Facebook makes changes…AGAIN

In the past week Facebook anounced two changes that I think you should take note of: 1) they are going to start allowing hashtags to be posted in status updates and 2) they changed the news feed again.

If you recall from one of my previous posts, hashtags are key words or terms that you expect people to use in searches so that they can find your post(s). It can be an actual word or an abbreviation that would mean something to the intended reader. For instance one conference I will be attending uses the hashtag #afpicon so people can find information specific to the conference. Another example would be to add the hashtag #autism to a post about autism. You would then be alerting people that the theme is autism and at the same time helping search features of Facebook, Google, etc., know what the keyword is in your post.

The second item I mention was the news feed. Facebook is still in the process of rolling it out to all !.0 bilion+ users. The goal is to make the page design more visually appealing to users – especially those using mobile technology.
Mark Zuckerberg said that the new news feed will “give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper in the world.”

So how do you use hashtags and how do you like the new Facebook news feed? Let us know in the comments. We want to hear from you.

Voting, Elections and Real Time Social Media

First, I hope you vote today!

Did you know that Facebook is doing real time tracking of voting today? John Haydon, who is a social media specialist that I have referenced numerous times, has a great brief video showing you what Facebook is up to. After viewing it, think how you can use the demographic information provided by Facebook to better target your audience and to better engage with them.

Timelines, they are a-changing

If you have a Facebook page for your organization be prepared for a change on March 30, 2012. Facebook is changing all pages over to it’s timeline format.

What does that mean for you? Well, since there is a change in layout, you’ll want to make sure you have branding and graphics correctly sized and ready for the change. You can opt in to the changes to see what your page will look like.

You’re going to need to have a cover photo. This is a larger photo that individual Facebook accounts with the timeline already have in place. Dimensions for the image should be 850px by 315px. Make sure the image you choose for your cover photo is this size or stretches to the size without distortion. Mashable has a post with some fun cover photos for some brand pages. You have time to be creative with your cover photo if you start now.

There will no longer be the ability to set a default landing tab. All people will go to your main Facebook page. You can have up to 12 tabs for your page. The tabs will be located below your cover photo and you can arrange the tabs to your preference. Other changes include Pinning (like Pinterest), how to access administration of the page, and page messaging.

Another hat tip to John Haydon on his insightful how-to videos. Here’s a video on how to change your Facebook page over to the new timeline brand pages.

With all of these changes, there will likely be benefits to us. First, it should enhance branding capabilities. Hopefully it will increase engagement.

If you have already converted to the new timeline, let us know about your likes and dislikes of it in the comment section.

Top Ten for 2011

It would be the end of the year without another Top Ten list. NCE Social Media is no exception.

Here are the top 10 posts from the past year.

10. Google+
9. Social Media Etiquette
8. 10 Commandments of Posting Online
7. Facebook’s EdgeRank
6. Megaphones
5. Social Media as a Fundraising Tool for 2011
4. Setting Up Facebook Fan Pages
3. New Facebook Groups
2. Share Buttons and Bars
1. Is YouTube Making You Money?

What were your favorites?

Plus 1 Buttons and How to Subscribe to Facebook Pages

Google has a great web page on how to add +1 buttons for your website. If you’re already using Google+ you really should consider adding these to your website, too.

Facebook changed things up a bit in the past few weeks. You now don’t have to ‘like’ something to be able to comment on a page. The subscribe button allows you to be part of a page’s conversation without being previously connected to the page. John Haydon has a great run down on how the changes and specifically the subscribe button helps nonprofits.

What are your thoughts on the changes? Please feel free to share them in the comments box below.

Changes to Facebook

This week Facebook launched new changes. You can tag people who you’re with, geographic tagging for your posts, and how to separate posts to your groups.

Here’s a video explaining these changes.

If you’ve begun using the new tools, please share your reaction in the comments section.

Facebook’s New Facial Recognition

Facebook is rolling out a new tool and everyone is included. But you might not want to be part of this roll out. By default you and every Facebook user is included in Facebook’s new facial recognition tool. This tool scans the pictures you and others post and gives you suggestions on how to tag people in them.

Why is this so important? Facebook is the largest repository of photos online. That’s why.

from Facebook

If you are concerned about privacy, you may want to edit the default settings. Here’s how to change Facebook’s Facial Recognition’s default setting of including you (from Mashable):

• Go to your privacy settings.
• Click “Customize settings.
• Scroll down to “Things others share.
• Find “Suggest photos of me to friends.
• Edit accordingly.

How could this impact you at your agency? Would it make tagging your consumers, volunteers or staff in photos much easier? Do you want them tagged at all? Do they want you tagging them?

Lots of questions. Being a new feature with privacy implications, it is likely Facebook will change the default setting under the pressure of the public like they have done so in the past.

What’s also interesting is Google created a similar tool you could use on smartphones but opted to not release the application.

Share your thoughts and comments about this new tool in our comments section.

5 Things for Wednesday

1) Twitter has started to email account users when someone retweets your tweets. Assuming you check your email often or get prompted when you get a new email, it makes it a little easier to know when someone has retweeted your work.

2) Twitter is buying Tweetdeck. If you use Tweetdeck already, you shouldn’t notice much change.

3) Who has rights to photos you post on social media? A woman posted a photo of the latest shuttle launch on a social media site. News agencies picked it up and used it but few asked permission. This has opened up the debate of who owns the photos, videos, and anything else you post to social media. You should read the privacy and permissions policies for each social media tool/platform/product you use to know.

4) Hashtags continue to be important in social media. I’ve discussed them in the past. Here’s a list of 30 hashtags you may want to follow that are specific to nonprofits.

5) People often ask me what is the future of social media? Is it a semantic web? Is it mashing up current tools? Is it a new and easy way to measure social media? Yes, Yes and Yes. What are your thoughts on the future of social media in the near and distant future?

Facebook’s EdgeRank

Ever wonder why some things people post on Facebook show up in your Top News Feed when you first log in while updates others don’t appear unless you click on the most recent status updates? Me too.

The reason why is EdgeRank. EdgeRank is a formula that Facebook uses to figure out what it thinks you should see first, i.e. what is most news worthy. What Facebook won’t tell people is how to ensure that your own feed will rank high in EdgeRank.

Thanks to The Daily Beast, who did a non-scientific study to find characteristics of why some feeds are mentioned first above others, we may now know. They found that it boils down to three things:

1. Affinity
2. Weight
3. Time

The Daily Beast defines Affinity as how much you like a friend. The more you comment, view and click on a friend’s postings, the higher affinity rank they achieve. The Daily Beast found it’s a one way street – you can’t increase the chances of your posts showing up in a friend’s top news feed by clicking on their posts. Their feed will be more likely to show up in yours if you click and comment frequently on theirs. You will need to get the friend to comment and like your postings more often to increase the odds you will show up in their Top News Feed.

Weight gets a lot of importance in EdgeRank. The longer someone engages or interaacts with content, the more the weight. There are three important parts of weight: 1) photo/video which are more important than 2) links which are more important than 3) status updates. The Next Web Blog explains it as:

“… [I]t’s not just the posted content that factors into EdgeRank. Remember the Affinity score above? How many photos did you “Like” today? And how many images did you leave a comment on? And there we have it – the comments. Comments are the single most valuable factor in an object’s EdgeRank. The Facebook reasoning here is engagement. Meaning, it takes much more effort on the end users’ part to type out a comment than to click a “Like” button.”

The third component Time factors in how long ago you commented, liked or posted something. Was the thing you posted submitted ten minutes ago or ten days ago? Freshness is very important. You don’t want old news that you would use to wrap your fish or line the bird cage.

Facebook EdgeRank's Formula

So there it is, Facebook is trying to give you the most relevant information based on the your habits. It’s not just cutting out your friends’ postings.

Since you can’t force force your postings into your followers Top News Feeds what’s a charity to do? Post items, that are affinity-causing, weighty and timely. Post things that will cause interaction between you and the constituent/friend. Post photos and videos that will generate discussion. Post things that are provocative without being polarizing. You will then be on your way to making your feed appear more frequently in the Top News feeds of your followers and online friends.

Create your own Daily Newspaper

Paper.li is a web-based tool, that is free, that you can use to create a daily paper of your Facebook and or Twitter feeds. The paper could also have a morning and evening edition or be weekly. You may also even set up a paper for a specific hashtag or keyword that is of interest to you such as this one. You may also have multiple papers.

I like Paper.li because it organizes the posts made by people you follow into categories. When people post links to photos or videos, it adds those too. Paper.li allows you to embed your daily paper on your website. It also pushes a daily notification letting your followers on Facebook and or Twitter know it has been updated. Here is a link to a copy of my Paper.li daily paper.

Here’s a video on how it works.

If you sign up for it, let us know. I’m happy to share your Paper.li daily news links with others.