Chat Heads, the buzzy messaging feature released as part of Facebook’s Home software for Android-based smartphones, is now coming to the iPhone and iPad.
The app, which is designed to let users chat with their friends even while they are doing other things on their phone, will launch on the iPhone and iPad later on Tuesday as part of an update to Facebook’s apps on those devices, the company said.
Home is a family of apps that Facebook made available for Android-equipped smartphones last week in the Google Play Store. The product isn’t an operating system, but it sits on top of the Android OS and is intended to add a range of social features to people’s phones. Currently, the product works on several different phones made by HTC and Samsung.
Home essentially Facebook-ifies people’s smartphones. One of its most striking features is Cover Feed, which replaces the traditional home and lock screen on the phone with the user’s News Feed, so the first thing people see when they pick up their phone are photos and posts from their friends.
Nick Ut/AP Los Angeles-resident Daniel Singer, 13, who includes Facebook as part of his daily routine, says the average teenager wants to see new stuff.
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
NEW YORK — To see what Facebook has become, look no further than the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer.
Sometime last year, people began sharing tongue-in-cheek online reviews of the banana-shaped piece of yellow plastic with their Facebook friends. Then those friends shared with their friends. Soon, after Amazon paid to promote it, posts featuring the $3.49 utensil were appearing in even more Facebook feeds.
At some point, though, the joke got old. But there it was, again and again — the banana slicer had become a Facebook version of that old knock-knock joke your weird uncle has been telling for years.
The Hutzler 571 phenomenon is a regular occurrence on the world’s biggest online social network, which begs the question: Has Facebook become less fun?
That’s something many users — especially those in their teens and early 20s — are asking themselves as they wade through endless posts, photos “liked” by people they barely know and spur-of-the moment friend requests. Has it all become too much of a chore? Are the important life events of your closest loved ones drowning in a sea of banana slicer jokes?
“When I first got Facebook I literally thought it was the coolest thing to have. If you had a Facebook you kind of fit in better, because other people had one,” says Rachel Fernandez, 18, who first signed on to the site four or five years ago.
And now? “Facebook got kind of boring,” she says.
Chatter about Facebook’s demise never seems to die down, whether it’s talk of “Facebook fatigue,” or grousing about how the social network lost its cool once grandma joined. The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project recently found that some 61 percent of Facebook users had taken a hiatus from the site for reasons that range from “too much gossip and drama” to “boredom.” Some respondents said there simply isn’t enough time in their day for Facebook.
If Facebook Inc.’s (FB) users leave, or even check in less frequently, its revenue growth would suffer. The company, which depends on targeted advertising for most of the money it makes, booked revenue of $5.1 billion in 2012, up from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
But so far, for every person who has left permanently, several new people have joined up. Facebook has more than 1 billion users around the world. Of these, 618 million sign in every day.
Biggest Challenge
Indeed, Fernandez hasn’t abandoned Facebook. Though the Traverse City, Mich., high school senior doesn’t look at her News Feed, the constant cascade of posts, photos and viral videos from her nearly 1,800 friends, she still uses Facebook’s messaging feature to reach out to people she knows, …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” – Henry Ford It‘s that wonderful time of year again when Facebook makes a big change and everyone complains about it for a few weeks before getting over it. Before you update your status to offer your two cents on how much the new News Feed sucks, here’s something to think about… …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
In a recent blog post, Facebook said it was under way with an “alpha” test of Facebook Exchange ads running inline, alongside friends’ updates, rather than to the right of the screen, as has been the case historically.
In the following video, Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova says the key is Exchange, which is Facebook’s mechanism for gathering personal browsing history for use in crafting pitches. Where the ads appear is secondary to the process of creating them.
Do you agree? Will News Feed ads drive away users? Let us know what you think about the social network’s advertising strategy in the comments box below.
For further analysis of Facebook and the social media opportunity, I invite you try our newest premium research report in which we lay out the case for and against buying shares of the social network at current prices. Should you “like” this stock? Find out all you need to know by clicking here now.
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Avoiding Facebook advertising is about to get harder. The social network is undertaking a test that places ads in users’ desktop News Feeds.
“Allowing advertisers to reach people in News Feed is important because people spend more time in News Feed than any other part of Facebook. We also believe that ads delivered through [Facebook Exchange] will create more relevant ads for people,” the company said last night in a blog post.
Facebook introduced Exchange, a tool for targeting ads based on browsing history, last fall in hopes of displaying more relevant pitches on the right side of the desktop app screen. The new system allows ads to be placed both on the right side and contextually, in Facebook News Feeds.
For now, Facebook says it is conducting a “closed alpha” test with a small number of demand-side advertising platforms, including TellApart, MediaMath, and Nanigans. The company says it plans to bring in additional partners in the coming weeks.
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The tech world is shifting toward mobile more every day and companies like Facebook have adjusted strategies in attempt to monetize on the fast-moving trend. The social media dominator may have been slow to get started in mobile, but it’s doing these three things just right.
Users, glorious users For mobile users, four out of every five minutes spent using mobile content is done through an app – luckily Facebook is No. 1 in app reach. Facebook’s app reached 76% of all smartphone and tablet users in the U.S., beating out Google‘s Search, Play, Maps, Gmail and YouTube. It’s the second most used app for iOS users, behind iTunes, and the fourth most used app on Android devices, according to a report by comScore.
Facebook sees about 680 million users each month from mobile, and that’s an irresistible number to advertisers. The mobile advertising spending hit $4 billion last year – this year it’s expected to reach $7 billion. With the massive amount of active mobile Facebook users, and their engagement with its app, Facebook has enormous advertising potential this year.
Gaming’s gone, but app installs are here One of Facebook’s problems with its switch to mobile was having to leave behind the money it makes from games on its desktop version. Facebook can’t make money from games within its app, but it’s come up an alternative way use those old gaming relationships.
Facebook offers app installs for companies who want to sell games or other apps to Facebook users. Companies pay to display ads in Facebook’s mobile feed that link straight to an app for downloading. In Facebook’s earnings call at the end of January, the company’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, said one-fifth of the top iOS developers were testing out Facebook app installs. The app install ads use the same mountain of information that advertisers use to target users, and lets advertisers track clicks and installs of the advertised apps. Some have speculated that Facebook app installs could become a $500 million a year business for the company.
Engaging with brands Not only does Facebook’s app have an enormous amount of users and massive potential for app install ads, but the company has another trend working in its favor — brand engagement. About 39% of smartphone users read posts from brands in their social media apps, and 47% do the same on tablets. To put those numbers in context, engaging with brands is the fourth most popular activity in social media apps. The graph below shows the distribution.
Source: comScore.
Brand and product engagement comes in fourth place behind reading a friend’s status, accessing a picture/video, and posting a status.
Facebook is constantly tweaking how companies can advertise through its app and with its recent updates to the News Feed and Graph Search, investors can expect that Facebook will continues to make updates and changes with advertisers in mind.
Facebook's News Feed is a popular landing page for photos and updates from friends, but now it can also function as a digital storefront of sorts, through a partnership with e-commerce startup Chirpify. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Facebook has redesigned its highly addictive News Feed to be less overwhelming and have a greater emphasis on photos and videos, which make up about 50% of the site’s content. Overall, users will enjoy less claustrophobia, which will hopefully mitigate some of the user fatigue the site has been experiencing among its teenage demographic. In this video, Motley Fool contributor Steve Heller goes through the details of the update and discuss whether or not the move is ultimately good for Facebook’s bottom line.
After the world’s most hyped IPO turned out to be a dunce, most investors probably don’t even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We’ve outlined them in our newest premium research report. There’s a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to “like” about it today, and we’ll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.
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Facebook has been busy lately, unveiling Graph Search, a new News Feed and now a redesign of Timeline. The good news is that the changes are likely to improve the social network. Here's a look at the best features of Facebooks recent updates. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Following last week’s announcement of a redesigned News Feed, Facebook has said today that it is rolling out additional improvements to Timeline. The social network is hoping to make it easier for users to express their interests with a redesigned “About” page.
Favorite movies, books, apps, and more will be displayed more prominently and include new sharing features. The company acknowledges that the current timeline layout can be hard to read at times, which is why it’s making the changes to remove clutter. The gradual rollout will continue over the next few weeks.
Facebook has been working lately to redesign its site to bolster user engagement and increase advertiser appeal. Shares gained 4% last week, when the company unveiled the new News Feed at a media event, but are down 3% today.
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If Facebook Inc.’s (NASDAQ: FB) redesign succeeds at improving user engagement and marketing dollars, it will provide an benchmark for other large websites, even if they are not social media destinations. The Facebook changes are simple and fundamental. They could be copied, at least for the most part, if Facebook’s work succeeds.
As it released the new program, Facebook’s management wrote:
Today we’re announcing a new version of Facebook designed to reduce clutter and focus more on stories from the people you care about. You see all the stories you saw in your News Feed before, but with a fresh new look. We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful.
Aside from that broad description, Facebook management noted that the site would appear the same way on mobile, tablet and Web platforms, which is not something many large websites can claim. Generally, developers set different designs and features meant to exploit the environment for each platform. Perhaps that improves the users’ experience in some ways, but it also shows a certain schism in how the Web properties are presented by their owners and creators. What is familiar on one platform is not on all others.
The results of the Facebook initiative may take several months to access. However, it is certain that Facebook did a great deal of research among its members before the initiative was launched to gain as positive a reaction as possible.
Most of the features of the new Facebook pages, and new News Feed, could be replicated by portals and news and information sites. That is the beauty of benchmarking. Sites from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) to CNN to The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) could latch on to the industry leader’s success and share in the benefits. That is, of course, if Facebook’s gamble works.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Internet Tagged: FB
Never one to sit on the sidelines or allow user experience to become stale, Facebook has unveiled a new user interface (UI) for its popular News Feed feature that it claims will reduce clutter and focus more attention on updates, images and information from the people and brands you care about most. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Facebook today is launching a new version of its signature News Feed, the center column of status updates, photos, and videos from friends and brands you’ve “liked.” …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Mark RussellLogging on to Facebook soon won’t be the same old-same old: The site will today announce a major revamp of its News Feed, a redesign that the Los Angeles Times describes as the biggest in the feature’s nearly seven-year history. The company has stayed fairly mum on what’s coming, but… …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Tech News
The social networking giant is hosting a media event tomorrow at its headquarters. There isn’t any need to guess what this will be about. The invitation clearly explains that tech journalists are being invited to “come see a new look for News Feed” at Facebook.
Facebook is never shy about mixing things up. There’s an outcry from users when things change. They adapt. Facebook winds up making more money and attracting more net new users, validating the tweaks.
Rinse. Repeat.
However, Facebook doesn’t peel back the curtain for media types unless it’s significant. Graph Search and Facebook Gifts are some of the more recent event-backed initiatives.
Some are speculating that this will be a more photo-centric facelift, and that makes sense given the popularity of Flipboard and Facebook’s acquisition last year of Instagram. However, investors will want to know how Facebook plans to monetize the new initiatives.
Facebook’s been pretty good about milking more money off of its free site with more than a billion active users. Revenue climbed 40% in its latest quarter, even though monthly active users have only grown by 25% over the past year.
Facebook doesn’t need to take chances, but it can afford to do exactly that. Where will people go? Google is pushing Google Plus as a Facebook alternative, but it has yet to sway most Facebook users. LinkedIn just celebrated passing the 200 million member milestone, but that only means that the career-oriented social networking site has just a fifth as many users as Facebook.
There may very well come a time when Facebook does go too far, with Google and LinkedIn there to make the most of the opportunity. However, the likely news tomorrow will be modest changes that will enhance both user experience and the monetization potential of the newsfeed.
Facebook has come too far to get too greedy.
Due diligence makes a friend request After the world’s most hyped IPO turned out to be a dunce, most investors probably don’t even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We’ve outlined them in our newest premium research report. There’s a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to “like” about it today, and we’ll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.
Facebook is working to set the record straight following a report suggesting that the site is gaming its News Feed so that people who pay to promote their posts will get more interaction from users than those who don't. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Logging on to Facebook soon won’t be the same old-same old: The site will today announce a major revamp of its