Tag Archives: Facebook

What Did the Instagram Debacle Teach Us…If Anything?

 

instagram-logo

If you’re like over half of the social media population, you probably just zoned out when you heard about the debacle over Instagram these last few weeks. If you are among that group, we now bring you the Cliffs Notes version of the drama.

People got up in arms due to an amendment set forth in Instagrams’ updated terms. The amendment in question states that it now has a:

non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, subject to the Service’s Privacy Policy

A reality of social networking, particularly with Facebook and Instagram, is that many users are basically expecting to a third party to have access to a great deal of their information. Of course, there is a certain level of consent that those users have to allow.  Recent events have proven that users do have a voice.

For instance, when it was basically implied that Instagram would also have the right to essentially sell your photos to advertisers without their consent, the resulting backlash had them backtracking and reneging. As a matter of fact, despite the fact that Instagram pulled away from such terms, the damage had already been done. Studies within the days that followed showed that a large number of Instagram users started looking into other photo-sharing apps. Chief among these was Pheed; this is an app that allows users to monetize their pictures.

Essentially, Pheed was doing what Instagram was threatening to do…only Instagram hadn’t planned on paying anyone.

The fact that Instagram is now owned by Facebook—a company that has had its own share of privacy issues—has many people looking very closely at the terms and conditions of their other social networking go-tos. It’s never been a huge secret that advertisers have access to some of our information, namely our interactions and interests.

But at what point does an invasion of privacy and rights become a real issue? What is the breaking point, if there is one at all?

 

 

 

Facebook For iPhone Updates

This week, Facebook updated its mobile platform including the ability to view your friends on a map from the Places area , updates to the News Feed, an updated notifications interface and the ability to unfriend someone from your phone.  The most anticipated change was the added ability to check in at events.

The ability to check into events that you have been invited to via Facebook offers a whole range of new possibilities for marketing your business, such as drawing attention to events that are in progress.  It also offers a much more accurate way to gauge success of an event than simply counting RSVP’s since many people click that they are going to attend events and never show up. Facebook events are already widely used so you won’t have to wait long for people to start adopting the feature.  In what ways could your business leverage this new feature?

Keeping Up To Speed With Facebook

One of the most proliferating complaints about the Facebook platform for both users and developers has been their constant upgrading and change to the interface.  Perhaps it is human nature that makes people prone to dislike change, but Facebook has managed to build a reputation for unwarranted tinkering which requires some form of user action.  Worse, many of these changes have occurred without any warning or regard for if users want it or not.  As the comic below shows however, most changes have been generally accepted with time.One recent change change to the Facebook platform that directly affects businesses was the switch to Iframe from FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for all Facebook pages.  While they haven’t totally eliminated the tabs feature, the overall design of the pages makes their use obsolete.

The problem here is that many users who could create pages on their own have now been left with skills rendered obsolete. While Iframes is ultimately a more powerful and flexible tool for businesses, in many ways it is more difficult.  This creates a dilemma for many companies looking to develop their business on Facebook beyond the basics.

Stan Schroeder, European editor at Mashable writes:

if a company asked me if it’s worth it to create something from the Facebook API, I’d say it’s a risky situation since Facebook so easily changes things solely for their own benefit. Tabs are one great example of that. I would never expect them to change such a great feature. One that really gave users and brands the feeling of ownership but, alas they did…

Will this ultimately stunt creativity and lead to a more generic and uniform presence of businesses on Facebook or will businesses and developers constantly be playing catch up to see how they can leverage the platform in a standout way?  You be the judge.

Facebook is The King of Social Media

According to research firm eMarketer, more than half of adult internet users in the US logged into Facebook at least once per month last year. They project an increase of 13.4% this year, meaning Facebook will reach 9 in 10 social network users.

Just as impressive, ad spending on Facebook will rise to $2.19 billion in the United States this year, and around $4 billion worldwide, doubling numbers from last year.

These stats confirm that Facebook is the place to be when it comes to building your online marketing presence.  Will these trends continue or will Facebook be overtaken by another platform like Myspace before it?