Oneupweb Reviews : Facebook Open Graph
Anyone who’s even slightly active on Facebook has likely noticed a new kind of content popping up in the News Feed lately. With the launch of the Facebook Open Graph, user-brand interactions are taking new precedence. With Open Graph, I know what my friends are pinning on Pinterest, what articles my brother-in-law is reading on Yahoo! News, and I’m even painfully aware of the very moment at which a good friend casts his lot with evil and listens to the Twilight soundtrack on Spotify. Most importantly, I know all of this without ever leaving the Facebook environment. It’s all happening in the News Feed with apps featuring Open Graph’s new Actions capability.
Spotify was one of 60 apps to participate in the launch of Facebook's Open Graph.
Okay, so Open Graph is pretty cool. Now I know more than I ever wanted to know about my Facebook friends even after knowing too much already. Great. What makes Open Graph particularly exciting for marketers, however, is its integration with the world beyond Facebook – the greater Internet.
A More Connected Facebook?
Yes – it’s possible, and it’s here. As detailed recently in Search Engine Journal, Facebook’s Open Graph dramatically increases the network’s importance in SEO. For months now, online marketing blogs have been abuzz about the impact Google+ is making on SEO. With Open Graph, now it’s Facebook’s turn. With Open Graph’s Actions feature, as detailed by Search Engine Journal:
Those who interact with the product and post on their Facebook Wall then generate a direct route (link) to the webpage of the company … Given Facebook users average 130 friends, there is a huge amount of exposure that can be gained from Facebook Actions. Website traffic can increase dramatically because 1 person in a network “listened” to your product.
Hitchhiking on the Open Graph
Do brands need to create their own apps to take advantage of Open Graph’s SEO benefits? Not necessarily. In fact, many brands can leverage the power of stronger, existing apps – such as the wildly popular Pinterest app – by developing creative campaigns on those outside platforms. Land’s End’s recent Pinterest campaign, for example, generated double exposure for the brand, by featuring user-shared Land’s End favorites across both Pinterest and (thanks to Pinterest’s Open Graph app), on Facebook.
The Land's End "Pin It to Win It" contest promoted the brand on both Pinterest and Facebook - powered by user "pins" (Actions) and Pinterest's Open Graph app.
The Verdict
The bottom line is: Facebook’s Open Graph is great news for users and greater news for marketers. Unless, of course, you discover via Open Graph that your friends are into Twilight. Then everyone loses.
What do you think?
Oneupweb Reviews: Facebook Connect Changes To Open Graph
If you believe the headlines you’re probably under the impression that Facebook Connect is Dead, or Connect Is No More, or even Facebook Connect has Been Sucked into a Black Hole and Transported to a Parallel Universe (that last one was all me).
Right now there’s much confusion around Facebook Connect. So today let’s review some of the changes that Facebook announced at its F8 Conference yesterday, and what we think about them.
First off, most of Facebook Connect’s functionality is still available – it’s just called something different. The new name that Facebook has given it is Open Graph. Here is how Facebook defines Open Graph:
In fact, not only does it appear that much of Connect’s functionality is still available, but it‘s now easier to implement Facebook Connect-like features using Social Plugins.
With the above Social Plugins, webmasters have the opportunity to implement several sharing options to their websites. If your site visitors are already logged in to their Facebook account, the plugins automatically become a personalized experience. For example, you can see other friends who “Like” the news article you are currently reading. If your site visitor is not logged in to their Facebook account, they will be prompted to do so if they attempt to use the social plugin.
Some of the brands who have implemented these new features can be seen below.
Not only can webmasters add social plugins to their sites, but they can still have users login to the site with their Facebook credentials. This will give webmasters access to their visitors’ data including a user’s name, email address, profile picture and list of friends. Webmasters can replace their user account systems with Facebook to help drive signups and improve data quality.
Facebook has made it easier than ever to integrate social sharing into websites. And for that we give Facebook’s new Open Graph an…
Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up
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