Category Archives: Social Media

August 5, 2007

New Newsfeed Algorithm for Facebook?

The Facebook Newsfeed algorithm has been a popular discussion topic and applications have been attempting to optimize for it. A good Newsfeed optimization strategy can make or break the success of a Facebook application. The application can’t control everything in the Newsfeed and the user behaviour plays an important role. For example if an application creates a Newsfeed item that is clicked on by many users it will be displayed with a higher priority for other users. The exact process for displaying Newsfeed items is not disclosed but its a combination of popularity, the users preferences and in the timing of the event.

Facebook has just taken the unusual step of removing the time stamps from the Newsfeed. Working with clients on their Facebook applications and their Newsfeed strategy, we’ve seen many situations where the Newsfeed item appears much later than other events. This is normally the weighting that Facebook assigns to more popular News items that it already has an history for and understands the popularity. For a new application this can be a problem because no history exists and many News items will never appear on Newsfeeds.

This brings up an interesting point since time is not one of the options that the users can control. Each user has the ability to change their Newsfeed preferences to adjust the default Newsfeed behaviour. In the Newsfeed preferences its possible to change the following:

  • Events
  • Groups
  • Photos
  • Notes
  • Relationships
  • Friends
  • Wall Posts
  • Profiles
  • Status
  • Posts

With no ability to adjust the priority of time in the Newsfeed and now Facebook removing the timestamps completely it would appear the Newsfeed algorithm will continue to improve but may have less focus on the time of the events.

August 1, 2007

Facebook vs Myspace

comScore released additional usage information on social networks yesterday and Facebook continues its incredible growth. I’ve always been hesitant to rely on comScore for much more than trending information. They are showing that Facebook has grown by 272% vs the Myspace growth of 72%. I believe a big part of this trend has been the Facebook application platform and all the new application that are being created for Facebook. This keeps the site fresh and provide additional reason for people to visit the site.

As some of the early flash-in-the-pan applications start to fade away I think we’ll see some legitimate applications develop to add more value in the site. A great example is the Flixster movie application, which was not part of the launch collection but has continually improved. Recently its launched movie comparison test so that you can compare your friends movie tastes and this is also a great way for the application to go viral and get more people using the site and the application.

It will be interesting to see how Myspace responds to all this activity. Surely they have their own application platform in the works and will be taking a run at the Facebook momentum.

July 18, 2007

Forward this Linkedin…

Linkedin Forward RequestI’ve been using Linkedin for bout 5 years now. I can remember when it was first launched and I had to spam people to get them to add themselves to the site. Now its pretty common to find people in Linkedin. The biggest problem with Linkedin is its business model of charging people to have broader access to the network. A great example of Linkedin stupidity is the forward function. This is when one of your friends wants to contact another but you have to be the human mail router. This sounds like someone’s idea of a joke but Linkedin actually thinks this is a good idea. I may quit Linkedin purely for this reason…

The new kid looking at the Linkedin cheese is definitely Facebook. In Facebook the connecting with people is just the beginning and in most cases it doesn’t require any of the stupidity that Linkedin requires. To avoid spam Facebook has made some serious investments in spam prevention and it works great. I’m expecting more and more people to be found in Facebook and if Linkedin continues this stupidity it will be irrelevant…

May 14, 2007

Facebook and Classifieds

Facebook launched their marketplace place service over the weekend to allow Facebook users to create classified ads. There was an interesting interview last week with Mark Zuckerberg in the NY Times. What I found really interesting was Mark’s comment:

“There are no anonymous listings, and we give you a very clear path to see how you can trust the other person you are conducting business with,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.

No more anonymous listings… Is this a good thing for classified advertising? I’m not sure. Do most people want to sell their old car, TV, couch, computer etc.. to someone they know.

I recently sold some Police tickets for a small fortune, approximately 600% margin. I’m not sure I would feel comfortable making that sort of margin off someone I know. It will be interesting to see if the Facebook marketplace can achieve the level of success that Craigslist has achieved with a very smart anonymous classified system.

Disclosure: I work for Trader Corporation which operates several classified publications and websites.

May 1, 2007

The Facebook Opportunity

The popularity of Facebook has taken off in Toronto. The population of the “Toronto Network” on Facebook is close to 10% of the city’s registered population. This is amazing market penetration and its creating some interesting situations within the online community. For example, typically students and teachers maintain a certain professional distance. Facebook’s original strategy was to go after solely students and its penetration’s still seems to be higher in these younger demographics. Now that teachers are joining Facebook it puts them in immediate contact with their students. Problems have already started to develop with defamation on Facebook and many schools are setting up policies for how they will respond.

Facebook as a whole is not that dissimilar from the internet except that it allows people to connect more readily and provide a more accessible platform to communicate. Its brought together the concepts of blogging, email, digging or bookmarking content, and social groups. In the past it was difficult to find your friends web pages or blogs and teachers rarely interacted with them. Now they can easily encounter them through the Facebook network and there is much more publicity around inappropriate content. Facebook also creates a perception of privacy with its exclusive friend network and group settings but the full privacy settings are rarely used.

As a marketer its a great opportunity to interface with a variety of different age groups on a single platform. There are very few sites that have penetrated as deeply into the Toronto population across different age. It will be interesting to see if Facebook can maintain this position or they will fade away as different age groups seek specialized experiences. For example do students really want to be on the same platform as their teachers? Do co-workers want to be on the same platform as their drinking buddies? Some of these situations can be handled with the Facebook’s existing security model but many cannot. As Facebook increases user privacy it will risk slowing it growth.

September 14, 2006

Wanakita 2006

As a kid I went to the Camp Wanakita summer camp each year and waited anxiously for any mail, especially when it contained some of my mom’s cookies. The distance and the isolation was all part of the experience, and it was great. I just found a Youtube video by Stephen Emhecht about his experience in Cabin 45 ( 45 cabins? Wow ):

A quick visit over to the Camp Wanakita webpage lets parents email the camp, complete the summer camper survey online and access the camps photo database ( with userid/password ). Its great to see the Camp and its campers using technology to extend the experience but it really shows you how much things have changed. ..

March 31, 2006

Linkedin

Linkedin recently launched a web profile function so you can see my profile without a Linkedin account here.If you’re not familar with Linkedin its a great professional contact manager. The site lets you search for colleagues based on previous company or university. It provides the ability to reconnect with them directly if you have their email address or indirectly through another co-worker. This allows the site to create a great ‘friend of a friend’ feel and let people network together. Overall I think its a great way to find jobs or just re-connect with friends from the past.