Open The Dialogue

Since most of the world’s Facebook users have decided to stay with the service, it’s only fair that we take the spotlight off the privacy tools for a second. Instead I suggest we dive into a few ways that Facebook let’s you take control of your Fan pages or whatever you prefer to call them now.

1. Promote Your Status- Want to promote your most recent brand page and want to do it quickly?  I’ve noticed that each update now has the option to “promote”. Clicking on it brings up a ready made ad featuring your page name, profile picture and most recent status update.  Edits can be made to targeting, price and duration, but the interesting part in this ad tool has to be simplicity.  Now you can find a much larger audience for your fan page and your content with a click of a button.
2. Edit Your Links- It’s easy to add a link to your status update with the link tool, but did you know that you can edit it as well?  A link brings in the header and first chunk of content on the page as well as the pictures.  It’s easy to scroll through the pictures, but if you double click on the header or content that FB has pulled in, you can edit that as well.  This can be especially important if the link isn’t being explained well or is bringing in jibberish.  With this quick edit, you can make sure all of your links look great!

Well there’s two quick tips to start your shortened week off right.  Now if you have decided to trust Facebook for a little while longer, at least you can promote and edit your fan page accordingly.

What are you doing to tweak your fan pages?  More importantly, what are you calling your fan pages after the switch to likes?

I was taught long ago that opening a paper with a definition is the easy way out when it comes to shaping your argument, so I apologize in advance to all of those former professors who may be offended. But alas this is a definition that has been twisted so much recently, that I had to look it up for myself.

Privacy(noun)

1. the state of being private; retirement or seclusion.
2. the state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life or affairs: the right to privacy.
3. secrecy

Yes with the recent major changes quickly coming to the Facebook universe, its no surprise that privacy has again become a hot topic amongst bloggers, more bloggers and even the U.S. Senate.  And while this backlash isn’t unexpected, it certainly isn’t informed, needed, or even (in my opinion) right.  See I think it can boil down fairly easily:

• We confuse the need for control with the right to  privacy. As it says in the definition we have the right to stay private. However this flies in the face of everything that we love about social networks.  How can we demand privacy when most people will constantly tell the world what they had for dinner? A social network is built by openness.  No, what we want is to feel secure about those updates. In this month’s Fast Company, Farhad Majoo does a much better discussing this problem going so far to say “We don’t give a flying tweet about privacy…we want some semblance of control over our personal data even if we likely can’t be bothered to manage it.”
• We fear what we don’t understand. I will be the first one to admit that I’m not sure how my data is being handled by Facebook within the new system.  Of course I also don’t know how (don’t be evil) Google stores my recent searches, how much of my email is being scanned for advertising keywords or even how many times my FourSquare check-ins are being studied for accuracy.  At this point we have to admit that everything we do on the web, is being read by some system and can be accessed at any time. While it’s not a pleasant thought, why else do we protest angrily anytime a new change is made? We just got used to the last one!
• We forget that at its core, Facebook is a business. Facebook has quickly become a communication portal that over 400 million people use across the world. While it’d be nice for Facebook to operate as an non-profit (I think having it be publicly funded would cause more issues), it’s just not going to happen. It’s costs millions of dollars to be the one of the most visited places on the web and it has to make money somewhere. We’ve all given our information to large companies in the past for lesser things than what Facebook offers, yet we always forget those instances.

It’s possible that Open Graph may make the web more powerful than it ever was before, but until we get through this privacy backlash, we won’t know. Instead of worrying about privacy, maybe we should think about why we are getting upset. If privacy is making you that concerned, Facebook will always let you delete your account!

What do you think about privacy issues within Facebook?  Are you concerned?

Along with some of the immediate changes to Facebook, other changes will take a little bit of time for everyone to implement. The two new main changes will be in the form of Social Plugins and OpenGraph. Together these will replace the current Facebook Connect system that over 100 million people are already using.

Social Plugins Hook Facebook to the Web

Former FriendFeed CEO and current Facebook Product Director Bret Taylor was on hand to show off how Facebook is changing the way we connect with the web.  The first major change is how we visit the websites that we enjoy everyday. Facebook’s new Social Plugins are aimed at bringing the Facebook experience to the entire Internet and trying to do it in a simple way as possible.  Each of the social plugins that Facebook unveiled can be inserted into any website as each is one line of HTML. From a technical standpoint, the implementation is fairly simple.  Just drop the iFrame code into your site and voila! Instant connectivity.  You won’t have to login on each page and the plugins use cookies to tell you which of your friends:

• Liked a specific article. Through this Like button, even if you have never visited the site before, Facebook will be able to tell you which friends liked an article on CNN, a movie on IMDB or a song on Pandora.
• The Activity Stream plugin shows you what your friends are doing on the domain.
• Recommendations will show users which pages they should check out on the site next.
• With these plugins, Sign in with Facebook, will show you pictures of your friends who have signed in and if you want to bring Facebook chat to your site simply add the Social bar.

75 sites are currently partnered with Facebook through these new plug-ins and more are sure to follow soon.

OpenGraph Protocol

While Taylor’s unveiling of the plug-ins will change the way Facebook users will interact with sites, the OpenGraph Protocol he announced next will undoubtedly change the way that websites interact with Facebook. With the current Facebook system, if you linked to a new band or movie, that information would be passed through the News Stream and would be gone a day later.  Open Graph looks to change that throwaway interaction into a permanent one.

Open Graph runs on a type of code called semantic markers. When someone likes a certain movie on IMDB for example, this code will tell Facebook not only that Person X likes it but also that the film is of a certain genre, has a specific title and stars specific people.   Facebook will then automatically save this information on your profile page. That way if you like “The Godfather” on IMDB it will appear in your movies section.

But  a permanent mention is not the only goal of linking these profile pages.  Hovering over the link will pull in information from IMDB and clicking on it will send you to the page.  Perhaps more importantly is the fact that a site can update a user about their likes within the stream. For example if I am a fan of Ndamukong Suh on ESPN, when he is drafted by the Detroit Lions, ESPN will share that story with me in my Facebook stream.

This new API coupled with new features like the ability for developers to pull in Facebook searches, develop logins around OAuth and receive real-time instantaneous updates from Facebook will provide a whole new level of interaction on the web and on Facebook.

Closing

Zuckerberg closed his address with the idea that the web’s “default is social” and that these new tools will help all of the Internet become a more socially aware place.  Based on the ease of use and the capabilities that these changes may bring, I have to agree that the future does look a lot more social.

This week at Facebook’s f8 conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the future of Facebook and how it interacts with the web. These new products combined with tweaks Facebook made before the conference kicked off will be critical not only in how we work with Facebook, they may change the way that we view the entire Internet.

Initial f8 Announcements

Facebook began their week of announcements long before Zuckerberg took the stage.  During the week they announced:

• Facebook Switches Fans with Likes.
  • While everyone knew this change was coming to your fan pages, the switch prompted some to question why it was a necessary change. Additionally the change clearly shows you which friends like the page, a feature that was not found in the original design.
• Community Pages allow Facebookers to share knowledge on topics.
  • Connecting to everything you care about is aimed at linking your interests and profile to more people on Facebook. Now instead of just enjoying cooking, you can link that interest to a community page.
• Facebook Shutters Facebook Lite
  • Facebook Lite was meant to be a smarter, faster way for power users to engage with Facebook.  In the end, Facebook used the Lite design to make the Stream more efficient.

Minor Announcements

Before getting into the meat and potatoes of Facebook’s next big thing, Zuckerberg shared some small changes that could have an immediate effect on how we interact with Facebook on a daily basis.

• One Step Permissions: instead of multiple permission screens, Facebook is changing its privacy logins to the simple click of one button.
• Expanding the Cache: Originally developers could only store information for 24 hours, causing people to have to log in everyday.  That protocol has been removed and now developers can store information until you sign back out.
• Universal Credits: Currently buying things through Facebook apps requires a credit card entry for each app. Facebook is working toward a Facebook currency that will allow users to store information in only one place.

Of course these aren’t the only changes that Facebook is currently engaged in building.  Instead these are changes that are already being rolled out to the system. Compared to the future changes of Facebook, these might as well be considered minor tweaks.

Apparently no one told Twitter co-founder Evan Williams the old Texan proverbs “If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” In his keynote address at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin today, @ev announced Twitter’s intention to blaze a new trail with their @anywhere platform.

If you haven’t heard, the new platform will integrate with some of the world’s top websites. It will allow you to follow a journalist’s byline or tweet about a YouTube video without leaving the page.

While some may see this as an attempt to connect with the world like Facebook, I see it as Twitter fully embracing their destiny.  In my opinion Twitter has always been a platform for quick communication. Whether it’s been link sharing, reporting news, or laughing at the latest meme, Twitter has always been about communicating through a platform to the community that formed around it.

While the Twitter community that has grown is spectacular, it still leaves a lot be desired. It lacks the everyman attitude of Facebook and the dominance of Google. While Twitter would always have a large fan base, it wouldn’t necessarily be enough to sustain itself.

That’s why I think @anywhere might be the best trail Twitter has blazed so far.  By combining the content we love to share with a platform that everyone knows, Twitter has a chance to weave itself into the very DNA of the web.  By thriving as an communication platform, Twitter can survive and grow as a community and a company.