Two Facebook announcements that show the way
Two big announcements1. Facebook buys FriendFeed
http://blog.friendfeed.com/2009/08/friendfeed-accepts-facebook-friend.html2. Facebook improves search
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=115469877130Currently Facebook has what you could think of as intent indication based advertising and Google has intent based advertising.When you search on Google you are trying to find something. e.g. you type Coldplay into Google to find out something about Coldplay.On Facebook - you may have said you liked Coldplay or become a fan of their page or a Group - which indicates taht you like Coldplay, but you're not looking right now for anything related, however if you were presented with an ad about something you like, in an appropriate and relevant way, then you're going to click on it. (From our testing a significant increase in clicks if ad message is relevant and blunt).The improvement of Facebook search makes the same intent based advertising model as Google's possible (when combined with scale - which is what will make the difference i.e. how many people are using Facebook search every day vs Bing?), but has the added value of showing you which of your friends or relevant people are also interested in your interest at the exact moment when you perform the search.The addition of an friend-orientated blog aggregator ( traditional blogs, video blogs, status update blogs e.g. Twitter) such as FriendFeed has three implications.
1. Facebook can now aggregate all of your friend (or non-friend) blog activity into its newsfeed.
2. Facebook can take test how its newsfeed will fare external to its own site.
3. Facebook can deliver the whole advertising pyramid
a) Awareness - Huge target audience, broadcast advertising +relate product to a consumer's likes at a broadcast level.
b) Interest - Capitalise on both latent interest and friend interest
c) Desire - Focus on latent desire - e.g. "Fan of", but also current and instant desire "I'd love to get tickets to see Coldplay"
d) Action - search for Coldplay or status update "Who's going to see Coldplay"I think the question is not so much as will Bing make an impression on the search market, but how the search market is going to change. (i.e. with Google Wave vs Wherever Facebook ends up).
http://blog.friendfeed.com/2009/08/friendfeed-accepts-facebook-friend.html2. Facebook improves search
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=115469877130Currently Facebook has what you could think of as intent indication based advertising and Google has intent based advertising.When you search on Google you are trying to find something. e.g. you type Coldplay into Google to find out something about Coldplay.On Facebook - you may have said you liked Coldplay or become a fan of their page or a Group - which indicates taht you like Coldplay, but you're not looking right now for anything related, however if you were presented with an ad about something you like, in an appropriate and relevant way, then you're going to click on it. (From our testing a significant increase in clicks if ad message is relevant and blunt).The improvement of Facebook search makes the same intent based advertising model as Google's possible (when combined with scale - which is what will make the difference i.e. how many people are using Facebook search every day vs Bing?), but has the added value of showing you which of your friends or relevant people are also interested in your interest at the exact moment when you perform the search.The addition of an friend-orientated blog aggregator ( traditional blogs, video blogs, status update blogs e.g. Twitter) such as FriendFeed has three implications.
1. Facebook can now aggregate all of your friend (or non-friend) blog activity into its newsfeed.
2. Facebook can take test how its newsfeed will fare external to its own site.
3. Facebook can deliver the whole advertising pyramid
a) Awareness - Huge target audience, broadcast advertising +relate product to a consumer's likes at a broadcast level.
b) Interest - Capitalise on both latent interest and friend interest
c) Desire - Focus on latent desire - e.g. "Fan of", but also current and instant desire "I'd love to get tickets to see Coldplay"
d) Action - search for Coldplay or status update "Who's going to see Coldplay"I think the question is not so much as will Bing make an impression on the search market, but how the search market is going to change. (i.e. with Google Wave vs Wherever Facebook ends up).
