This afternoon Facebook posted an update about all the television networks that have integrated Facebook Connect, including ABC who has two new exciting integrations. The first is a promotion for the series “FlashForward” which takes advantage of Facebook Connect to integrate your profile data into a promotion. It’s similar to other promotions we’ve seen such as the Doritos promotion and the Prototype XBox game trailer.
Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier this year, the Huffington Post announced the launch of Huffington Post Social News, a service which aggregates Huffington Post content that Facebook users comment on and share. In an interview with PaidContent’s Staci Kramer, the company provided details about traffic and engagement since the launch of Facebook Connect. The results were nothing short of spectacular.
Read the rest of this entry »
Apparently violent Facebook applications are the new trend. Last week I wrote about Al-Qaeda Wars application which let you fight against terrorists, and was subsequently shut down. This week, a new Saw 6 promotion launched and it enables you to choose which of your friends will be killed and which will be saved. Sound violent? It is!
Read the rest of this entry »
Today Google posted an article about the new implementation process for Friend Connect, the company’s identity service which competes directly with Facebook Connect. In a blog post today, the company wrote, “We’ve heard from a number of you that uploading files to activate your website is not always easy. So starting today, you no longer have to worry about downloading or uploading files.” Instead, you can go download any one of a number of widgets that the company now provides. The only thing you need to be able to do is edit HTML.
Read the rest of this entry »
Want to get Facebook Connect set up within your site quickly but not sure how to? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get this working! Today the company introduced the Facebook Connect wizard which walks users through the process of getting Connect set up. The service helps users get Connect set up in 3 quick steps. The only requirement is that users know how to upload files to their website. There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this blog, you know how to upload files to your website!
Read the rest of this entry »
This evening, Facebook began fully promoting the new Twitter syncing tool via the top of Facebook Pages and are encouraging page admins to sync with Twitter. With millions of page administrators (which still appear to be a fraction of all users), this new tool promotion will also serve as a significant promotion for Twitter in general. At this point the service is well known but by launching the product internally and making people say “Why’d they do that?”, Facebook is in essence using Twitter to keep their own company honest.
Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier yesterday while stumbling across an article on the CNN Money site, I noticed that the comments were now exclusively powered through Facebook Connect. While there are no signs that this will become a broader trend for all of CNN, this is definitely a major move for one of the worlds largest global news organizations. One interesting thing to note is that this is for articles that previously didn’t have an embedded commenting feature.
Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Sean Flannagan, the product manager at Etsy responsible for their recent Facebook Connect implementation. Numerous companies have been implementing the service and we’ve been keeping track of the experience for developers as well as marketers. Etsy recently launched their first integration with Facebook Connect and from the sounds of it, have a number of other exciting Facebook-enabled products on the way. Below is my interview with Sean Flannagan about the company’s experience with implementing Connect.
Read the rest of this entry »
Digg is one of the most significant implementations of Facebook Connect to date but not everything is rosy as Digg has violated Facebook’s terms in the process of rolling out their service. One month ago a developer in the Facebook developer forum began complaining that Digg was actively storing user information. One month later Matt Trainer who handles developer relations at Facebook posted that they’ve “followed up with Digg to make sure that no profile information is stored against Facebook policy.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Discovery is the latest company to launch a Facebook Connect enabled promotion that pulls in profile data into a custom generated video. This video is much more reminiscent of the Prototype game trailer that we previously wrote about. The promotion creatively depicts the viewers memories as they are being eaten by a shark. It also intelligently prompts a user to share the campaign after viewing the promotional video.
Read the rest of this entry »
