What we think » Facebook f8 Developer Conference

On Thursday, September 22, Facebook held their fourth annual f8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, during which they presented the agenda for upcoming innovation on the platform. 

SNL’s Andy Sandberg opened with his impersonation of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, all while noting the importance of an “authentic identity” within social media. Despite the parody, Samberg’s address set the stage for Facebook’s agenda to shift emphasis from “user growth to user engagement.”

When the real Mark Zuckerberg took the stage, his keynote focused on the next evolution of the platform.  Zuckerberg noted that the foundation of connections is already in place, based on the existing 800mm Facebook users. The focus now centers on deepening engagement, by creating ways for people to express the “stories of their lives” beyond the limits of the current profile page. 

The goal to increase engagement and expression is being activated through the following updates:

Timeline:

Facebook profile pages are shifting to a more robust format called Timeline, which will officially rollout in the next few weeks. The new format is designed to archive all user stories on the platform, from the mundane (ex. Tuesday’s dinner menu) to the momentous (ex. baby’s first word).

Zuckerberg noted that today, the stories we share on Facebook are lost over time, essentially like “falling off a cliff at the bottom of the [Facebook] wall.” Timeline organizes all user activity year over year, applying an algorithm to highlight the most important events and providing filters to sort content.

The ambition of Timeline is to provide a vehicle to tell your life story – or as Facebook notes, “All your stories, All your apps, A new way to express who you are.” A video demonstrating the vision for Timeline can be found on this link: http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

New Class of Social Apps:

Another key topic focused on the expanded role of apps on Facebook. Zuckerberg emphasized apps that serve to summarize life activities conducted over time (ex. Nike+ running app). He also discussed the concept of removing friction from the experience by syncing apps and timelines together. Therefore, as soon as one engages an app (ex. listens to music via Spotify, plays a game) that activity will appear in the user feed without a prompt (after a user initially agrees to the app’s terms).

This development is expected to create a massive increase in sharing, which will drive social discovery of all sorts of content, from music and media to news articles and recipes – a concept Facebook refers to as “real-time serendipity.”

Per Zuckerberg, this phenomena will, “help people discover an order of magnitude more content than they could before.”

To explain the application of these changes, Facebook included testimonials from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who discussed the implications of this amplified social discovery.  Companies partnering with Facebook in this regard are betting that the increased exposure to new customers, combined with the social recommendation factor, will serve to boost their businesses.  A video sharing the functionality of these new apps can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3b94kFBah8&feature=player_embedded#!

Ticker:

Clearly, all of this sharing will increase the volume of content within Facebook. And, not all of the social stories generated will be sufficiently compelling to be included in users’ newsfeeds. To avoid clogging newsfeeds with a deluge of dull updates, Facebook has introduced Ticker, a quickly moving, light-weight data stream that runs alongside of Timeline. Zuckerberg referred to the Ticker as a “socially acceptable way to share light-weight activity.”

Users can engage directly with real-time updates in the Ticker. For example, if a user is listening to a specific song on Spotify that appears in the Ticker, then a friend can click to listen along while commenting live on the music selection.

The Ticker was unveiled earlier this week, and feedback has been mixed with some users applauding the filtering feature from the main newsfeed, while others referring to the feature as a “noise machine.” The value of this feature will become evident overtime, based on the level of user engagement. This link connects to a video that explains a number of new Facebook features, including Ticker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6JrZdF4IPA&feature=player_embedded

Verbs:

Social activity on Facebook will be further augmented with the addition of verbs. Until this point, users have been able to “Like” things, such as “a story, a movie or a trail.” Now Facebook allows users to incorporate a noun + verb combination, which allows them to “read a story, watch a move or hike a trail.” Facebook users will soon be able to click buttons for these new actions to illustrate engagement with favorite TV shows, books, music and brands.

Implications for Advertisers

With Facebook reaching the dual milestones of 800mm total users and 500mm people using the platform on a given day, it is critical that advertisers take a strategic approach to leveraging opportunities for scale and engagement. While these Facebook developments are still being rolled out to users, MEC has begun to prepare for the associated opportunities and implications for our partners:

• Focus on Engagement: Facebook is adding more ways to share, both actively and passively. As a result, emphasis will shift from fan count to engagement levels, as the proliferation of branded content increases.

• Create Social Brand Experiences: To capitalize on these changes, brands should increasingly focus on developing experiences that promote social sharing, thereby extending reach, impact and advocacy. High levels of social engagement will also help brand activity to appear in the newsfeeds vs. being relegated to the Ticker.

• Leverage Social Apps: An increasing focus on Lifestyle Apps allows brands to integrate into the way users express themselves through their daily lives and activities (ex. Nike+, Foodspotting, Hulu). This development will create opportunities both to partner with existing successful apps and to create brand-specific apps. It is also key that apps are developed to offer a seamless experience to the 350mm users who access Facebook via mobile.

• Test Enhanced Targeting: Facebook will be enhancing their existing targeting features with the ability to target specific “verb use.” For example, as advertiser can target users who state they “shop” at a certain retailer vs. simply “liking” that retailer. This evolution will also create opportunities to enhance brand alignment and competitive targeting.

• Fuel Sponsored Stories: Through Sponsored Stories, Facebook already allows advertisers to promote naturally occurring social activity related to a brand, in order to increase visibility and reach. The recent Facebook changes will further fuel these socially-based ads by increasing relevance and exposure potential. The noun + verb construct will add further depth to these social stories.

Additional implications for marketers will become available over the coming weeks. MEC will continue to keep partners abreast of all relevant details, regarding targeting, Timeline for brands and social app opportunities. Furthermore, we will provide any updates, regarding user feedback, adoption and privacy implications.

Kristine Segrist

Kristine is Managing Director Search and Social at MEC North America