Facebook just implemented an update to that allows users to share any status update created by a friend that they see in their News Feeds, placing greater emphasis on the act of story-sharing. → read more
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Think about how much the Internet Explorer brand has devolved. Think about what Internet Explorer meant to you 15 years ago, during the mid 90s, when you first began surveying the vast terrain of the internet, excavating treasures such as blinking gifs or scrolling marquees. Back then, the Internet was a giant landfill of random content—scattered, sporadic, and full of wonderful discoveries—and the term Internet Explorer actually elicited the notion of exploration.
Now, exploration on the internet is passé. There is simply too much content on the web that exploration doesn’t make sense; it would simply be an aimless odyssey. You don’t just go out there and explore the world wide web. Why? Because it is the WORLD WIDE WEB. There is simply too much noise and clutter to purposefully have a meaningful experience. We no longer live in the world of digital exploration. With the connections we form through social networks and with social sharing becoming embedded into browsing experiences, we’ve transitioned into an age of curated discovery, in which connections, interests, and behaviors act as content filters.
It’s funny to reflect upon how much my personal perception of Internet Explorer has changed in the past decade. What once was the interface through which I, in the truest sense of the word, explored the world wide web now acts as a reminder of how primitive and archaic the web experience used to be. I can’t remember the last time I used Internet Explorer. I do, however, know for sure that I’ll never use it again in the future, and that simply shows me how indefinite and indeterminate a brand’s perceptions are.
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Facebook seems to be making a lot of tweaks to its News Feed and EdgeRank as of late. In addition to topic grouping, Facebook has been tinkering with EdgeRank to try to give brands more prominence in the News Feed. Many Page admins I’ve spoken to are mentioning an increase in impressions as of late, and many users are saying they’re seeing a lot more brands in their News Feed than they typically see. Although it’s only anecdotal evidence, it’s clear that Facebook is up to something to help out brands. In addition to this anecdotal evidence, there is another change Facebook is making that signifies its emphasis on helping out brands: Facebook has removed the ability for users to unlike a page or unsubscribe from within the News Feed. Traditionally, users were given several options they could take to punish a brand publishing uninteresting content: unliking the page, hiding all posts from the page (unsbuscribing), or hiding the post.
Facebook has now virtually revoked all actions a user can take against a brand from within the News Feed. Now, the only action a user can take is to hide a single piece of content.
To me, these recent actions by Facebook tell two stories:
- Most brands fail at News Feed Optimization. They simply don’t get getting what types of content resonate with their fans. Why else would Facebook remove such simple ways to squelch annoying brands filling up our News Feeds with noise? Brands have to battle against their fans’ friends as well as other brands in order to appear in the News Feed, and they’re losing badly. Enter Facebook’s tweaks to make sure that brands at least appear on the News Feed, even if those impressions hardly result in a like or a comment.
- Facebook owns our social graph, and they know it. Facebook has become such an integral part of our social constructs that even if they make changes that negatively impacts the user experience—such as tweaking their News Feed to become more brand-friendly—people will ultimately still continue to use Facebook. Who cares if users’ News Feeds ends up getting cluttered with annoying updates from brands who have no idea how to be successful on Facebook? Perhaps Facebook is thinking that brands will eventually learn how to engage their fans, and until then, they should keep giving brands a chance by making it harder for fans to unsubscribe and unlike the page.
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I recently published a POV presentation on Google+ through 22squared called Google+: What It Is and What It Means. I was also recently interviewed by Neil Glassman of SocialTimes.com during a Hangout on Google+ regarding the potential impact of Google+ for brand marketers and advertisers. It was on featured on the front page of SocialTimes today. I encourage you to read Neil’s article as well as take a peak at the actual presentation below.
View more presentations from 22squared
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