Facebook has released a new feature for the Like button that will have a HUGE impact for those who’ve added the Like button to their website. Websites can now publish content directly to the news feeds of all the people who’ve clicked the Like button on a webpage.

This update will provide brands that have the Like button embedded within their website the same type of functionality as a Fan Page. For example, let’s say you “like” the movie Avatar on Best Buy’s website. With this new feature, Best Buy can send a news feed story to all the Facebook users who’ve liked Avatar. So, they could post on your news feed about an upcoming DVD special offer or let you know about an extended edition version of the movie. Webpages immediately become two-way communication channels.

Facebook also announced two additional updates for the Like button: commenting for the iFrame version and more robust analytics for optimizing performance. For more information, check out the blog post from Facebook’s Developer Blog.

Did you know, that Facebook hosts over 1.6 million active Facebook Pages (also known as Fan Pages). These Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans (and growing). Facebook has taken notice to the tremendous popularity of Pages and have given them increased exposure. One of the ways has been through the Suggestions box located in the right column of the home page. As more and more of your friends like brands, celebrities, etc., you may see them suggested to you in the Suggestions box.

Facebook has recently released a new feature that automatically suggests Facebook Pages for new users to “Like” when they are creating their profile. This step called “Choose your interests” is the second step when a new user completes their profile.

As an admin of a several Pages, I’ve noticed a significant increase in fans over the past few days (more so than usual). I speculate that these suggestions/recommendations that Facebook is providing is the cause of the jump in fans.

On one hand, as a marketer, I think these changes are great for brands. More exposure = more fans = more impressions (i.e., more fans see your content). However, as a user, my news feed is filled with as almost as much brand content as it is content from my friends. Maybe it’s just because I’ve become a fan of more Pages than the average user, but I can see where this could become an issue. What do you think of the increased exposure for Pages? A good thing?

Facebook revealed several major changes at to their platform at the f8 Facebook Conference. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the conference with a bang by announcing the “Open Graph” initiative.

What is the Open Graph? It’s basically taking your connections on Facebook to the next level. On Facebook, you have connections with friends, products, things you like: movies, music, books etc. The Open Graph allows websites and apps share this information to create a massive social graph. Thus, making your web experience more social than ever before.

Facebook has created a set of plugins that websites and apps can implement to make it easy for users to see information from or about their Facebook friends, share things with their friends without leaving a site or going through a time-consuming login process. So, no more Facebook Connect.

Zuckerberg said that several sites are already using the new Open Graph suite of products including CNN, the Washington Post, and IMDB. After the conference, I tested the Open Graph and some of the social plugins on IMDB.

I searched for Tropic Thunder page on IMDB website. When I landed on the Tropic Thunder page on IMDB, I noticed the “Like” button on the right side of the page. I also noticed that 4 other people from Facebook like the movie, but none of my friends have liked the movie as of yet.

I clicked the “Like” button once and that was it – I didn’t have to log-in or do anything but click the “Like” button.

I went back to Facebook to see what happened there and 2 things I noticed:

1) There was an update to my profile and to my friend’s news feed that I like Tropic Thunder.

2) On my profile page under my Movie interests, Tropic Thunder is now linked. So, when you click on Tropic Thunder from my profile – it will take you to the Tropic Thunder IMDB page.

Personally, I’m excited to see how these changes will impact my web experience by making it more social. However, I’m sure the big debate with these changes will have to do with privacy. What do you think about these changes? Do you want your overall web experience to be more social? Or are you more concerned with your privacy?

Facebook has begun alerting advertisers that they will be making a small, but significant, wording change. Instead of clicking “Become a Fan” to start following a brand, users will now have to click a “Like” button.

Why is Facebook doing this? According to Facebook, the “Like” button offers “a simple, consistent way for people to connect with the things they are interested in … in fact, people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday.”

I think brands will be able to adjust to this change, but I think it could be confusing for users. For example, when users “Like” a particular brand, are they going to be aware of what they are opting in to (i.e., receiving updates from the brand)?

There’s no timetable of when the new “Like” button will be rolled out. Below is a document that Facebook sent out explaining the change – including tips for how advertisers should handle this change and FAQs. One thing that I found interesting in this document is that Facebook recommends calling your fans  ”Connections on Facebook” or “People who like us on Facebook.”

According to a study by ForeSee Results, only 25% of the top 100 online retailers have a Facebook page and another 25% have less than 10,000 fans. These statistics are shocking, especially since the recent news that Facebook now has grown to over 400 million users. Where else do you have the opportunity to engage millions of potential customers?

In a related study, Razorfish surveyed visitors to some of the biggest US retail websites and found that majority of shoppers “friend,” “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, etc. For example, I’m a fan of Best Buy on Facebook and I follow them on Twitter. I read almost every update that Best Buy posts within Facebook and it’s driven me to their website on several occasions where I’ve made a few purchases. If they weren’t on Facebook I honestly don’t know if I would have ever made my way to their website as often.

Brands that haven’t established a significant presence in Facebook are truly missing out on the opportunity to serve their customers and to reach new ones. As Facebook continues to enhance Fan Pages, I would hope to see more retailers embracing social (particularly Facebook) and taking it to new levels.

[via MediaPost]

Did you get your free bagel on Facebook? A few weeks ago, Einstein Bros. Bagels offered a coupon for a free bagel to Facebook users who became a fan. All you had to do was become a fan of Einstein Bros. Bagels, print out the coupon, and take it to a store location to get your free bagel. The promotion received a lot of buzz and the Einstein Bros. Fan Page went from around 4,000 fans to well over 300,000 fans during this bagel giveaway.

Fast Company has a good article recapping the details of the promotion. According to the article, Einstein’s had “done extensive homework to ensure that this promotion is a success.” Just looking at the numbers it does look like it’s a successful promotion, but after looking a little closer I’m not so sure. Below are 3 reasons as to why I think this promotion was not entirely a success:

1. Several fans had difficulty printing the coupon (and I was one of them). It looks like they tried to reach out to most of the fans having trouble with the coupon, but I noticed several fans who never got help. The Discussion tab on their page had several entries where fans needed help.

2.  Some store locations weren’t accepting the coupons.

3.  Now that I’m a fan, what do I do now? Post giveaway, you’ve got the attention of 300,000 fans who are looking for some engagement and I’ve yet to see any communication from Einstein’s on how they plan on engaging the fans.

I’m an advocate of promotions that grow a fan base, but I think a crucial piece that is often overlooked is the “now what” factor once the promotion is over.  You’ve got to have a plan in place to interact and respond to fans or they could drop off or worse, turn on you. Social media is a commitment and not just a campaign.

Back in December, I blogged about how Facebook was planning to have a major redesign to their website and it looks as though that day is finally here. According to Facebook, they started rolling out the the new design changes to 80 million users last night. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the lucky 80 million users (but somehow Jeff Hilimire was one of them). I got to take a look at his Facebook page, and although it will be a shock to most of the Facebook community at first, these changes will make “Facebooking” much easier.

Below are my top 3 things I like most about the new redesign:

1. Email Message Inbox – now you can check your messages and send messages without having to leave the homepage
2. Instant Messaging – your IM contact list will no longer be hidden in a popup menu in the bottom right corner of the page and has been moved to the left sidebar
3. Search – larger and more prominently placed search bar

What are your thoughts on the changes? Do you think it will improve your experience on Facebook?

This weekend I attended SoCon10, the fourth annual Social Media “Unconference” held at Kennesaw State University. This was my first time at SoCon and I had a great time (definitely will be back again).

I had the pleasure of attending the conference along with my colleague Kathlene Hestir. The conference was broken into two sections on Saturday, two keynote speakers in the morning and a diverse selection of breakout sessions in the afternoon. Below are a few highlights from the keynote speakers.

The first keynote speaker at the conference was Carol Kruse, VP of Global Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, and she presented on Coke’s “Fans First” approach in social communities. She talked at length on how the Coca-Cola Facebook Fan Page came to be and how they are managing the page. Coke’s approach? It’s the fans page, not theirs. According to Kruse, 70% of the content is generated by fan participation and 30% of the content is from Coke participation. I was pleasantly surprised by this as I think most brands take the opposite view of how to manage their fan page. Toward the end of the presentation, Kruse summarized some key lessons learned in social media:

• Social media is a tactic & should always be in support of brand objectives
• Platforms change frequently & can be disruptive
• Keep it simple, fewer objectives is better
• Measure along the way
• “Viral” shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan
• Clear the Legal hurdles first - this is new for everyone so legitimate questions arise around every corner
• Always work with pros – there is no “sticking your toe in the water”
• Each new community is an entirely new market and should be treated as much

Dan Siroker, former Deputy New Media Director, Obama Presidential Transition and Director of Analytics for Obama’s Presidential Campaign was the second keynote speaker. He spoke about how his New Media team used data to win the Presidential Election. As a research geek, I’m always excited to see how data can transform the way we do things. Siroker discussed how his team used multivariate testing during the campaign that resulted in raising over half a billion dollars. By testing different elements within the splash page of Barrack Obama’s website, Siroker and his team were able to optimize the page which increased email signups and campaign donations. The following summarize the lessons that were learned during the campaign:

• Define Quantifiable Success Metrics
• Question Assumptions
• Segment & Target Your Audience
• Take advantage of circumstances
• Always be Optimizing

Below are some links to additional blog posts recapping the event:

• SoCon10: The Social Media “Unconference” – Stacy Williams
• SoCon10: Part of the Crowd – Steve Burns
• An Unconference: Social Media Business Plans and Revenue Models – Christina Stallings

According to a breaking-news Mashable article, Twitter will launch location-based trending topics. All I can say is, about time! This new feature will allow you to set your specific location, so that you can see what’s trending around you. It looks as though it will be limited to a few counties and cities, specifically 15 U.S. cities and Atlanta is one them.  I think this is a really cool feature and a good move for Twitter. It will be interesting for users to see what’s trending in their home city and it will be beneficial for local businesses/brands to see what’s going on around them.

Twitter will be rolling this feature out to 1% of Twitter users today. Unfortunately, I’m not in the lucky 1%, but Mashable was able to get some screenshots of the new feature. Check them out below.

Facebook announced yesterday that they will be rolling out two new features: the Games Dashboard and the Applications Dashboard. These features are designed to make it easier for you to interact with your applications. If you interact with games & apps now, you know how difficult it is to navigate back to a game or app.

Below is a preview of what the Games Dashboard could look like (of course it’s subject to change). I really like the recently used games section. For those users who actively play a lot of games, this will make it easier for them to reengage with games they use most often and not have to create several bookmarks. It will also be a great way to learn about games that your friends are playing or that you may have never thought about playing.

Hopefully these dashboards will also help cut down on the amount of information that is populated in the News Feeds. I know some of my friends don’t play games or apps and I’ve got a funny feeling that they get tired of seeing their News Feed full of FarmVille updates, but I could be wrong.