Facebook adds the inevitable "groups" feature

Facebook has announced the inevitable addition of "groups", whereby users can sort their friends into different groups, so only certain comments/statuses/photos etc. are available to certain groups.

Mark Zuckerberg summarises the problem:
"There are some things you are comfortable saying to all your friends at once but a lot of things you only want to share with your close co-workers or your family and there just hasn't been a great way to do that until now."

This blog has discussed the social problems created by Facebook in the past. In the real world we automatically filter what we say and share with different friends, family, colleagues - so it makes sense that Facebook would include that feature, to further replicate the way we interact in the real world and avoid a variety of social faux pas.


Guardian article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/07/facebook-groups

BBC News article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11486427

Google's future of display ads

Speaking at the recent IAB Conference, Google explained how they want to make their display advertising sexy. They will also be adding social elements to their display ads; such as commenting on, sharing and subscribing to ads. Also included was a new ad format for their YouTube site, called TrueView which allows the viewer to skip ads they don't like.

Read more:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/28/google-wants-to-make-online-display-ads-%E2%80%9Csexy%E2%80%9D/

Further bullet points from the presentation:
http://www.ditii.com/2010/09/28/google-on-the-future-of-display-advertising-demonstrated-youtubes-trueview-ad-format-and-more-at-iab-conference/

Facebook places - Let me check you in

I was reading this article about Facebook Places and the issues that could arise when checking in other people. It immediately rang alarm in my head as to the problems it could cause in modern society, with all the white lies going around so as not to hurt people's feelings when turning down those numerous Facebook invites - or simply people cheating on their wives / girlfriends!

Also it seems strange that other people can confirm your presence in a location. Facebook compared this to being tagged in a photo, but it feels more personal to me and many others I found out after quick Google. I don't want other people to confirm my presence at a party, dinner, pub, cinema. It would be slightly scary to login to Facebook to be told you've been checked into places.

Luckily you can turn this off with a setting under the privacy settings page on Facebook, which means that you no longer have to worry about friends being able to check you in. Although I wonder how many people know about or can find the setting?

Original article:
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=145487

How to change your Facebook places privacy settings:
http://gawker.com/5616338/the-first-thing-you-should-do-with-facebook-places-dont-let-other-people-tag-you

Flash comes to Android

The Android 2.2 Operating System now has full support for Adobe's Flash player. Will this be a key manoeuvre in the Android vs iPhone battle, seeing as there are no plans for the iPhone to support Flash.

See it in action here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10947784

Facebook ad spend increases

Spend on Facebook advertising has increased by ten times in the last year. Big brands who were just experimenting with Facebook ads; now satisfied with the results, are using the platform more and more. It is predicted that Facebook ad spends will increase to $1.4 billion for 2010.

Here at Jollywise we've seen a marked increase in interest in Facebook advertising. We've been running ad campaigns for some big brands for a while and have had great success with them. The targeting and reporting available means we're able to meet client requirements and give them real ROI.


Read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-04/facebook-advertisers-boost-spending-tenfold-as-site-grows-sandberg-says.html

Wave is dead (long live wave)

Google have just announced that Google Wave is being put to bed. Although touted as the future of the web and with a large push from Google, it never really picked up. (A little like Google Buzz)

However I believe this is more to do with Google trying to do to much in one leap. I think that a lot of the features of Wave will slowly be integrated into Google Mail and we'll see email / chat / online communication move towards what was being presented in Google Wave, just at a slower more drip-fed pace, so users can get used to the changes.
Just because Wave wasn't successful it doesn't mean that similar sites and features won't be successful in the future. I just think they will be carefully integrated into an evironment the user is familiar with, such as Google Mail and Facebook.

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/05/google-wave

Is Cost Per Action coming?

Google have launched a new mobile ad format (see article for full details), which only charges the advertiser when someone actually follows through with an action - in this case - clicks through to the website or calls the business.

Is this going to be the future of ads, that after pay-per-impression, followed by pay-per-click, we get pay-per-action - where advertisers are only paying when they get positive actions back.

Read the full article here:
http://www.marketingvox.com/will-googles-new-mobile-ad-format-usher-in-cpa-on-a-wide-scale-047462/