Facebook F8 Announcement Raises the Bar for Brands & Consumers - Part 4

Having covered the major elements of the Facebook F8 announcements in parts one to three, (including the introduction of the user timeline, gestures and role of content at the heart of brand marketing through the social media platform), part four will analyse the increased role and importance of applications and open graph functionality for brand marketers.

In line with Facebook’s slight positioning shift to present a more tactile, cuddly and personality-rich commitment to its users (in fairness, Facebook has always presented itself as such; the announcements at F8 are more of an accentuation of its position); providing users with a timeline through which they can create and present more of a personalised scrap-book of their lives, the announcement that Facebook has launched a new version of open graph that will allow users to share whatever they are doing without overwhelming their friends is a further opportunity for brands to engage.

According to the announcement, there will be one permissions process right at the start of using an application for users. Having completed the initial permissions process, where users select whether the application is to be posted on their wall, or shared with friends (and accepting terms and conditions), further interactions with the application will not require a repeat of the permissions process.

The information shared through the user will be subject to the evolutionary elements of the news feed as outlined in previous articles, with actions deemed less significant or relevant being shown in the new ticker and more significant or relevant actions being displayed within the top news feed.

The integration of applications within Facebook and specifically within user timelines is a key element of the new Facebook evolution. Facebook want applications to be at the heart of user activity (presumably in part because they offer significant opportunities to develop commercially beneficial partnerships with content providers such as Spotify).

The challenge for brand marketers is how to ensure their applications become part of a user’s everyday activities and integrate seamlessly into each user’s Facebook timeline, making it as easy as possible for the user to share that activity.