Though Facebook has had a search box for many years, it’s predominately been used to help users find their friends quickly, track down existing community groups, or locate brand pages. But slowly Facebook’s search ambitions are growing, and with the recent launch of the open social graph (mostly known for those ‘like’ buttons) the social networking behemoth is moving full steam towards providing a full service search engine right inside Facebook.com. Here are two ways that Facebook is expanding on search, and why we need to make sure our clients are prepared for the looming Facebook SEO battle:
1. People-powered search results
Every site that incorporates Facebook open social graph tools (like buttons, comment boxes, etc.) is being indexed and ranked by Facebook based on how much Facebook users engage with the content. As more and more users ‘like’ websites Facebook is beginning to include the popular sites in the Facebook.com search box. This approach is different from Google, which ranks sites based on linking and content relevancy. Instead Facebook is prioritizing search results based on what the Facebook audience is saying about sites on the web. Facebook will also likely prioritize search content based on what your specific friends recommend as well. Brands can get a head start in ensuring they’re in the Facebook.com search results by implementing Facebook open social graph plug-ins in a smart way and fueling users to start ‘liking’ their content. Brands can also influence how their sites are listed in Facebook’s search engine by including special meta-data in their site code.
2. Socially powered content farm
Facebook is now automatically building what they call “community pages” for any topics that users list as interests in their profiles. These community pages enable Facebook to serve up content through their search box that “locks in” users by providing them internal site content rather than sending them out of Facebook the public web. The community pages are filled with pictures + text pulled directly from Wikipedia about the topic, as well as a stream of status updates that Facebook users have posted on their walls about the topic (any status updates from a viewer’s friends are highlighted first). Currently the “community pages” are not able to be edited by anyone, and brands cannot claim pages. However, brands should monitor the conversation that is being aggregated on community pages, and they can join in the stream by publishing content on their own pages about the subjects.
Though we’re still at the early stages of Facebook’s search product and the changes aren’t very visible yet, it’s important for us to pay attention to this on behalf of our brands. With over 500 million users, Facebook has the ability to make major waves in search very quickly. We can help prepare our clients for this by recommending smart Facebook SEO tactics- building a robust Facebook presence, leveraging the social graph plug-ins, and watching the community pages. We need to lead this forward thinking as social search hits prime-time.
Yesterday I wrote a post for my company’s blog (DRAFTFCBBlog) about the evolution of older social networks that is taking place:
Early entrants into the social networking space MySpace and Hi-5 are no longer competing to be the main social-net in people’s lives, rather they’re refocusing on Entertainment content. For MySpace that means Music, and for Hi-5 that means games; in both cases, the early returns look good.
The evolutions aren’t just about audience numbers, it’s about monetization & compatibility with advertising:
it’s easier to to develop ad-products around music consumption and sharing because advertisers prefer professional content to UGC content
with gaming advertisers have the opportunity to create more involved ad-experiences than run-of-network banners
Facebook itself is focusing on social engagement advertising, which is important when their environment is all about social interaction. More traditional forms of display advertising are proving not to work when it’s wrapped around your friend’s profile or when you’re looking at pictures from the weekend (CTR’s on social-nets are tanking). But multi-media content like video & gaming can still help produce content that is capable of tying with more pure-play branding efforts.
Oh and if there’s any question about where MySpace sees its future, rumors yesterday that MySpace will trade implementing Facebook Connect on their site for increased MySpace music & video share functionality on Facebook should say a lot.
As part of the massive marketing campaign to promote Microsoft’s new(ish) search engine Bing, Federated Media launched a website called BingTweets. The site takes the trending terms on Twitter and does Bing searches for them, giving context to the buzz. Chris Brogan puts it well:
“What’s cool about that is there are MANY times when we see trends on Twitter and we wonder what the backstory is. In my example, I clicked half-blood prince and got local showtimes for the new Harry Potter movie. I think this can be pretty darned useful”
His point is an increasingly powerful rallying cry for the advertising community – if you want your advertising to hit home with your audience, make it good content. Look at what DeepFocus did for the new Mad Men series, it gave the audience something we wanted (I’m one of the many fans), and we responded by spreading the word in hordes.
This is why I’m pretty psyched about the recent Elmo’s Tickle Hands program that we at DraftFCB launched. It’s tied to a product, but it’s something great for the audience. Free, cute, “Ticklegrams” for Facebook users to send their friends, without having to install even an application (which to me feels almost unheard of on Facebook). It’s something valuable, and it conveys the message. It’s advertising as content.
Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own thoughts and opinions and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc, Draftfcb, Inc. or their clients.
On Tuesday I attended Social Media Boot Camp, a half day conference put together by SocialMedia.com, with the focus on actionable social media thinking. I was looking forward to the conference specifically because Fred Wilson and Ian Schafer would both be speaking there, but virtually all of the presenters did a great job at delivering case studies and strategic thinking that made the 4 hours incredibly worthwhile. Lately I’ve been seeing collective communal intelligence around social media take a step forward beyond the initial chaos of social media to moving towards deeper understanding and more defined courses of action. For the benefit of the UsableClicks community, here are 15 key insights and themes that were discussed at the Social Media Boot Camp: (more…)
Today has been a big day for Facebook. In the last few hours we’ve learned that Facebook will open up its news feed stream so 3rd parties can integrate reading and writing content from Facebook directly into 3rd party applications. We’ve also learned that Facebook will begin accepting OpenID log-in; soon you will be able to log-in to Facebook with your AIM or Yahoo ID info (for example). Shortly after Facebook’s news, 3rd party developers such as Seesmic and Xobni made announcements that they will integrate the Facebook stream into their desktop applications. All of this means users will now be able to fulfill many of their Facebook cravings without actually going to Facebook.com. Along with Facebook Connect, we can see a clear vision of the social web being architected by Facebook, one that fully embraces decentralization and lets us exist as social entities with our Facebook identities as we live out across the web digital ecosystem. (more…)
I am a Senior Strategist at SS+K. I handle digital & social media strategy for a number of clients. I also keep a personal blog here. View Kevin Skobac's profile
Yesterday I wrote a 
View Kevin Skobac's profile