Facebook Connect is connecting people across the social graph to fresh content and furthermore it’s channeling outside Web events into individual lifestreams. Essentially, Facebook is solidifying its position as not only your primary social network, it’s also a emerging as a central hub for your attention, updates, news, promotion, and enlightenment.
Now, Facebook is extending its network to the World Wide Web, allowing brands and personalities who have or will host Fan Pages to embed a widget version of the page directly into Web sites, other social networks, social networks, and blogs. This builds a bridge between the 200 million strong Facebook network and outside visitors to strategically concentrate on promotion and community building.
Interactivity is key and by embedding the Facebook widget, site owners can augment, eliminate or reduce reliance on custom brand-building and attention grabbing site development while still amassing a significant following or fandom. It also extends the updates and content live, providing site visitors with the latest activity from inside the network to wherever the widget is placed. It’s a simple matter of adding a bit of automatically generated code to the site, not unlike how we embed YouTube videos or Flickr pictures today.
Visitors to outside branded pages can securely login with their Facebook credentials to interact with the widget to comment, become a fan, and view the latest pictures, videos, posts, etc. As fans participate, their activity is simultaneously shared within the Facebook community, further promoting the branded content within the personal “News Feed” for Facebook friends and contacts to potentially view and click through.
Loic suggested that we spend a few minutes discussing the book on camera to share with the Loic.tv community. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse – after all, Tim Ferriss had occupied the same chair moments before I arrived.
The Conversation Prism debuted in August 2008 to provide a visual representation of the true expansiveness of the Social Web and the conversations that define it. In this short time span, over one million people have crossed its path.
When Jesse Thomas of JESS3 and I initially mapped “the conversation,” we recognized that the act of categorizing social networks within a visually rich graphic would be momentary at best, demanding endless iterations in order to accurately document evolving and shifting online conversations as well as the communities that promote them.
My goal was to observe, analyze, dissect, and present the dynamics of conversations, how and where they transpired.
We’re proud to introduce version 2.0 of The Conversation Prism. We’re also excited to release a version that traverses the online realm into the real world with the release of a full color 18” x 24” poster to prominently display in the workplace, classroom, home office, or at events. Please visit www.theconversationprism.com for details, embed codes, and additional insights.
Zappos boasts one of the most loyal and enthusiastic communities of customers on the Web. Prior to SXSW Interactive, Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net, Stephanie Agresta, and I brianstormed ways for ecstatic customers to capture and share the happiness that Tony Hsieh and the Zappos team have worked so hard to package in every box.
The idea debuted at SXSW. To kick things off, we invited several of our friends to help mark the occasion by ordering something special from Zappos. We shipped the boxes to Austin Texas where they allowed us to capture their BoxBreak on camera. Guy Kawasaki, Tara Hunt, Kevin Rose, Erica O’Grady, Frank Gruber, Erin Kotecki Vest @queenofspain, Chris Brogan, Cathy Brooks, Shira Lazar, and others shared their happiness with us and now we’re hoping you’ll do the same.
The video from the event is currently hosted on Zappos.tv
Introducing Zappos BoxBreaks…
BoxBreaks are an emerging phenomenon on the Web that features video of someone opening a box using a simple Web or Flip cam and sharing what’s inside the box with everyone on the Social Web.
In honor of the successful debut at SXSW, Magnify.net and Zappos partnered to host a BoxBreak contest for ALL Zappos customers. Just shoot a video of you opening your Zappos box and share it at Zappos.tv. The contest is already underway and ends on April 30, 2009. Results will post on May 1st.
Recently, I reviewed Twibs, a directory that lists all brands and businesses currently using Twitter.
Electric Artists released a new app that is a real-time listing of the top brands, media, television, entertainment, and celebrities that the team is currently following on Twitter.
While this service offers appeal as a directory for consumers seeking their favorite brands and personalities on Twitter, it’s much more promising as a real-time monitor of how businesses, media properties, and celebrities are using Twitter – for better or for worse.
The directory includes notes next to each account, although I’d suggest that it’s far more effective to simply click through and view their update history on Twitter to get an idea of how they’re interacting with the public and also identify promising patterns. Also open up an additional window and run each account through TwitterFriends to get an overview of how they score according to their tweeting behavior.
For example, @comcastcares is listed as a recommended brand, so let’s take a look at the work of Frank Eliason and team on Twitter.
As you can see, @comcastcares is the definitive example of how to participate on Twitter. He’s active, engaging, helpful, and resilient. The stats on TwitterFriends echo this sentiment based on an analysis of the collective tweets and @’s.
Perhaps most notably, @comcast cares boasts high marks for the metrics that count for service-minded brands, strong @ replies, high Twitter Rank, an engaging conversation quotient (CQ), and a supportive community. The only opportunity for improvement is the bridging of the gap between incoming tweets and outgoing responses.
Using Tracking Twitter or Twibs as a looking glass into brand adoption of and practice on Twitter can only help you garner intelligence, ideas, and effective engagement strategies.
