The “business analytics” firm Mixpanel has released its figures estimating the total usage of Facebook (liking, sharing and posting) since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke; they showed usage falling off 10% in the first month following from the news of the scandal, and continuing to fall, with overall usage down by 20% since April 2018.
Mixpanel’s figures roughly coincide with Emarketer’s stats, which have daily usage-minutes falling from 41 minutes/day/user in 2017 to 38 now.
Facebook’s own figures are much rosier: the company claims increases in daily and monthly active users over the same period. Facebook’s figures are not subject to independent scrutiny. Facebook previously engaged in widespread, systemic, long-term usage-statistics fraud.
It’s possible to reconcile the gap between Facebook’s picture of increased usage and independent auditors’ claims of a decline: it may be that people still feel like the must use Facebook to coordinate with other Facebook users (they are unable to overcome the collective action problem of convincing their friends to leave Facebook all at once and shift their discussions of their little league games, family reunions and rare diseases somewhere else), but they no longer use it to “share” with friends, only to perform the utility functions that they must use the service for.
Since April 2018, the first full month after news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in the Observer, actions on Facebook such as likes, shares and posts have dropped by almost 20%, according to the business analytics firm Mixpanel.
Taking that month as a baseline, total actions fell by more that 10% within a month, recovered a bit over the summer and then fell again over the autumn and winter of 2018, except for a brief rally over the period of the US midterm elections.
Not so long ago we reported on Facebook’s biggest redesign in a decade. The social media platform’s iconic blue bar on mobile is long gone, with the company instead opting for a clean, white look. The redesign has rolled out across the globe over the past week, but in that short time a number of users have noticed something a little off with the new app logo.
To start with, the new icon now boasts the same vibrant blue gradient as Facebook’s messenger app icon, which looks a whole lot better in our opinion. But it’s not the colour people have real issue with, it’s the placement of the ‘f’ that’s really, let’s say, f-ing people off.
Conversation peaked this weekend when Reddit user JessRodOfficial asked the question: Is it just me or is the Facebook logo a bit off? Cue over a hundred messages (and counting) from other people the new icon design is clearly driving mad.
Does the new Facebook app icon look central to you?
So what’s up with it? Reddit user combuchan commented: “All the “weight” on the right throws the balance of the glyph off. The slanting on the left side of the crossbar should be the same as the right.” And from the discussion thread, this is an opinion many share.
However, others were quick to jump and in point out that the previous app icon design saw the ‘f’ clearly offset to the right, and that’s maybe why new centre alignment seems wrong to so many people. “The problem is that it IS centered, and it used to always be offset slightly to the right,” Reddit user HarmlessSnack comments.
The busy discussion also leads to broader comments on Facebook’s redesign overall. “The blue having changed in the logo but not in the actual interface throws me off more than anything. It’s inconsistent,” says Reddit user le_cynthesizer.
But Facebook isn’t in everyone’s bad books, with Android/Reddit user ExpectTheUnexpected championing the design. “Actually for the first time the Android icon is the correct one. The new logo is actually a circle, and turned into a rounded square on iOS. The centered ‘f’ looks better in a circle as intended, in my honest opinion.”
Upon closer inspection (in Illustrator), we found the stem of the f to be directly centred. But regardless of whether it’s in the middle or not, to be so uncomfortable visually for so many would suggest Facebook might not want to wait another decade before its next update.
How do personality traits affect one’s use of the online social networking site, Facebook? That is the question researchers from Greece hope to answer in a paper in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. The team surveyed 367 university students and analysed their answers concerning Facebook with the backdrop of different personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness.
The team report that “agreeable individuals use Facebook to express their orientation to other people rather than to themselves,” whereas “extroverts use Facebook as a relationship building mechanism”. They add that neurotic people strive to bring out the best of themselves. Oddly, the personality traits of openness and conscientiousness do not seem to affect significantly Facebook use.
The bottom line is that extraversion is the main driver for Facebook use. Extroverts are heavy users and have more friends and interact with them and others at a higher rate. But, neurotic people also use it heavily to create a comprehensive and detailed profile of themselves to present to the public. There are limitations to the research in that those surveyed were students and some of them may well be aware of research into personality types and their use of social media, whereas the lay public would perhaps be less aware of such research. The obvious next step is to survey a wider group of people to reduce any inherent bias in the results.
Facebook has a fake account problem — and the Silicon Valley elite aren’t going to like it.
The California tech giant’s social network is overrun by fraudulent accounts impersonating high-profile technology industry executives like Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Business Insider has found.
There are dozens of personal profiles on the platform purporting to be tech luminaries ranging from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki to Evan Spiegel, head of Snapchat’s parent company Snap — often misleading ordinary, actual Facebook users who have crowded onto their profiles to ask questions, complain, and otherwise try to interact with them.
The existence of these accounts — some of them years old — raise new questions about the diligence with which the $531 billion company patrols its social network for fake accounts, especially given the blatant nature of their attempted deception. Facebook itself has previously estimated that it has as many as 116 million fake accounts on its platform.
Various accounts on Facebook purporting to be Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Users are only allowed one personal account each on Facebook. BI
Back in 2018, The New York Times reported that Facebook was teeming with fake accounts pretending to be CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. The company has since removed with these accounts — but these new impostors show the company has not managed to effectively police itself for fraudulent activity relating to non-Facebook technology executives.
A Facebook spoksperson said they were working to find and take down the fake accounts identified by Business Insider. In a statement, they said: “We use sophisticated technology and reporting tools to detect accounts set up to impersonate other people. That’s a clear violation of our policies and our teams are continually improving our technology and processes to keep imposter accounts like these off Facebook.”
The accounts make no attempt to hide
The fake accounts are easy to find: Just search for them.
By using Facebook’s search tool, Business Insider was easily able to surface numerous accounts pretending to be Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
Even Peter Thiel, a Facebook board member, had at least one seemingly fake account.
An account purporting to be Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. BI
Some of these accounts seem relatively inactive, while others post regularly about their target. Some were created as early as 2013, and have managed to evade Facebook’s fake account detection systems for more than half a decade.
Facebook users have flocked to some of the profiles to try and talk to the apparent owner. A Tim Cook profile has numerous complaints about Apple’s customer service, for example; one for Susan Wojcicki has been targeted with anti-Semitic abuse.
The existence of these accounts aren’t just embarrassing for Facebook — they could put unwitting Facebook users at risk. When The New York Times discovered the fake Sandberg and Zuckerberg accounts, it also reported that some were being used to scam Facebook users out of cash via a hoax called the “Facebook lottery.”
Business Insider hasn’t seen any evidence that the fake tech executive accounts are being used for criminal or otherwise fraudulent ends, but it’s not implausible: Scammers frequently purport to be representatives of companies like Apple and Google in attempts to steal from people.
Some of the search results for accounts purporting to be Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Seemingly real and unrelated accounts have been blurred out.) BI
Impersonation isn’t allowed
Facebook has a real-name policy that requires all users to “use the name they go by in everyday life,” unlike other social networks like Twitter and (Facebook-owned) Instagram that allow for pseudonyms or parody accounts, as long as they’re clearly labeled as such. It also provides a blue checkmark graphic on the pages of verified, high-profile users — Peter Thiel’s official profile, for example, has such a blue checkmark, as you can see in the screenshot below.
acebook’s policy is designed to “keep you and rest of our community safe from impersonation, scams and phishing,” it says. Facebook also allows users to create groups and fan pages for public figures — but these accounts are all personal profiles, governed by the real name policy.
Some other top tech leaders have seemingly managed to avoid being targeted by impostors. We found no fake accounts pretending to be Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, or Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, for example.
Accounts purporting to be YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki and Facebook board member Peter Thiel. The first Peter Thiel results is a legitimate, verified profile; irrelevant search results have been blurred out. BI
Feature Image: Fake accounts, as far as the eye can see. Kevin Wolf/AP images for AVAAZ
Last October, Facebook announced plans to expand its Facebook Marketing Partners program, which offers agencies and other tech platforms certification and access to official resources. That’s now official, with Facebook reps reaching out to more agencies to invite them into the new program, according to five buyers Digiday spoke with.
Digiday obtained the pitch deck that Facebook representatives are using to explain the program to potential agency partners. The program categorizes agencies into three tiers: account, preferred partner and premium partner. Preferred and premium tiers offer agencies additional benefits such as one-to-one technical support, creative consultation and training resources like events. Services like chat support are useful given the lack of reliability with Facebook’s ad platform, which comes as Facebook touts having 7 million active advertisers.
When Facebook filed for its initial public offering in early 2012, the company named the ongoing transition to mobile as one of the biggest risks to its future success. If the transition to mobile was indeed the biggest challenge in Mark Zuckerberg’s early career as CEO of a billion-dollar company, he managed it quite well. Not only does Facebook generate most of its revenue with mobile advertising now, the company also owns some of the most popular mobile apps in the world. In June 2018, Instagram announced that it had reached one billion monthly active users, making it the fourth platform in Facebook’s portfolio to pass that milestone.
Aside from your usual Facebook business page, having a Messenger chatbot is a great way to boost your brand awareness and your online presence. A Messenger chatbot can receive pizza orders, schedule meetings, and answer queries. Quite a number of brands are continually coming up with more and more ways to make this feature still more useful and effective.
With chatbot software widely available, you don’t have to be or hire a computer programmer in order to create one in just a matter of minutes. But when you make your chatbot, make sure that you provide a brief description for Facebook to check and verify and for users to read. You should also add your chatbot into the appropriate primary and secondary categories so you can reach your intended audience. Think about ten keywords that your target Messenger users will type into their chat line that would make Facebook’s algorithms show your chatbot link, and include these keywords among your bot’s properties as well. These are the minimum requirements to make your chatbot visible.
As simple as making a chatbot visible may be, it is very different from making it grow in popularity. You must craft a separate strategy to ensure that it gets the right amount of promotion so that more people will know, use, and spread the word about your bot. Here are a few things that will make more people subscribe to your Facebook Messenger chatbot:
1. Include a Messenger button on your website
Adding a social button to your website is one of the easiest ways to generate traffic for your Messenger chatbot. It is a great idea to give website visitors something to click through to go to or share content on your social media channels. A “Send to Messenger” button on your website is sure to enable more users to connect with your chatbot. You can do this by copying and pasting embed codes from your Facebook page that would bring the site visitors to your landing page. You may also use plugins. Adding a “Send Message” button on your Facebook business page itself may also help to generate traffic for your bot.
2. Share only your best, top-performing pieces of content to sustain your audience
Instead of sharing as many pieces of content as you can, make a point of ensuring that your Facebook Messenger chatbot subscribers receive only the finest quality and most popular material so that they will not unsubscribe from you or worse, block you. Since your audience is most likely to engage with you on Facebook Messenger, don’t annoy them with spammy content. Be selective about the content that would want to propagate among them so that you don’t appear to be too invasive.
3. Utilize Click-to-Messenger Ads to promote yourself and generate more traffic at the same time
Click-to-Messenger ads can be used to reach out and attract potential subscribers among Facebook’s users. Not only will you be able to advertise your brand or service but you would generate more traffic for your Messenger chatbot as well. Those who will become interested will click your ad to be able to subscribe to your emails, online newsletters, announcements, podcasts, and other content. Just make sure to make a relevant and compelling ad that is strategically targeted towards an audience to make them more likely to click through. The team at Mobile Monkey with Larry Kim have developed an elite Facebook Advertising Virtual Summit that helps users understand more about Facebook advertising and best practices.
4. Insert your chatbot link along with your e-mail signature
Adding a link to your Facebook Messenger chatbot along with your email signature in your emails can also help spread awareness for your bot. You can also insert your Twitter handle and other social media links. To see how effective this move is, add a UTM code to the link, or use a URL shortening service like bit.ly. Doing this will give you the stats as to how many people are clicking on the Facebook Messenger chatbot link embedded within your email signature.
5. Have your Bot included in Facebook’s Discovery Tab
Facebook’s Messenger Discovery Tab is another arena in which you can become more well-known. However, you will need to start by filling out Facebook’s submission form in order for your chatbot to be included in the Discovery Tab. Facebook’s algorithms will make your chatbot link appear in the Discovery Tab of Facebook users whose psychological profile would make them more likely to click your bot.
Are you using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to grow your small business? Are you hoping to attract more customers by using social media marketing, yet find yourself wondering whether your efforts will be rewarded? Increasing your social media marketing ROI (return on investment) might not be a matter of posting more often, but instead changing what you share on social media.
Small business owners who increase the amount of visual content that they share on social media can significantly improve their audience engagement rate. Potential customers are more likely to engage with visual content versus text-based content. If you need convincing of the power of visual content for your small business, bear the following three essential truths in mind:
Retention Matters
If you want your small business’s target audience to retain more of your marketing materials, it is imperative that you start sharing more visual content with potential customers. The human brain retains visual content easier than text-based content. Start sharing brand visuals like infographics via social media and there’s a good chance you’ll increase your marketing ROI in the process. For instance, if you are launching a new mobile application, you would want to craft attractive graphics that lead your potential users to your mobile applications splash page or directly to your app store listings. Imagine that you are launching a beauty health line and need to engage with more of your potential purchasers. It would be imperative to create marketing materials that would persuade likely customers to not only inquire but also to try out your products or services. Simply put, perception equals reality.
Conversions are Critical
If you want to boost your conversion rate as a small business owner, it’s time to double-down on visual marketing opportunities like video marketing. Video content converts buyers at a faster rate than static content like blog posts and articles. Increase your small business video marketing this year, and the odds of increased sales are in your favor.
Visual Content is Engagement on Steroids
For small business owners wanting to increase audience engagement rates on social media, visual content creation is a must. Not only is visual content retained better by your target audience, but they’re also more likely to engage with your brand online thanks to your visual content. Start creating custom images using a tool like Canva.com and watch your social media engagement rates go through the proverbial roof.
These are just three of many reasons your small business should be creating more visual content for social media marketing. Develop a detailed visual marketing strategy and build a library of visual images you can use daily.
Jeff Shuford is a nationally syndicated columnist whose monthly column appears in more than 44 regional newspapers. Shuford is one of fewer than five millennial African-American syndicated columnists in the United States, and one of the country’s youngest syndicated columnists overall.
Dutch MPs have almost unanimously backed a motion calling on the government to pressure Facebook to come clean about political advertising ahead of the provincial elections in March.
Only the right-wing VVD and anti-Islam PVV opposed the motion which urged ministers to call for more transparency in political advertising. This transparency is necessary, MPs say, because ‘social media, including Facebook, offer a platform to political fake adverts’ at both election time and on other occasions.
Facebook said at the end of January that it would bring new political advertising rules and tools introduced in the US and UK last year into countries which are holding significant elections this year.
These measures will not, however, come into effect in the Netherlands before the end of March, after the provincial elections.
MPs say Facebook should come clean about the origins of political advertising three weeks ahead of the provincial vote on March 20.
Facebook has said its new rules will be in effect in Europe ahead of the EU parliamentary elections which take place between May 23 and May 26.
In some ways, the report, The Welfare Effects of Social Media, recalls life before the internet. That is, without Facebook, the study’s author’s found, you have more free time and spend some of it directly connecting with friends and family.
Additionally, the study learned that being unplugged from Facebook made people less knowledgeable about politics. Some were also less affected by extremes of political discourse.
The study was headed by Hunt Allcott, an associate professor of economics at New York University, and Matthew Gentzkow, a Stanford economist, and was mostly financed by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Researchers led by Alcott and Gentzkow recruited participants using Facebook ads. They were ages 18 and older and spent at least 15 minutes on the social networking platform everyday. More than 3,000 people were in the study, based on their filling out questionnaires about their daily routines, mental wellbeing, and political leanings.
Participants stopped using Facebook, except for the social media’s Messenger app.
Results of the one-month experiment showed that people scored lower on tests of their political knowledge, while political polarization dropped between 5% and 10% for some users.
“This is not a trivial finding,” David Lazer, a professor at Northeastern University, who teaches political science and computer and information science told the New York Times. “It could have gone either way. You could imagine that the other chatter and information on Facebook was crowding out news consumption.”
Participants also reported having an extra hour each day — and sometimes more for heavier Facebook users — which they spent offline with loved ones, or watching TV.
The study also found that deactivating Facebook had a positive, yet minor impact on mood. While the study did provide evidence to support the addictive nature of social media, it remained unclear whether heavy Facebook use worsened a person’s mental wellbeing, or if people with mental health disorders were heavier users.
“This is one study of many on this topic, and it should be considered that way,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to the Times. The statement, quoting from the study, added that Facebook can be highly beneficial to its users, and “any discussion of social media’s downsides should not obscure the fact that it fulfils deep and widespread needs.”
Feature Image Credit: Jaap Arriens—NurPhoto via Getty Images
