Social Pressure: Investors Versus Consumers

Both money and relationships are vital for sustainability, yet it is money that has been the main cause of many broken relationships. It is souring Facebook’s too, with its 900+ users.  Will they run away from the new monetization schemes as investors did, post IPO?

Investment risks

Facebook’s first angel investor and member of its board of directors, Peter Thiel recently sold most of his Facebook shares as the company’s stock fell. For companies, hedge funds from those such as Thiel, are a security boon because of their sizable investment that cannot be liquidated the first year. Mutual funds being more common tend to retreat in large numbers the moment stocks drop. Both situations are deadly for a company. And that’s the kind of pressure Facebook is currently faced with.

New investors are therefore hardly encouraged.

Relationship risks

In response, Zuckerberg seems torn between pleasing his users and investors. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to his company’s volatility.

And so we witness the revival of Facebook Gifts, first featured two years ago and subsequently shut off because it proved profitless. This time around, Facebook’s commerce initiative could work for users who see it as a way to increase their bonding with their friends via the network. This is still not as risky as some other ventures, such as advertising, no longer a free service.

Marketing with different rules

COO Sheryl Sandberg has made it plain that payment will also be required to access additional features provided by the network. The strategy is similar to how other social networks operate, but considering this to be a free for all network, new users will think twice before joining Facebook, while current users may reconsider staying put on the network.

It is clear Facebook is not cut out for the cut-and-dry advertisers and all attempts have been fruitless. The pressure has led to privacy violations and protests from users. Despite that, Wall Street Journal reports how the social medium continues to provide internal as well as external user data to marketers.

Facebook asks users to verify their real identity through their phone numbers. Now marketers can target customers by matching Facebook’s email and phone numbers with their own lists. And yes, these companies have also received enough ROI to continue on this path. But users are displeased.

Apps and mobile are perhaps the only two ventures that to count on, both as user and investor attraction. Facebook apps and Facebook Fan pages require little investment and returns are high. Mobile app ROI are even higher, with small and medium sized businesses showing keen interest in making their presence felt on both platforms. Both combined as Facebook mobile apps could produce impressive numbers.  This means rather than seeing users as consumers Facebook can focus on mobile companies and Facebook developers as their partners. Organic advertising will bring relief to all.

 

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Facebook Changes…No Not Again!

Facebook’s notorious reputation of making sudden changes is slowly dissipating. Facebook has just updated the iOS SDK, which is now available as version 3.1 with native UI. And this time, everyone seems prepared, for a change.

When author Andreas Ramos wrote a post about Facebook’s changes, his advice at the end of it was in fact a warning to ‘not rely on Facebook’ because it was ‘run by kids’ who do as they please and ‘won’t even notify’ when they make changes to their site.

Remarks such as these may have contributed to spur CEO Mark Zuckerberg to action, perhaps to prove people such as Andreas wrong? More concerning is how quickly the pendulum swung to the other side, with Facebook’s fast paced changes. Their two main goals are to move to mobile platform ASAP and to monetize.

Instead they now send an advance notice on their website to Facebook developers to prepare for any new change in the layout or feature are all put up to read on their website. Highly recommended is the Developer Roadmap page.

But the main issue is how well Facebook developers and users are adapting to the changes. Or are they not? Perhaps everyone became too comfortable and lazy coding during Facebook’s pre-mobile era. Even users felt disoriented. And by now the second and third parties should accept that such pace in development will continue because of Facebook’s very dynamic outlook.

While most of the changes are not too visible on the UI, their main pages and features have undergone a major upheaval. Such as Facebook’s Fan Pages, where in June this year, HBML was completely deleted and replaced by iFrame apps. On the exterior, as Facebook Timeline layout was enforced, so did Facebook Fan Page layout converge to become more interactive through the new ‘Message’ feature and provided better user control over posts and feedback.

Advertising and marketing also took on a new look, with features such as ‘Sponsored Stories’ and ‘Reach Generator’ to expand the fan base, thereby removing PPC (pay per click) advertisements.

The ones who are managing well are those who are reading up. It must be more than annoying because not only is it time consuming, it is also extra workload. However, it’s worth the trouble, especially for developers, because creating Facebook applications are a whole lot different.

It is always wiser to maintain a positive attitude, this goes for developers and users alike. Embrace change, and everyday will feel like new, better than a dull routine. Make the best use of their features and you can’t go wrong. Easier said than done…but with complete commercialization on the horizon, Facebook is certainly balancing it all pretty well so far.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Better Now Than Never: Apple’s Faith In Facebook

Following IPO’s subsequent downfall, the young entrepreneur was pelted with harsh criticism by investors and media alike. One company however, stood by Facebook. What had Apple Inc known the rest didn’t?

They said he was not groomed for the real world of business. That his company’s volatility was high risk investment. A Forbes article instigated he was not ‘up to the management task.’

Just a few days earlier Facebook’s stock hit an  ‘all-time low,’ where the share price was down by half of the IPO figure. Investors panicked. Facebook was silent.

Then Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO reemerged. Which seemed coincidental – or well planned. His interview at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 resulted in Facebook shares rise by 4.6%. The following day, Facebook officially integrated with iOS on the launch of iPhone 5. The network’s shares rose even further by 7.7%.

Retrospect. Apple and Facebook had been busy hatching a great plot. Apple needed social desperately. Facebook needed mobile desperately. Together they have managed to produce what may be the best of social experience on mobile to date.

Maybe Apple believed all along about Facebook’s immense mobile potential. Perhaps they could afford the risk as well, unlike many small investors. It isn’t just about social and mobile integration, which is not uncommon on other OSs. Apple’s improved hardware and software features seem perfectly designed for social networking:  Of the 200 new features installed on the iPhone5, Facebook takes the largest piece of the cake from the App Store.

Reason for the tech company to have shown confidence in the network is the latter’s continued population growth, an ocean of commerce. The large screen display on the smartphone is intended as a major attraction for advertisers, who were always hesitant about mobile platform because of their small estate. iPhone 5 has a larger screen and great graphic display, which provides fair room for both user and advertiser.

Since networking is an absorbing and therefore time-consuming activity, users can now make the most of it on the iPhone 5 which has stronger more battery power compared to any other smartphone. Faster internet browsing has also been made possible with the new A6 processor chip. Photo viewing in panoramic mode is also an added incentive for photo viewing.

The ‘Like’ tab has been optimized through push notifications for all apps which will divert traffic back to Apple’s App Store. Voice recognition feature, Siri, can be used to post Facebook updates verbally. A very convenient feature for those who are commuting and where typing post on the touchphone is extremely irksome.

All in all, it’s a partnership blossoming with mutual benefits, both for Apple’s and Facebook app developers. And one that has accelerated the downhill slide for the desktop computer, where once upon a time Facebook was born.

 

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.