Facebook Open Graph Updates
Facebook held its f8 conference on April 21, 2010. They made some major announcements about their platform, social plugins through their Open Graph, and their Graph API that are showing Facebook’s shift towards a more social web. Below are the summaries of the major announcements as well as what each means for marketers participating on Facebook and for developers building on the Facebook platform.
The three things that brands/products need to do now to align with the Facebook updates are:
1. Update brand/product web properties to allow users to “Like” the brand
2. Integrate Facebook Activity Feed on pages so users can see friends who share brand/product affinity
3. Leverage the improved Facebook Connect to allow users to log in to branded experiences on brand/product web properties.
Platform Updates
During the f8 conference, Facebook announced some updates they had made to their platform. These updates create an improved experience for users.
Permissions Dialogs
Facebook is changing the way users have to grant permission through third-party apps or Connect partners. They are combining all the Permissions Dialogs into one-click dialog and process.
What this means:
The user will be presented with a more standardized permissions dialog and making it easier to engage with third party applications and Connect partners.
More Permanent Cache
Facebook recently had a policy that only allowed data to be stored for 24 hours on a cache. They have decided to eliminate this policy and move towards a more permanent cache. This will allow for further tracking and engagement opportunities with users.
What this means:
By expanding the length of time data can be stored, engagement and personalization activities will become enhanced with increased functionality.
Open Graph
To create a more “Social Web” Facebook has announced several updates for their Open Graph. The open graph maps the Facebook graph to other platform graphs around the web, creating a more social, personalized, smarter, and semantic web. Below outlines these updates and what they mean for marketers.
Facebook “Like” Button
Facebook launched the “Like” button to allow users to share content and connections within their news feed with one click. The like button will power a suite of social plugins. These plugins will allow owners of websites to utilize Facebook functionality within their site.
Activity Stream Plugin: Allows the users to see the likes and comments that are restricted to a site’s domain from Facebook users. Seen on CNN.com
Recommendations Plugin: This plugin creates a personalized recommendation service for any website. The content will be delegated by the most relevant to the user; not simply most emailed articles.
Facebook Connect Login Plugin: For sites using Facebook Connect for Login, the login plugin will show a standard login button and once logged in; the users will see profile pictures of the user’s friends that have already joined the site.
Social Toolbar Plugin: The toolbar (similar to the Meebo toolbar) will live at the bottom of the screen and utilize the Facebook functionalities such as chat and the “Like” button as well as shows the pictures of the user’s other friends who are on that site.
What this means:
Facebook has created an open platform that allows its functionality to live and be utilized on sites outside of Facebook.com. With the various plugins, site owners can use the connectivity and social networking functions on their site to not only allow users to engage on their property, but also be shared within their own social network.
The Open Graph will allow brands to better connect their Fan Page, website properties, content, and customers by providing familiar functionality and connecting individuals to one another and content.
Meta Tag Protocol
The Open Graph protocol is creating a spec of meta tags that can be used to markup a page. In the case of sites like Pandora, Yelp, and IMDB, users are currently creating profiles of their likes across various media; music, locations, and movies, respectively. With the new Meta Tag protocol, when a user clicks “Like” on these sites, their “Favorite” information on their Facebook profile is updated.
What this means:
According to Facebook, “For years we’ve been saying that Facebook is an open platform. For the first time “Likes” and interests in my profile link to pages off of Facebook.com. My identity isn’t just defined by things on Facebook. It’s defined by things all around the web…. The connections between people/things they care about will be as big as hyperlinks.”
Graph API/OAth 2.0
Developers on the Facebook platform are given a little more flexibility with content and information on the Facebook platform. With multiple updates to the Graph API and a shift to a more industry standard Authentication, Facebook is creating a more developer friendly platform.
Graph API
Facebook has rebuilt and rearchitected the Graph API from the ground up. They focused mainly on simplicity and stability when building (http://graph.facebook.com). To build within the Facebook Graph API, developers should only need a web browser and CURL, no longer needing SDK or documentation to download a piece of data from Facebook. Now every object has a unique ID code, allowing developers the ability to utilize any piece of content or data.
Facebook also opened a more robust search for developers allowing them to search all public updates on Facebook.
The third update on the Graph API is implementing Real-Time into the API. Using Webhooks, developers can register callbacks to Facebook that pings every application integrated within Facebook every time a user updates their profile, posts a new wall post, etc.
What this means:
Developing on Facebook is becoming easier and more robust, allowing for more interactions, information, and real-time content. Allowing devs to develop using multiple pieces of content will provide a more personalized and customized experience for the users.
OATH (Open Authentication) 2.0
Facebook is also revamping the way their authentication works. At the f8 conference, Facebook announced that they are adopting the industry standard OATH 2.0 (Open Authentication) for their authentication making Facebook development work simpler and better.
Conclusion
Facebook is leading the way towards a more social web. With these announcements and extending their functionality past the Facebook.com domain, brands can now utilize the power of Facebook within their own web properties creating a stronger connection with their customers. These announcements also allow for visitors to a brand’s site to connect with one another through content, comments, and recommendations based on their own personal social network.
Building on Facebook has never been easier with a more robust Graph API with more flexibility with content and information. The expanded cache will allow developers to create a more personalized, customized experience for users on brand applications and Fan Pages on Facebook.
