Facebook Updates Mobile App Install Ads

Facebook has updated the mobile app install advert creation interface, making it easier to create adverts which prompt users to install specific mobile apps. This is one of a number of changes Facebook has made to the ads API since announcing that they were going to simplify Facebook ads a few weeks ago.

Mobile app install ads appear in the Facebook mobile stream, prompting users to download an app onto their mobile devices. They consist of a title, a short description, an image and a call to action button.

Previously, app developers had to register an application with Facebook before they could release a mobile app install advert. With the update, all developers need to do is input either an Apple App Store or a Google Play store URL.

After entering the link, developers can then select a target audience and set a budget for the advert.

Facebook are hoping that, by streamlining the app creation process, more developers will be persuaded to pay for one, hence increasing the mobile revenue stream.

Are you an app developer? Do you prefer the new creation interface?

Facebook Tests iOS Notification That Nags You to Post an Update

Facebook's modus operandi is that it tests all kinds of things all the time just to see what sticks. So, don't be too alarmed about this notification feature which Bijan Sabet, a general partner at Spark Capital, tweeted about this week:

A Facebook rep says that the feature is in a "small test we're running." As Sabet's reaction illustrates, the feature has the potential to irk users. Facebook has attempted to toe the line between prompting engagement and becoming too intrusive before by asking users to check in with friends they haven't communicated with in a while. More recently, the company has drawn complaints for nagging Android users to download the latest update of its app.

What do you think of this feature? Let us know in the comments.

Images via iStockphoto, mattjeacock and Twitter, Bijan Sabet

Facebook Updates iOS App With Cover Photo Control

Facebook released version 5.6 of its iOS app Monday, giving users the ability to update their profile cover photo on the go.
Users can now update their cover photo on the iPhone with a tap of their finger.

Simply tap on the cover photo in profile view and you can choose to view your cover photo, choose a new photo from your photo library or take a new photo. Select the photo you want and arrange it as desired, hit save, and you're done.

The update also promises fewer taps for creating group messages and easier ways to name and find group conversations.

The Facebook for iOS update [iTunes link] is available in the App Store now.

Homepage image courtesy of Facebook, composite Christina Warren, Mashable. Screenshots courtesy of Facebook

Facebook’s New News Feed: What Does It mean For Your Business?

On March 7th, Facebook unveiled its redesigned News Feed home page at a press conference in Menlo Park.
The new look focuses on images, making posts larger and more detailed, with different feeds displaying different types of content. The new design is also consistent across all devices, both desktop and mobile, and was influenced by the current Facebook News Feed on phones and tablets. So, the new News Feed has bigger images, different feeds and less clutter, but what does this mean for businesses promoting themselves on Facebook?How it looks:

There are several distinct News Feeds that users can switch between: All Friends, Close Friends, Photos, Following, Music, Games and Groups. Stories from All Friends, Following and Photos are displayed chronologically, with the most recent at the top. There is an omnipresent black toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen, with all the usual tabs: Messages, Events, Pages, Apps etcetera. On the right-hand side of the page are sections containing suggestions, the user’s likes, top rated selections and the opportunity to rate other content, dependent on which feed is selected.

The redesigned News Feed is focused on images, as images now make up around 50% of the content on the current News Feed. Picture and video stories are enlarged and expanded: if a friend’s profile picture is changed, the new one will take up about half the width of the user’s page on desktop devices and the entire width on mobile devices. If an album is uploaded then one photo will be highlighted and enlarged, with others surrounding it.


In fact, all stories, regardless of whether they are image-centric, have been enlarged. Shared pages are announced with a preview of the page in question, consisting of the page’s cover image and profile picture. The first few sentences of articles which are shared in the News Feed are visible, alongside the title and a thumbnail photo (if the article has one). All the stories are displayed alongside a photo of the person who shared it, surrounded by a speech bubble-style box.

What this means for businesses:The benefits of the redesign for businesses are obvious: a wider timeline means more space for Sponsored Stories and the focus on visual content gives marketers the opportunity to get creative with their use of images. A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed to Mashable that Sponsored Stories will still appear in the new News Feed, just as they do in the current version.

The focus on images and videos could herald the appearance of video ads in the News Feed. Last December, Facebook reportedly began developing a video advertising service which will autoplay in the news feed, regardless of the user’s activity on the site. Although the invasive nature of the proposed service was condemned by both Facebook users and the press, pop-up video advertising could still prove successful if the content is well targeted and of a high quality.

The News Feed’s consistency across all devices means that marketers won’t need to create different adverts for desktop and mobile devices, saving them money and time, but not effecting their eventual impressions figures. The autoplay video advertising service is also reported to be consistent across both mobile and desktop devices.


The introduction of new distinct micro-feeds – All Friends, Close Friends, Photos, Following, Music, Games and Groups – provides marketers with new targeting options. For example, a Sponsored Story advertising a social gaming company could be posted solely on the Games feed, while an advert for a new album release could be posted on the Music feed.

However, users can choose to only see the content that their friends are posting in the All Friends and Close Friends tabs. If marketers advertise in these feeds they will have to be careful not to be too invasive: users will go on the two Friends feeds for a personal experience, not to be hassled by advertising.

In fact, the onus is on users to actively want to view the advertising of the brands they follow in the Following tab. Marketers will have to ensure that the content they post in the News Feed is entertaining enough to keep their followers’ attention. The micro-feeds will have benefits and detriments to marketers, senior social strategist Mauricio Aguayo told Mashable:

With most changes like this, it is always going to affect some people positively and some negatively. The user is now much more in control about what they want to see and they will be much more prone to engage with it because they've in essence raised their hand and asked to see this publication. But for awareness purposes and pushing content out, it may be a little negative.

In keeping with the quality over quantity brief, the right-hand sidebar, which often contains smaller, cheaper adverts, will all but disappear when the redesigned News Feed is released. Not only will this affect businesses with less to spend on Facebook advertising who are more reliant on smaller ads, it could also create a sizeable dent in Facebook’s ads revenue, which is partially made up of the sales of right sidebar ads.


Now that cover photos are displayed on the News Feed alongside relevant stories, companies will have to be even more certain that they are making the right impression with the image they choose. According to Facebook Studio’s announcement post:

For both organic and paid Page Like stories, the photo that we’ll now display is the Page’s cover photo. This change is designed to provide more context about the Page. All the more reason to make sure your cover photo is eye-catching and visually representative of your Page.

So, the new News Feed focuses on visual content, encourages users to actively seek out advertising and could pave the way for video advertising on Facebook. It is also likely that such image- and video-based advertising will be quite expensive, pricing some smaller marketers out of using the News Feed to advertise their brands. Whether or not Facebook will introduce a new cheaper alternative is yet to be seen.

"How we're all sharing is changing and the news feed needs to evolve with those changes”, said CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the press conference. “This is the evolving face of news feed."

Users can join the waiting list for the new News Feed here.

What do you think of the new News Feed? How do you think it will affect the work of Facebook marketers?

19% of New Facebook Fans Now Come From Mobile

Almost one in five new Facebook fans came from mobile devices in August, an increase of 280% in four months, according to a new research report.
PageLever looked at more than 500 Facebook Pages with 100,000 or more Facebook fans and found only 5% of new fans came from mobile in May, but that number jumped to 19% in August.

It’s unclear exactly what propelled the spike in activity. Facebook had 543 million mobile users in June and reported that the figure had passed 600 million in early October. One possible factor is Facebook’s introduction of a mobile advertising product in June. Some third-party studies have found those ads to be more effective than traditional desktop ads.


Jeff Widman, co-founder of PageLever, also cautioned that “when a new fan comes in from a mobile ad, Facebook has to choose whether to count them as ‘mobile’ or ‘ads’ and it’s not clear which they’re picking…”

Facebook reps could not immediately be reached for comment.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci

Facebook Testing Automatic ‘Photo Syncing’ Feature For Android Phones

Facebook is testing a new feature that automatically syncs the photos you take with your Android phone to your Facebook account.
Appropriately called “Photo Syncing,” the feature syncs your photos and stores them privately, allowing you to later go into Facebook and decide which pictures you would like to share.
Similar to a feature already available in Google+, on a Help page for the service Facebook says that the feature is currently only a test, and is available for some people who are using the newest Facebook for Android app.
Facebook syncs the pictures you take “as soon as you take them,” however, the app also takes into account the battery level on your phone and your sync settings before it starts uploading.


For instance, you can set the application to only sync photos while you’re connected to Wi-Fi network, rather than potentially running up a huge data bill by synching all your shots over your cellular network. Photos that are synced via cellular network are synced at a smaller size (around 100k), to cut down on the damage it does to your data plan.
Your can check to see if you have the feature available by tapping ‘Photos’ on your Timeline within the Facebook for Android app and seeing if there is a ‘Photo Synching’ option available.
If you don’t want to sync photos when you take them you can also turn the feature off within Facebook for Android.
What do you think about automatically syncing the photos you take to Facebook? Is it something you would want to do? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Facebook Mobile Now Lets You Edit Recent Activity

Facebook is rolling out Activity Log to mobile, a privacy feature that was only available in your computer-bound account. The log lets users monitor and control what shows up on their Timelines.

This means you won’t have to wait to delete automatically generated “stories” such as the dozen times you listened to “Call Me Maybe” on Spotify.

If you have the new log, you can find it on your Timeline profile page in the listing that includes About, Photos and Friends. (If not, be patient. You should see it soon.) From the mobile activity log, you can see the privacy setting associated with each action you took on the social network or with a Facebook-connected app. You can delete any of the activities in the list by clicking on the circle next to an item.

The mobile log is a stripped down version of what you’ll find on your desktop. Located under your Timeline cover photo, the Activity Log lets you change each activity’s privacy settings, rather than just delete items. Only you can see your Activity Log.

On the desktop, you can adjust who sees your activities and how each will appear on your Timeline. Choosing “featured” enlarges the selected story, so it spans the page, “allowed” is the default setting and a post you’ve made is shown in the regular single-column size, while “hidden” hides the story from view, but still lists it in your log in case you decide to show it later. And like mobile, you can delete an item altogether.