Tag: Facebook

Why Facebook’s New Privacy Policy Is Deviously Brilliant

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: WIRED

In a deviously brilliant move, Facebook has replaced its privacy policy with a simplified, legalese-free version and released an interactive privacy guide to help educate its users, all without ceding any control over how data is sold to advertisers.

The updated privacy rules actually clear the way for its upcoming push for payments and location-based ads, which is only natural in this stage of Facebook’s evolution. Being upfront might be a great tactic for Facebook, but it’s a tricky line to walk when users are still not getting a fair deal in the value exchange for personal data.

How Brands Can Survive Facebook’s New “Easy Unfollow” Tool

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: AdAge

Facebook quietly introduced a new tool last Friday that helps users manage the contents showing up on their newsfeed. Users will be able to see which of their friends or the brands they follow accounted for the most posts in their feeds each week, and unfollow anyone with just one easy click. As a less drastic measure, the company also included a feature to dial down the number of posts from a given friend or brand.

Either way, brands now need to be more mindful of both the quality and quantity of the posts they regularly push out. As users gain more control over whose content occupies their newsfeed on the social network, only brand messages with true substance, used in right doses, will offer a fair value exchange for users’ attention.

Facebook Might Drop Payment Into Its Messaging App

Posted on by Lab Team

Look out, PayPal and Venmo! According to leaked images, Facebook might build a mobile payment platform that’s seamlessly integrated into its Messenger app. With the service enabled, users could send money to friends with the ease of sending a picture—a much more convenient way than launching another app. Combined with its vast user base, Facebook might just make a grand entry into mobile payment. Whether consumers would trust a company with a spotty track record when it comes to user data, however, remains to be seen.

Facebook Wants A Bite Of That eHealth Cake, Too

Posted on by Lab Team

According to Reuters, Facebook could be following Apple and Google into the eHealth field. The social networking giant reportedly plans to introduce support communities for people suffering from specific medical ailments and “preventative care” apps to help people generally improve their lifestyle. Given how much Facebook already knows about its users, it comes as no surprise that the company is looking to take advantage of all the voluntarily shared health-related info.

Why Facebook Is Relaunching The Atlas Ad Platform

Posted on by Lab Team

Kicking off Advertising Week here in New York, Facebook announced their plan to relaunch the Atlas ad platform next week. Updated with powerful new features like cross-device targeting and offline sales tracking, the Atlas platform is poised to give Google a run for its money on digital and mobile advertising.

Facebook also plans to pitch marketers on the concept of using Atlas to tie consumers’ offline behaviors to their online behavior—after all, more data equals more value. And while omnichannel shopping continues to take hold, it is about time that ad measuring tried to catch up.

Meet Ello, The Anti-Facebook That’s Blowing Up Right Now

Posted on by Lab Team

Facebook has done a lot to aggravate its users this year, so it’s not surprising to see that someone has finally come up with another anti-Facebook social network. Ello promises a business model opposite of Facebook, i.e. ad-free and no user data-collection.

First launched in July with little splash, Ello has been reportedly doubling in size every 3-4 days in the past few weeks. Already being hailed as the “Facebook killer”, Ello’s latest growth spurt is partially due to Facebook’s recent suspension of accounts of drag performers. The jury is out on whether such rapid growth will be sustained, but it does seem to signify a critical moment where a segment of Facebook users are looking to jump ship.

Why Facebook’s Privacy Check-up Falls Short

Posted on by Lab Team

Facebook appears to have learned its lesson from the recent “psychology experiment” controversy and moved informed consent up on its priority list. The social media platform is planning to push a multi-step privacy checkup that re-educates the users on privacy settings. Well-intentioned as it might be, this check-up program falls short as it is only designed for the web platform. With over 78% of its U.S. users now accessing Facebook primarily through mobile, this program clearly needs to develop on mobile version to cover its bases.

How Netflix Is Using Facebook Integration Right

Posted on by Lab Team

Netflix has quietly released a new feature that enables the viewers to send recommendations to selected Facebook friends once they opt to link up the two accounts. Instead of just posting the recommendation to your friends’ walls on your behalf, Netflix is actually taking a more respectful approach by sending these suggestions either through private Facebook messages or, if they have also linked up their accounts, via Netflix notifications. (After all, not everyone needs to know your appreciation for 90’s rom-coms starring Julia Roberts.) Brands attempting to integrate Facebook or other social elements into their campaigns should take note of this approach, which respects and protects users’ privacy by design.

Facebook Optimizes Mobile Ads Based On Cell Signal Strength

Posted on by Lab Team

Facebook is starting to allow advertisers to target ads based on the strength of cell reception. This new feature of its ad platform will give advertisers the option distinguish the type of ads they serve—a text-based ad for someone in a remote area with weak reception; a lush video ad for someone in the city covered by strong LTE network. This will not only increase the overall effectiveness of Facebook’s mobile ads, but is also expected to help Facebook’s efforts in emerging global markets where advanced cell networks are not yet common.

How Social Media Crashed The Emmy Party

Posted on by Lab Team

Even though the Emmys typically have the lowest ratings among the big four awards show, it is still a live-viewing-required “TV event” that brands and advertisers crave. And this year, instead of being content with mere celebrity tweets and updates, three major social media sites jumped in on the fun to bring an integrated experience to the show.

On the red carpet, Facebook used a comically large tablet, dubbed the “Mentions Box”, to let celebrities take questions from Facebook users and record their answers on it. The reply videos were then posted on the Emmy’s Facebook page. Meanwhile, a Twitter-branded zip-line camera swooped over the red carpet and pre-show, with the footage beamed to NBC’s Twitter account. Additionally, a Pinterest page set up by NBC was updated in real time with related content, with a lower third caption occasionally shown throughout the telecast—the first time Pinterest has been integrated into a major awards ceremony. Clearly, these platforms are trying to create an engaging “second screen” experience for viewers.