Facebook

Facebook — 7 Comments
19
Mar 08

Preview: Facebook Instant Messaging

Word is that Facebook is planning to launch instant messaging really soon. Well, thanks to someone who captured the video below, that has been confirmed. Facebook is going to launch instant messaging soon which is really powerful.

Google did a really great job of integrating GMail and Google Talk, which I think helped the two take off much faster as the services complimented each other, email and IM. Now most of us have more Facebook friends than GMail contacts, which means there is going to be a whole lot more chatting on Facebook.

I have been thinking about Facebook’s instant messaging move and here are some of my thoughts:

  • Support on Facebook Mobile
    If Facebook creates a mobile application or enables it on mobile devices, we will definitely see it compete with a lot of the mobile instant messaging platforms. In our case particularly MXit. Facebook has the numbers to be considered a big threat!
  • Jabber / API Support
    If Facebook allows developers to tap into the instant messaging service via Jabber or API, we are going to see Facebook applications taken to a whole new level. Marketers will also slowly start trying to move their messages across this platform, but it will be really great and bold if Facebook open up the instant messaging platform. It will also allow for integration between other platforms such Google Talk and even Mxit.

Facebook / Marketing — 2 Comments
26
Feb 08

Youth Marketing – Facebook & MXit

In October last year, I asked a few youngsters why they use Facebook. It is a website, a social network, that has changed the way millions of people communicate around the world. Another service that does has done a similar job is our very own local MXit, a mobile instant messaging service.

There are two things that Facebook and MXit have in common, they are:

  1. Enchanced Communication
    Facebook allows users to keep up-to-date with what their friends are up to, send private messages, write on each others walls, share photos and videos. MXit on the other hand is slightly more instantaneous, users can chat to multiple friends at the same time and share certain content. They have both improved upon the way people can communicate with each other.
  2. Large Youth Audience
    In the last 30 days, Facebook has roughly 553 620 active South African users between the ages of 13 and 30. This is roughly 10% of South Africa’s internet population, all active on one site. MXit now has 7 million users, the majority being South African and predominantly between the ages of 13 – 24. It’s a global trend, the youth are into social networks, but only those that add value to their lives.

Engaging the youth where they feel comfortable can be a difficult task, but there are brands out there getting it right on both Facebook (see Apple and Skittles) and MXit (see Peugeot).

Sure ad spend on social networks is set to increase, but if not executed correctly all that money will go to waste. The challenge is taking the first step in understanding todays youth and how they want to interact with the brands they like and dislike.

Development / Facebook — No Comments
30
Dec 07

Facebook Development: MXit Me v3.0

A few months ago I blogged about MXit Me and it’s new changes and it’s 12 000 users. This morning a new version of MXit Me went live with a new look and more features. It’s been long over due as the previous version lacked a lot in terms of usability and usefulness.

Facebook Development: MXit Me v3.0

New Features:

  • View All Friends
    This is something that was requested time and time again, it should have been in the first release. Users can now browse through all their friends on Facebook who have added MXit Me.
  • Block Friends
    Users can now block friends from seeing their number, however this doesn’t apply to the profile badge. There was a lot of privacy code written which gave users a lot of options, but due to Facebook’s recent changes to the platform those options become useless as there is no support for them or work around. So instead, users can choose to display their number on their profile or not. The rest of the privacy features are left up to Facebook’s own application privacy settings.
  • Optimised Code
    This is something that the users won’t see, but we have rewritten the code from scratch. MXit Me now makes less calls to Facebook in order to speed up page loading and response time while still showing the same amount of data. Something that took a lot of time and patience to perfect.

MXit Me Statistics:
At time of writing MXit Me had just over 32 000 users using the application.

  • October: 6,994
  • November: 11,645
  • December 1st – 29th: 5,711

The biggest lesson learnt while coding version 3 was not code features without double checking the state of certain Facebook API functions. Other than that it was really fun writing it from scratch. The main goal for version 3 was to fulfill MXit Me’s purpose and allow friends to find other friend’s MXit number so that the conversation can continue on another platform. I think that has been achieved, finally.

Advertising / Facebook — 4 Comments
26
Nov 07

Facebook Pages – Early Adopting Brands

Yesterday I saw Scott’s tweet about the BMW Facebook page. It was created on the 7th of November and already has 162 fans. It’s not a phenomenal figure, but I am sure with time that number will soon reach into the thousands.

Think of the Facebook page as an interactive billboard. It’s accessible to all Facebook members, all 55+ million of them. The page allows for BMW SA to upload photos and video for all the relative car models. In the real world, a billboard has limited space, but not this one. There is also a discussion board and wall so users can post comments and engage with BMW SA. Although I am not surprised as BMW SA understand the importance of online and social media in their marketing mix.

Facebook Pages - BMW SA

There are other brands who have gotten it right using Facebook groups. However, Facebook pages is relatively new and there are a few other brands worth a mention who are using it. I went looking for some brands and found New Opel Corsa, BizCommunity, Toyota Auris and Nokia.

Facebook / Marketing — 2 Comments
24
Nov 07

Twitter & Facebook – Influencing The Consumer

I decided to do a little experiment and test just how Social Media tools can really influence a consumers decision to purchase. I could have used my blog to prove this point, but I needed almost instantaneous responses from people who form part of my online network. I decided the best place would be Twitter, as it acts like an instant messaging platform.

The Question:
On Twitter: (I am) looking for decent wireless internet.. MTN 3G, Vodacom 3G or iBurst? Anyone got some advice for me?

This question was broadcast to the 68 followers on Twitter, as well as the 500+ friends I have on Facebook due to the fact that Twitter is integrated with my Facebook account.

The Result:
Twitter Responses: 4

Nic Haralambous: I use vodacom usb modem on contract. works like a charm almost everywhere. Even in Grahamstown.

more about Nic

Eve Dmochowska: I am also using vodacom USB modem. Fab.

more about Eve

Uno de Waal: MTN drops the whole time. go with vodacom. very stable and a great interface (mtn’s one sucks).

more about Uno

Simone Puterman: I was using iBurst and then the company switched me to vodacom 3G 3months ago. Initially the 3G drove me nuts but it seems to have improved – not sure if it is weather or just in the Illovo area. My experience of 3G in Grahamstown sucked, though. it depends where in the town.

more about Simone

The 4 people that did respond to my question are highly respected people within the South African blogging arena, they do have lot of influence. They’re opinion will without certainty influence my decision when it comes to subscribing to a reliable 3G service provider.

Facebook Responses: 2

Rushil
Rushil on Facebook

Adrian
Adrian on Facebook

The Conclusion:
Vodacom received 4 positive and 1 negative comments. iBurst received 1 mention and 1 positive comment. MTN received 1 negative comment. While the answers were directed at me, in full public view, they are also visible to the followers and friends of people who responded to me on Twitter and Facebook. The influence hasn’t stopped at me, it could quite possibly be influencing a spectator (or many more) to our conversation.

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