facebook application development

Facebook Questions Absent in Search Engines – Facebook launched its Questions service this week but so far the results are not available in search results. Search Engine Land reported that a Facebook spokesperson tells them, “Currently, search engines cannot access questions and answers through our Questions product. That may be something we consider for the future but have no current plans to allow it.” Also, searches on Yahoo, Bing and Google yielded no results for Questions.

Facebook to Add Delete Option – Facebook has released a “delete account” option, which would allow users to streamline the deletion of their accounts from the social network. Currently, the process of doing so is cumbersome and drawn-out with several steps. Facebook is testing the option with some users, which says it will “permanently delete your account and all information you have shared.”

Bump Releases Redesign – Bump has overhauled its iPhone app by changing its look, adding new features, allowing Twitter and LinkedIn integrations, chat function, a calendar feature and also allowing unlimited photo and contact sharing.

Info From 100M Facebook Users ‘Leaked’ – Much ado has been made this week about the “leaking” of information from 100 million Facebook users’ accounts. This information was downloaded by security researcher Ron Bowes from Facebook’s user directory, or index of public profile Pages. Which is to say that the “leaked” info was already public, including names, profile pictures and a few of the users’ friends.

‘Owner’ of Facebook Busted for Shrooms – Paul Ceglia is the man alleging he’s contractually entitled to 84% of Facebook per a contract he signed with Mark Zuckerberg in 2003. He seems to have a somewhat checkered past. In 2009 Ceglia was accused of defrauding customers in the amount of $200,000 for not delivering ordered merchandise and he also apparently enjoyed the effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms in 1997 while in Texas.

WaPo Further Integrates Facebook, Web Site – The Washington Post announced an expansion this week of its Network News tool, which incorporates social media feedback such as Likes and the Recommend button. Now users may see what’s been recommended across the site, by section; also the Like button is being replaced by the Recommend button. Users may deactivate the Network News box by clicking the red X at the top of the box to manage their preferences. Similar updates were also made to the site’s Twitter integration.

LiveWorld Releases LiveConnect - LiveWorld released a new product this week aimed at helping brands better engage in conversations with fans. Facebook LiveConnect allows brands to unify moderation/administration across Pages and web sites into one system.

iGoDigital Provides Shopping Help, Facebook Integration – This week iGoDigital announced new Facebook integrations for its product recommendation platform. Essentially consumers are presented with direct and indirect product suggesitons from their network after logging in with Facebook via web or mobile, these sugestions take Likes, recommendations and interests into account. The integration also allows for Facebook users to post products on their profiles to solicit or provide advice to their network.

Appssavvy Makes Six More Hires – Appssavvy announced this week that it hired six people who are set to help the company focus on social and mobile media marketing, taking the company’s total employee count past 40. Talent includes: Human Resources Manager Holly Ettenger, Marketing Coordinator Mattan Griffel, Senior Account Executive-Midwest Meghan Kludt, Product Manager Yolanda Ladia, Senior Account Executive Magali Merat and Senior Director of Ad Operations Robin Wilson.

New Facebook Ads Promotions – Facebook has started some new promotions for Page administrators that includes free ad trials and credit promotions, following similar efforts over the years.

Nigerian President Shines on Facebook – Social Times highlighted Nigerian President Goodluck Johnson’s use of his recently set up Facebook Page, noting that the president posts at least once daily and has earnestly tried to engage Nigerians about the intricacies of government policy.

Facebook in Windows Messenger - Windows Messenger incorporated some Facebook integrations this week allowing users to see their contacts’ social network activity. In Messenger, with a new brower plugin, users can see what contacts have shared online and comment on them via Messenger Companion notifications in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.

Become a Star with Facebook Connect – An interesting Facebook Connect integration allows users and their Facebook friends to star in a movie trailer. The reason seems to be promoting Swiss television shows.

Facebook, NPR and the Media – Facebook launched a Page specifically for media properties this week and some insight as to how media properties use Facebook came from an interview with one of NPR’s social media strategists Andy Carvin. Among the insights was that NPR’s Page was created by a fan and eventually handed over to NPR, the Page now has more than 1 million Likes and provides tips, allows for surveys and pretty basic demographic insights (60% are women, for example). Facebook accounts for 7% of NPR’s traffic, just behind Google, and comments on Facebook are much more common than on NPR’s web site.

Sit on My Facebook, the Video - An interesting mix of social media metaphors roll into one in a new, mildly NSFW music video, “Sit On My Facebook“ by The Scribes. The video was produced by the Pantless Knights.

The Week in Bugs – Facebook experienced an array of relatively minor technical issues this week, that were more notable for how they were perceived. Facebook was preventing people from using the word “Palestinian” in creating Pages, apparently due to an automated filtering system. Also blocked were mentions of Power.com in status updates. However, this latter issue was attributable to the fact that, after Facebook debuted Questions and changed its publisher interface, people were having problems using the tagging option (using @ in front of a name in a status update). This has since been fixed.

Finally, there was a bit of obscenity on Facebook for users who chose the Spanish language option this week. Not only was there explicit curse words, but there were also allusions to sex acts and genitalia. There’s a Facebook Page with about 5,700 people who said they saw the same problems. Gawker attributed the problems to a Turkish web site.

Mazda’s new Mazda2 is the star of the company’s new Facebook game called DriverVille, a title that has you souping up your car then racing it. It is also, of course, meant to get more people paying attention to the launch of the new Mazda2 model, with an accompanying sweepstakes also running on the Mazda Facebook page.

The game appears to have been built by Frima, a Quebec-based game developer that creates branded titles. All in all, the quality is good. There’s plenty of built-in advertising, but it doesn’t feel overblown or forced. And it’s actually informative, so it should appeal to casual gamers and those actually hoping to learn a little more about the Mazda2.

The gist is pretty simple — you complete missions to level up, earning Driver Bucks and items along the way that range from a pair of cowboy boots to your very own virtual Mazda2. The Driver Bucks earned can be used to purchase items to accent your Mazda2, your home garage or your DriverVille avatar.

All the activities in the game can be broadcast through your newsfeed to share with friends, and several of the trophies that can be earned in the game center around bringing more people into the game, adding to the viral element.

Once inside the DriverVille universe, you and your friends will be able to move between several locations, including an arcade with interactive games, a movie theater with video clips of Mazda2 advertising, an outlet to use your Driver Bucks to buy items and a Mazda dealership, complete with a brochure rack full of PDFs for all Mazda’s 2011 models.

The actual driving in DriverVille is done on one of several race tracks and leaves a little to be desired. It’s Spy Hunter-esque. The controls are simple and intuitive, so it should appeal to the broad range of people that will probably be playing the game. Most of the attention has been placed on the social elements of the game, and those are well thought-out and complete.

As you wander through the world of DriverVille, you’ll encounter the avatars of other players. You can engage them to see their garages and cars, and you can also choose to visit their actual Facebook pages.

The game coincides with a sweepstakes run through the Mazda2 Facebook page, with the grand prize being an actual Mazda2. Several 64GB iPod Touches will also be awarded as weekly prizes. The campaign is being run by the ad agency Doner, which also worked on the Mazda3 launch for Mazda.

Global brands joined a band of celebrities and musicians on this week’s list of Top 20 Facebook Pages, compiled by our PageData tool, counting the number of fans joining a Page on any given day. In order to make the list this week Pages had to acquire between 1.1 million and 518,300 new Likes.

Top Gainers This Week

Name	Fans	Gain	Gain, %
1.	YouTube	9,105,143	+1,127,486	+14.13
2.	Facebook	14,234,219	+888,703	+6.66
3.	Lady Gaga	13,690,189	+817,782	+6.35
4.	Family Guy	13,451,027	+793,141	+6.27
5.	Coca-Cola	8,664,011	+785,276	+9.97
6.	Bob Marley	7,381,216	+766,719	+11.59
7.	House	10,824,937	+714,771	+7.07
8.	Eminem	8,262,643	+699,808	+9.25
9.	Linkin Park	8,994,938	+641,159	+7.68
10.	Vin Diesel	12,309,003	+630,930	+5.40
11.	South Park	8,914,566	+621,207	+7.49
12.	The Twilight Saga	10,257,766	+605,544	+6.27
13.	Starbucks	11,056,832	+597,424	+5.71
14.	Cristiano Ronaldo	8,911,429	+586,248	+7.04
15.	Shakira	5,591,895	+579,678	+11.57
16.	Michael Jackson	17,058,493	+550,254	+3.33
17.	Red Bull	7,021,774	+544,560	+8.41
18.	Oreo	7,202,917	+539,091	+8.09
19.	Lil Wayne	8,563,543	+538,582	+6.71
20.	Katy Perry	5,617,561	+518,320	+10.16

First was YouTube, adding 1.1 million fans to pass a total of 9.1 million Likes. Overall, the growth seemed pretty steady, although there appeared to be some official Page consolidation last week that affected many of the Pages on our list this week.

In the global brands category, Facebook came in second place, adding 888,700 Likes to reach a total of 14.2 million, perhaps in part to news of the hitting the half billion user mark. Coca-Cola came in fifth place, adding 785,300 fans to grow to surpass 8.6 million inw aht seemed to be partly due to Page consolidation.

Starbucks took the number 13 spot, adding 597,400 fans, growing to 11 million. Red Bull was at number 17, adding 544,600 fans, pulling in a total of 7 million Likes by promoting sporting events. Next was Oreo at number 18, adding 539,100 fans to pass 7.2 million Likes; the company continues to promote a contest for international fans to become the Page’s profile picture.

Celebrity, in several forms, made up a chunk of this list this week, too; this includes television shows, movies and stars.

In fourth place was television show “Family Guy,” adding 793,100 Likes to grow the Page to 13.4 million; the makers of the show made appearances at the recent Comic-Con event in California this week. Medical drama “House” was seventh, adding 714,800 fans to reach 10.8 million total; the show had big growth this week and won big at an awards show.

Action star Vin Diesel’s Page added 630,900 fans to grow to 12.3 million this week. Next, “South Park” took the number 11 spot, adding 621,200 Likes to a total of 8.9 million. “The Twilight Saga” followed in twelfth place, adding 605,500 fans, passing 10.2 million total, and also putting in an appearance at Comic-Con. Finally, Portuguese football (soccer) star Cristiano Ronaldo added 586,200 fans to his 8.9 million total to take fourtheenth place.

The rest of the list was occupied by musicians.

Lady Gaga was third, adding 817,800 fans to her 13.6 million. Bob Marley’s Page took sixth, adding 766,700 fans to a 7.3 million total, though there wasn’t much happening on the Page. Rapper Eminem was eighth, added 699,800 fans now with 8.2 million Likes; he’s promoting his new album. Linkin Park was ninth, adding 641,200 fans to come in just under 9 million fans; the Page is promoting the band’s new album in various ways, including by offering a pre-order on the Page.

Shakira added 579,700 fans to take number 15, coming out with a total of 5.5 million Likes; her Page has been promoting her award nominations, merchandise and tour dates. Next was Michael Jackson at number 16, adding 550,300 fans to pass 17 million total Likes. Rapper Lil Wayne was at number 19, added 538,600 fans, grew to 8.5 million in part by releasing a new music video and sharing another letter from prison. Finally, Katy Perry came in at number 20, adding 518,300 LIkes to now boast 5.6 million; she’s also promoting a new single.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is using Facebook to promote the government’s humanitarian efforts around the world. The Page has about 5,000 Likes and incorporates Notes, videos, photos and discussions to share its message; posts usually only receive several dozen comments or Likes.

We’ve already written about several ways governments are using Facebook to conduct business. The U.S. Census Bureau created an application to help spread the word about filling out census forms, some governments use Facebook to distribute information about elections or promote parks, mayors use Facebook to communicate with their constituents and police may receive crime tips via Facebook.

USAID posts daily, sometimes more than daily, about its mission and work around the world. This often includes government videos, photos, web sites and blogs, but also news stories about global health and development, but also issues like family planning, Haiti and HIV.

The Notes section includes what appear to be press releases and blog posts from USAID’s web site. A Travel tab includes a Where I’ve Been app integration and a travel question of the day. There are also some discussions, photos and videos on the Page pertaining to USAID’s work.

USAID’s aim seems to be spreading the word about the positive projects the U.S. government provides around the world; the department also has a Twitter account.

When Dave Kerpen and his wife Carrie founded TheKBuzz in New York back in 2007, the idea was to build a company around word of mouth marketing, he tells us. Then Facebook came into the picture. Since, the company has expanded to Boston and Chicago without any outside funding, changed its name to Likeable earlier this year and set its sights on providing brands with customer service solutions on Facebook.

We spoke to Kerpen as part of our ongoing series of Page mangement profiles. Earlier this year the company changed its name to Likeable. The name change came partly as a result of Facebook’s new Like button, but mostly because Kerpen tells us he wanted the name to reflect global brands.

The Like button goes beyond Facebook, he says, “The way Google organized the web around links, Facebook is reorganizing the entire web around Like. So, to me, Likeable is not just literal, it’s also figurative: Companies need to be more likeable to win.”

Inside Facebook: What products and services does your company provide to clients using Facebook? What types of clients are you aiming to reach?

Dave Kerpen: We are a truly a full service social media company – part consulting firm, part marketing agency, and part tech startup – providing Facebook strategy, consulting, training and execution. (This includes) fan Page, tab, and application design and execution, and Facebook ad creative, buying, and reporting. I believe that the best way to communicate with our fans is to update the stream, we are making sure our clients are communicating with their fans at least once a day. The service I’m most excited about is our Facebook Stream Management for which we develop and distribute engaging content for our clients and respond to comments and questions from fans. We work with a very wide variety of clients, from big brands such as 1-800-Flowers.com, Verizon FiOS and Neutrogena to categories such as consumer products, retailers, credit unions, travel bureaus, hospitals, nonprofits, government agencies and authors.

IFB: Can you share some highlights of how your company has helped clients meet their goals using Facebook?

DK: Last year we drove over 100,000 fans to a 50% increase in sales on “Free Chill Zone Day,” an event created entirely on Facebook. 1-800-Flowers.com has over 10 times as many fans as their competitors and was the first company to sell products directly on the Facebook platform. We’ve helped many thousands of New Yorkers quit smoking (5,300 Likes and 1,300 e-patches sent) and have safer sex using Facebook (12,800 Likes). And The Pampered Chef launched on July 14; it’s organic, no advertisements and the virtual gift app already has about 2,000 users and the Page has 49,000.

IFB: Overall, can you share metrics on the scope of your business?

DK: We were the first marcom agency in the world to have 10,000 fans on Facebook, a goal we accomplished recently. Since our founding in 2007, we have had solid triple-digit growth for three straight years. I believe that the [ed. third-party Facebook] brand business can grow over time to a $50 million business and the local business can grow to a $500 million business.

IFB: What metrics do you use to determine the success of a given campaign?

DK: Every client has different objectives, so it’s really important to define the metrics of success at the outset of work in conjunction with their objectives. Some clients care most about fans, others web traffic, others sales data, and others awareness and buzz.

IFB: What have been your biggest challenges building on Facebook platform? What mistakes have you made and learned from there?

DK: The biggest challenges are definitely how quickly Facebook changes and grows – because this affects planning significantly. For instance, when we saw that tab widths were due to change, we began designing narrower tabs for clients, and when those widths didn’t actually change for many months, a few clients were disappointed. We’ve learned to be very flexible and fast-moving, to keep up with Facebook – a worthy challenge for sure. We haven’t focused as much on tech as other players and, because of that, it’s not easy to fail.

IFB: Beyond your own efforts, what Facebook changes have noticeably helped your company?

DK: The number one change that helped was when Facebook introduced its current Page product in 2008 – which is a million times better than the original Page product for business they had, which didn’t even feed into streams. Before the Page product the way to promote a brand on Facebook was really just apps. The Page allowed brands, and those helping brands like Likeable, to really focus on building the fan base and communicating with customers. Their self-serve advertising platform has also gotten better and better, and we’ve been able to leverage its keyword targeting for clients of all sizes.

IFB: On the other hand, has Facebook made any recent changes that have noticeably hurt your company?

DK: The addition of Community Pages. It’s definitely made my clients very concerned, without a way yet for brands to manage or respond. You can imagine that if a client of mine spends big money on their Facebook presence, one thing we do is respond to every complaint on behalf of our clients on their fan Pages, so to then know that the Community Pages are potentially an aggregation of customer complains, the brand has no power to respond. It’s a frustrating situation but I’m sure Facebook will have a solution to this in the near future.

IFB: If you could ask Facebook to make a single change, what would it be?

DK: I’d like Pages and the people who represent them to be able to respond to posts on Community Pages. I’d also like to see the homepage ad buying process and value derived from homepage ads more closely resemble that of the self-serve ad platform. I’m confident that a Facebook team that includes Sheryl Sandberg, the woman behind Google’s genius AdWords product, will make that happen.

IFB: How does your work on Facebook relate to your work on other platforms?

DK: We are a full-service social media agency. So while Facebook, now with over 500 million users, is the obvious first part of any solution, we often work with Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, LinkedIn, niche social networks and blogs to meet our clients’ goals. We will work on whatever platform the client needs and usually integrate our clients’ Facebook presence with whatever other social networks we’re using. It has to be all about each individual client’s objectives , so sometimes, smaller niche social networks will come into play, too. Twitter is currently the best tool for customer service, for example; if Facebook changes their own Community Pages, who knows, but for now customer service is best handled on Twitter. I am trying to build a company that meets its clients’ needs in terms of using social media to create more likeable organizations. I don’t want to just rely on Facebook, but the truth is Facebook is not going anywhere, so it’s a large part of what we do.

IFB: Do you have any specific plans that you can share?

DK: We’re currently building Likeable Index, a measurement of how socially active, responsive and likeable brands are online, and also the Likeable Local Platform, a scalable education, training and execution solution for small businesses to leverage Facebook and other social networks. Those are the biggies – but in the meantime, we want to continue providing our clients on Facebook with the best service in the business each day.