Facebook Graph Search Adds Posts: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Facebook Adds Posts and Status Updates to Graph Search: “Now you will be able to search for status updates, photo captions, check-ins and comments to find things shared with you.”

"Search for the topics you're interested in and see what your friends are saying, like “Dancing with the Stars" or "Posts about Dancing with the Stars by my friends.”

Facebook Announces New Features for Mobile Ad Unit: To help drive engagement and conversions, Facebook adds “new features to mobile app ads that are designed to help businesses reach people that have already downloaded their apps and direct them back into specific features, content or products within the app.”

"Businesses can now choose from seven different calls to action within mobile app ads."

LinkedIn Adds New Features to Mobile: The LinkedIn app for mobile has “flatter, cleaner and more modern designs” and you can now “keep your professional reputation fresh by accepting endorsements from your connections and by adding skills to your profile.”

"You can recognize your connections for being awesome at what they do by endorsing them from your phone."

Here’s some up-coming news to follow:

Facebook Updates Ads Content in News Feed: Facebook is “working on some updates to the ads algorithm to improve the relevance and quality of the ads people see.”

Facebook Introduces Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram to Home: “You can view more of the content you care about on your lock screen. When you wake up your phone, swipe through photos and posts from Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram, in addition to Facebook.”

"Connect these apps to Home to get started. This feature will begin testing within the Facebook for Android Beta program."

Here’s an interesting tool worth noting:

Tweet Binder: A cool tool to analyze, classify and share twitter impact reports. Click here to see how Tweet Binder looks for Social Media Success Summit activity.

"With Tweet Binder SEEK LITE you can get tweets up to 2.000 tweets (7 days old) per search for free."

What do you think? Please share your comments below.

New Facebook Timeline Sections Roll Out Worldwide

Facebook has made sections available worldwide, enabling all users to express themselves and share their interests in app-specific boxes on the timeline. Many apps have already taken advantage of the new feature, integrating with sections to provide users with a new way to interact and engage with games, music, movies and much else besides.

Goodreads, Netflix and Rotten Tomatoes have all integrated with sections to enable users to star-rate and categorise books and movies. Sections are tabulated, allowing users to say whether they have read a book or watched a movie, want to do so, or have liked the book/movie on Facebook.

Music apps have also integrated with the new sections feature, so users can now share the songs they listen to and like. Users can also listen to their friends’ favourite songs by clicking on them in the timeline. Facebook believes that sections are better than the now-defunct aggregations, according to the announcement post on the Developers pages:

Sections are […] a more beautiful and lasting way to display your app on timeline compared to aggregations, which we are no longer supporting.

In the announcement post, Facebook also highlights the potential that integrating fitness apps within the timeline could have: friends could motivate one another by sharing fitness regimens. Endomondo, Nike+, Runtastic, and Strava are the app examples given, written above a chart displaying a random user’s weekly running distances.


App developers have the opportunity to be creative with their sections, messing around with tab titles and the content within them. The game Pearl’s Peril, for example, displays a user’s completed levels on the timeline, information similar to that which is shared in the notifications section of the news feed.

At the end of the announcement post, Facebook shares its best practices for app developers looking to take advantage of the new sections feature:

1. Give people a way to add your custom section to timeline: Consider including a URL in your app to give your users a preview of your section and help them decide whether to add it to timeline (see Foursquare example below).
2. Choose the right template for your section: For example, apps with great visual content should use the gallery template to draw people's attention. We also support list and map templates.
3. Focus on quality and completeness before submitting your section for approval: To make the review process simple, submit your section only after making sure your object images and descriptions are complete and look great from the perspective of your users.

According to Facebook’s announcement post, users are already taking full advantage of the new sections feature, adding 200 million items daily. At the time of the posts publication 17 billion songs had been added to music sections via apps or likes.

Do you like Facebook’s new apps sections?       

New Facebook Logo Made Official

You might not have noticed, but Facebook has rolled out a new main logo and refreshed the design of other icons for the first time in years.

Facebook's logo no longer includes the faint blue line at the bottom of its "F" icon. The letter is also pulled closer to the edge of the box.


Although this was first spotted on the information page for Facebook Home — the social network's new app launcher for Android — the new logo showed up in the company's newsroom webpage on Friday, according to web developer Tom Waddington for the site Cut Out + Keep.

The "F" logo hasn't been updated to all pages just yet, including the Brand Permissions page. However, it has been added as the picture to Facebook's Twitter account.

Other official pages have received logo refreshes in the past few weeks, from the security badge to the privacy icon. The redesigned logos feature Facebook's signature blue color as a background to create a more streamlined, uniformed look.

Facebook has not yet responded to a request for comment.

What do you think of the new logo and icons? Will you miss the light blue line?

Images courtesy of Facebook and Tom Waddington

Facebook Timeline Set For More Changes

Facebook is preparing to alter your Timeline once again. Some very noticeable changes have already started showing for a very small number of users and it may be distributed to everyone very soon.

A producer on ABC News revealed that his Timeline showed changes on Thursday. The main difference with the new update will be a return to tabs.
This means that the thumbnails we currently see for “Friends”, “Map” and “Photos” will be replaced for a simpler tab system with which users can click on to find the information they want.
The “Map” has been removed altogether from the Timeline and will be found under a “More” tab.
A new “About” tab at the top of the page shows users all of the information that they’ve given to Facebook concerning themselves as well as a full list of friends.



By scrolling further down this tab, you will be able to find your Photos, although there will be a “Photos” tab which is an easier method of finding them.
The term “subscribers” is being replaced by the word “followers.” Remind you of any other social platforms? If you’re lucky enough to reach 10,000 followers, this number will no longer be shortened.

Facebook started testing another change to the Timeline in November where all posts on a person Timeline would appear in a single column. This change however still hasn’t been distributed to most users.
A spokesperson for Facebook has said that: "This is a new design Facebook is testing with a small percentage of people to make navigating Timeline even easier."

Have you been given the new changes? What do you think of the new changes?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

6 Changes With Facebook Timeline

Today Facebook announced to brand marketers the world over that, within the month, everything they knew about fan Pages on Facebook would be overturned. While you get your brand ready for the new Timeline format, here are six important changes to keep top-of-mind.

1. Updated Look and Feel
What’s new: The format of Timeline for brands is quite similar to Timeline for personal profiles. It employs a cover photo at the top of the Page, and the Page is separated into two main columns by a dividing line, which represents the passage of time. This format provides brands with new options for self-expression: They can outline their corporate history with milestones (such as product launches, store openings, etc.) to construct a narrative for their audience. 



Recommendation: Milestones present an important and dramatic opportunity to educate the public, humanize the brand and remove a perception of corporate anonymity. Our analyses of Page engagement have continually shown that brands posting content that depicts behind-the-scenes activities, exclusive updates or promotions encourages user interactions and promotes higher engagement rates. Using interesting milestones to craft the story of the brand over time (and updating the Timeline with new milestones as they happen) can help to stimulate conversations around major achievements.

2. Reduced Tab Visibility
What’s new: The new Timeline format does not have the left-side panel of links, which could include hundreds of different tabs. While applications still exist, they’ll display differently, in rectangular panels underneath the cover photo. The width of the Timeline and the space allocated for native apps like Photos means that only three tab panels are viewable at any given time. To see more, users must expand the tab panel by clicking a drop-down box. 


Recommendation: For marketers, this major change means that the three above-fold tab apps need to be considered carefully — this will be one of the first things users see when interacting with your brand on Facebook. Brands will want to switch up which tabs are visible “above the fold,” according to current company objectives or project popularity. A good Page analytics tool will be useful for determining which tab to promote on a day-to-day basis.



3. No Default Landing Page

What’s new: With the new Timeline Page format, you will no longer be able to set a default landing Page, a favored feature for many savvy brands. The option was one of the primary ways to control the first (branded) impression a user encountered. Since there are no more tab Pages, there is no way to set one as a default. This will drastically change user impressions when they first visit a brand’s Timeline Page. 



Recommendation: You will need to apply new and careful attention to all the top messages in the Timeline, as they will be the first objects seen by visiting users. Likewise, Facebook ads for brands will become ever important, as ads will be one of the major ways brands on Facebook can control a user’s experience. Setting up an advertising campaign for a Facebook promotion or new application will be the only way to guide new and clicking users directly to that application (as landing on this Page cannot be achieved by default).



4. New Way to Feature Content
What’s new: One major new feature that marketers will love is the ability to “pin” certain posts to the top of the Timeline. Similar to marking a blog post “sticky,” so that it remains at the top of a blog for a specified period of time, pinning a post to the top of Timeline allows it to precede any other content. A pinned post is distinguished by a small, orange flag. Brands can pin only one item at a time, and the pinned item then exists in two locations — as the top item on the Timeline itself, as well as within its chronological place. Once unpinned (which happens automatically when a new item gets pinned, or the item has been pinned for more than seven days), the post remains in the chronology of Timeline posts, but there is no visual history that it was pinned in the past. 



Recommendation: Since you can no longer create a default landing Page, pinning items to the top of the Timeline will become every marketer’s go-to strategy for highlighting new and interesting content. We will begin to see savvy brands design posts specifically to be pinned, whether images, a well-designed call-to-action, a statement about brand value, or a message calling for the user to click one of the tab panels under the cover photo.



5. Current Tab Content and Applications Become Outdated

What’s new: The new Timeline layout displaces Facebook’s existing Page tab configuration (including a tab’s 520-pixel width), and replaces it with a new 810-pixel layout. As a result, existing Page tab content will look centered in the middle of the 810-pixel layout without any adjustments. All applications that remain on a brand’s Page will need new application icons (the new dimensions are 111×74).



Recommendation: The most pressing updates for brands will be to update the images and tab functionality of the above-fold two apps. As these are the first tabs users will see, they will likely be the first to be interacted with, or entirely ignored if not optimized for the new experience.



6. Private Messages Between Brands and Users
What’s new: Finally, brands will be able to send and receive private messages with users. This allows for much deeper consumer interaction, and will also enable Page managers to take extended customer inquiries off the Timeline and into a private message. 



Recommendation: Be mindful of noise in the Timeline. Since the real estate allocated to each post depends on how engaging it is or how much interaction it has received, it can be easy to clutter your Timeline with customer inquiries. When these inquiries can be better serviced in a more one-on-one manner, reach out to the consumer with a private message and resolve her question. It’s a good opportunity to yield both a happy user and a clean Timeline.



Timeline for brands will certainly shake things up for social media marketers who seek to make an impact on Facebook. One thing is for sure though: The way content is shared and viewed within a Timeline Page is incredibly important. Brands that constantly create engaging updates and share important milestones will stay at the forefront of users’ attention. Create and rotate new apps for engagement, pin relevant and timely content, and update the feed with user-friendly dialogues to stay relevant in this new space.

10 things you need to know about Facebook's latest update

Facebook has this week revealed two major changes to the social network’s design in a bid to give its 30 million UK users more “real-time” information.

Now when you log in, you will find a new ticker in the top right of the screen providing “live” details of what your friends are doing.

This can include items such as comments left on other people’s statuses, pictures and video your pals may have added and any new friends they’ve accepted.

Facebook bosses hope these changes will encourage users to respond more quickly to what is happening on the site.

As well as the Ticker, a new-style News Feed has also been introduced. It now ranks updates by what Facebook believes are your ‘Top Stories’, rather than putting them in chronological order.

The more you interact with the automatically chosen Top Stories, telling Facebook which are important and which aren’t, the more the technology will learn what you want at the head of your News Feed.

On Facebook’s blog, its bosses promised: "Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff any more. All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven’t visited Facebook for a while, the first things you’ll see are top photos and statuses posted while you’ve been away."

These updates are slowly being rolled out over the next few days so if you don’t see it on your account yet, have patience.

And to help you make the most of this latest Facebook redesign, we’ve come up with some handy tips below. We also want to know what you think about it too. Do you like what Facebook has done or should they have just left things as they were? Leave us a comment.

1) You cannot remove the Ticker but you can make it smaller Just click over the double line at the bottom of it until a double arrow appears and then move it up and down.

2) Hovering over an item in the Ticker will bring up a larger window on the left of it showing any comments, photos, video, maps or other images associated with that post.

3) If you’ve not logged in to Facebook for a while, the News Feed will display the best posts from your friends for the period of time you’ve been away. It automatically places posts higher in the list according to a number of factors including the type of update – for example a birth, marriage or engagement – or those with lots of comments and Likes.

4) A small blue triangle in the top left of a News Feed post signifies it as a Top Story. Clicking it unmarks its Top Story status and tells Facebook not to put others posts like that one at the head of your feed. The more you do this, the more Facebook learns what type of updates you consider most important. You can also choose to make something a Top Story by hovering over the top left and clicking the blanked-out triangle to make it appear fully.

5) Hovering over the top right hand side of a News Feed post brings up a downward pointing arrow. Select this to display a menu of options. This allows you to choose what updates you wish to see from any particular friend or page you’re subscribed to and allows you to remove their posts totally from your News Feed.

6) Facebook now displays photos and videos much larger in your News Feed. Clicking one creates a bigger pop-up of the image. This can then be tagged, commented on or Liked. To close it, just click outside of the pop-up box.

7) If you don’t want details of how you are using Apps to show up in the Ticker, go to Application Settings and click Only Me under the Customise menu. This means no one else will receive updates on your app use but you will need to do this for each app you interact with.

8) Top News and Most Recent are now combined as two separate elements in one News Feed. You simply scroll down to see the recent ones rather than clicking a button to make these appear in their own feed.

9) If you’ve hidden posts, friends or other updates from your News Feed, you can call them back again by editing it. Click the pencil icon next to the words ‘News Feed’ in your left hand menu and then select Edit.

10) To customise your News Feed even more, you can use the Lists option. It is on the left hand menu. Add people to different Lists that already exist such as Close Friends or Family or create your own ones by selecting “More”. Then by clicking the List name, you’ll generate updates in your News Feed only from the people in that list.

What do you think of the cahnges? Comment below to let us know!