Facebook Revamps “Pages”

Posted: February 10th, 2011 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media Opinion | 3 Comments

Facebook Page Administrators had a little learning to do today, as the world’s largest social media site rolled out an update to not only the look but also the way those pages act. Here’s an overview:

The update includes a revamp of the look of the pages, making them look almost identical to individual profile pages. They put tagged pictures at the top, and eliminated the tabs (this is a big one for us as it’s where our landing pages lived — take note).
One important change is that the links for the tabs have been moved over to the spot under the profile picture, and are now just links. Fortunately, the update didn’t change the requirements or measurements of actual custom landing pages, which is a good thing for those who build them.
Another interesting feature is that administrators can now comment AS their page on other pages or other people’s profiles. To explain, previously we could only comment as the page’s identity (rather than as Steve Mullen, for example) while actually on that page. Now I could go on the Facebook Page for Twinkies (for example) and a comment from me would show up as the identity of my Facebook Page. This will come in quite handy. Additional changes related to this include being able to receive email notifications of user comments on your Page, something previously only possible for comments on your personal wall.
Another feature related to the one above, but deserving of its own bullet is the new ability to “like” other Pages as your page. Previously you could only “like” something as an individual. Very interesting.

The one change that is causing some consternation among Facebook Page Administrators is the switch from tabs to the small links under the profile picture. I’m not particularly fond of this either, since they’re not as obvious now. In the end, though, there’s really no way around it. We’ll just have to work harder to promote the content in those links. If one of those links is to a custom landing page, it will of course be the default page seen by all “non-likers” (yes .. I just made that up).

If you administer a page and haven’t updated yet, you have until March 10, when it will be done for you!

Tags: facebook, social media

Online Privacy Doesn’t Exist

Posted: October 19th, 2010 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media Opinion | 1 Comment

We have yet another Facebook privacy flap going on. This time it has to do with certain application makers transmitting Facebook IDs to third parties. Using a Facebook ID number, these third parties could theoretically get a user’s name, phone number, friends names, and other personal information … even if the user’s privacy settings are set to maximum.

Don't expect pictures like this to stay "private" on Facebook for long.

While this is disturbing and should be handled, as Facebook appears to be doing, it once again brings up the issue of “online privacy” … an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

What we’re seeing in these continued concerns over online privacy is the struggle between the old way and the new way. The “old way” is when you were able to remain anonymous online and offline. That way didn’t last long after the advent of large-scale social networking. The “new way” is that if you don’t want people to know about it, don’t post it online.

You can’t rely on a third party to keep your information private because it’s close to impossible. If you put your phone number out there on Facebook, it doesn’t matter how high you set your privacy settings, it’s still “out there” and may eventually be found.

>>Continue reading…

Tags: facebook, privacy, social media

Facebook Places and Google Places: What’s in a Name?

Posted: August 19th, 2010 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media Opinion | 1 Comment

Last night, Facebook sprang its new Facebook Places product on the world. At its core, it’s a lot like Foursquare. It allows you to “check in” at a location using the GPS on your mobile device. The major difference is that while using Places, you’re not competing to become “mayor” of anything, as you are on Foursquare. With Places, you’re simply sharing your physical location with Facebook friends.

Google has its own location product. Interestingly, it’s called Google Places.

Despite using the same names, Facebook and Google Places are completely different products.

Facebook Places is simply adding another way you can tell people what you’re up to, by using geolocation.

Google Places is a re-branding of Google’s Local Business Center. It launched back in April, and included a ton of new features. Its basic goal is to get local businesses to “claim” their Google Place page on the web, fill it up with information, use it to serve things like coupons, and then (hopefully) buy advertising with Google to direct people to it. Geolocation is a feature, but it’s not even closely related to how Facebook is using it.

>>Continue reading…

Tags: facebook, foursquare, geolocation, google, gowalla, places

Facebook’s Weekly Page Update

Posted: March 17th, 2010 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media News | 16 Comments

I wanted to be one of what surely will be many Facebook Fan Page administrators to applaud a new offering from the social networking service. Today I received a handy little email from Facebook called the “Weekly Facebook Page Update”. Being an administrator on two of my own Facebook fan pages plus several more client fan pages, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of stats. These new weekly updates do it all for you. The email put all of my stats for the week in one easy-to-read list. Here’s a sampling:

Here is this week’s summary for the Facebook Page: Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation

+8 Fans this week (188 total Fans)

6 Wall Posts, Comments, and Likes this week (5 last week)

130 Visits to your page this week (101 Visits last week)

It gave similar stats for the fan pages for SleepBetter, EndGame PR, FightSMA, and all of the others I administer or co-administer.

I get a LOT of junk emails from social networking sites. It’s nice to get one that, while unsolicited, is extremely useful to me!

Tags: facebook, social media, social networking

Facebook is Better for “Old Folks”

Posted: January 29th, 2010 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media News, Social Media Opinion | No Comments

There’s a great post today on Mashable about something I’ve been talking about with clients and when I present to groups for quite some time — the fastest growing segment of the social media world has grey hair.