Everything You Need To Learn About The New Facebook Pages

by Gio Gutierrez

Facebook is changing all the Pages to the new timeline format starting on March 30 and its NOT optional. You can however upgrade right now and check out some of its features. So here’s what’s new:

Facebook Timeline replaces your Profile and your Wall. When you log into Facebook, that feed page of Recent Stories will still be the same. But, when you or visitors go to your unique Facebook URL, such as facebook.com/tinsleyad, they’ll be able to see your Timeline that now consolidates your profile information and your wall.

The Default Tab is gone. Yes, Facebook has removed the option to choose your landing page for non-followers. Everyone lands on your Timeline and you can’t change it. But Tabs are still there, now just called Views & Apps! Not only that, but they are now 780 pixels wide (as opposed to 520 pixels) so you can still have branded tabs with even more room.

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Views And Apps (which include Likes, Photos and Events) are at the top of the page with 4 being shown by default and 8 others hidden below a drop down menu, so make sure you display your top favorites in the first 4 slots. The image for each of these is also customizable as long as they are 111 pixels by 74. You can also change the order of all these, so people see what matters most EXCEPT for Photos, which are pinned to the first slot.

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Pin and Highlights You can now Pin your favorite Post to the top for the next 7 days. Love this feature as you can have the pinned post be first thing. Highlights allows you to have a post go full-screen/widest available so it can really stand out (great for movies and pictures. However you CAN’T have a post Highlighted and Pinned.

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New Administrator Panel to help you keep track of your activity from within your page, view your latest insights and respond when people write on your timeline.

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Message fans Directly will let you contact people and privately message them only after they initiate the dialogue.

Cover Photo is a huge area where you can really make your brand shine with an image that’s 851 pixels by 315 but it CAN’T contain any of the following (even though I see some brands doing it):
• Price or purchase information, such as “40 percent off” or “Only $9.99”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Thumbnail/Profile Photo is now bigger at 180 pixels by 180.

Finally, Facebook also has re-allowed Page Names to be changed upon request by clicking here.

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What do think of the changes?

Confrontainment, Conflict and Anti-Social Media.

By Dorn Martell

It’s an epidemic.

From the howling of radio hosts and talking heads to the heckling of the President, our entertainment and dialogue has somehow degenerated into an ugly, counterproductive, screaming match. Reality TV like Big Brother, America’s Next Top Model, The Surreal Life, The Apprentice and others have become more of a showcase for the ugliness of personal conflict than they are about the original premise. I was so disappointed by the History Channel’s “Expedition Africa”, a reality show tracing Stanley’s route across the Congo. Instead of a show about history, African culture and the legacy of Stanley and Livingstone, it became a show that should have been re-named “Everyone hates Pasquale” (the bush guide) because all it showed was people arguing about nothing. This mentality has transformed our political system into a self-destructive hate-fest. It has mutated personal communications into a “cage grudge match” and has transformed a great deal of social media into a school yard argument.

Follow threads on YouTube, FaceBook and even LinkedIn and you will find that some of the most popular threads are nothing more than an on-line argument. As companies look for the holy grail of ad platforms and get heavier into social media, they will find there is a huge risk when you ask “What do you guys think of our new pizza?” Inevitably someone will post “I think your pizza sucks, loser.” Try to comment about a band, a sports team, a work of art or anything on healthcare, guns, the environment, religion or gay rights and see what kind of immature and inappropriate responses you will get.

As we strive to create a dialogue with our customers we must be aware that the internet is a lot like a bar. Some people can handle the freedom and conduct themselves properly while others are there to pick fights, hit on girls and make asses of themselves. That’s why bars have bouncers. Is this the answer in social media? Will every discussion require a moderator who is filtering content in real time? And at that point, what will be the value of an “open forum”? Do we need bouncers on the floor of the Senate to keep elected officials from throwing chairs and chanting “Jerry, Jerry”? Polls show that Americans are getting quite fed up with this tone. Many people have opted-out of social media because it was getting “creepy”. And talk about creepy I have one word ChatRoulette.

Will social media be the greatest source of dialogue in history or will it be the ultimate forum for bullies and perverts? I guess it is what we allow it to be and our programming, politics and personal interactions will be governed by what we opt-in to or out of.

66% of companies are Using Social Media in 2009

Nearly two out of three companies are Using Social Media in 2009.

As marketers embrace new media platforms, social media and viral videos have seen the largest jump in ranking, according to a survey done by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), BtoB Magazine and in partnership with marketing services firm ‘mktg.’ The survey had the following findings:

  • 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009, as compared to 20 percent in 2007
  • Fifty percent employ viral videos, up from only 25 percent in 2007
  • 55 percent of respondents funded new media formats by shifting funds from their traditional media budget, while 48 percent shifted funds from other marketing communications budgets. Twenty-six percent of marketers created an incremental budget.
  • The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent)
  • Among social networks being embraced by all marketers, the top sites used are:
    • Facebook (74 percent)
    • YouTube (65 percent)
    • Twitter (63 percent)
    • LinkedIn (60 percent)

Fortune 100 CEO’s and Social Media

by Gio Gutierrez

UberCEO recently did a study with the headline “It’s Official: Fortune 100 CEOs Are Social Media Slackers.” It goes on to analyze the social-media habits of CEOs at large companies and concluded, shockingly, that they don’t use social media much. They looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement. Here are the topline results:

  • Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts
  • 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections
  • 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page
  • Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information
  • Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog

I’m surprised but then again… I’m not surprised. Too many CEOs think there are more important things to do besides identify with and build an audience for themselves and their company. I also suspect the reasons CEO’s aren’t using social media is because of fear and lack of knowledge seeing that the CEO’s that stood out of the pack are all from technology companies – Michael Dell (Dell), Gregory Spierkel (Ingram Micro) and John Chambers (Cisco).

Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits

by Gio Gutierrez

MJ’s memorial service will no doubt go on as one of the most watched web events ever. Facebook, UStream, CNN, MySpace, Hulu and more offered live streams and here are the numbers.

CNN:
72 million page views
10.8 million unique visitors
8.9 million live video streams

Ustream:
4.6 million total streams
1.6 million total unique visitors
12,000 messages per minute sent through chat/Ustream’s Social Stream

Facebook:
733,000 status updates
759,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast
6,000 updates/minute at the peak

E! Online:
9,000 status updates
87,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

ABC:
48,000 status updates
97,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

MTV:
5,000 status updates
21,000 Facebook users viewing broadcast

Very impressive numbers to be sure, but they don’t surpass those of President Obama’s inauguration, which was the last web event to draw this much attention from the social web. During the inauguration, the CNN/Facebook live stream drew 13.9 million live streams between 6 AM and 11:45 AM ET, with millions more during the course of the day, and a peak of 1.3 million concurrent streams.