is going to be even more important. People love their photos. Photos get commented on and interacted with, which means it helps get your story into the main wall as opposed to just the lightweight stream.
Facebook becomes Flipboard
One of the things I immediately noticed was that Facebook is going to become way more visual. It feels a bit like Flipboard. Your profile is going to have a large photo area that you can update (as opposed to just the small profile photo). This will allow you greater opportunity for branding and generally just making things more visually interesting. Again, photos are going to really matter.
What do you think? Do you like it? Love it? Want some more of it? Leave a comment.