Blog & Company News

Jul 7, 2011

The New and Improved Facebook: All the Latest Updates to Facebook Right Here

[caption id="attachment_393" align="alignright" width="340" caption="Facebook changes"][/caption] Social-media giant Facebook is continuously changing. In order to keep you up to date with the latest changes, we summed up some of the major stories in one place.

Tag Pages in Photos

Let’s say someone snapped a photo of you at Los Angeles International Airport, and you put the photo on your Facebook page. Now, just as you tag friends in your photos, you can tag any company (including LAX) that has an active Facebook page.1 A page can be tagged anywhere a photo is viewed, but the page cannot actually do the tagging. Someone outside of the company must tag the page. The photo will then appear on the “Photos” tab of the page. It will not, however, appear on the wall of the page. A page can be tagged by anyone on Facebook, not just people who like that specific page. As of now, only pages that fall into the “People” and “Brands and Products” categories can be tagged. This new feature is a great way for brands to get more exposure as well as a great way for company reps to humanize their brands. Seeing your friends interacting with a brand through photos creates a sense of belonging and personalization.

Deals

Facebook’s answer to Groupon and LivingSocial test-launched in five cities—Atlanta, San Diego and San Francisco, and Dallas and Austin—at the end of April, The New York Times reported.2 The deals are centered around things you can participate in with friends, such as concerts and other local events. Deals can be received and shared via email or your personal news feed. The news feed is the major force with which Facebook can beat its competitors. With the news feed, more than 500 million pairs of eyes could potentially be looking a given piece of information. TechCrunch reported that customers could use Facebook Credits to buy Deals. Facebook Credits are also used to buy virtual products for games.3 This is another great Facebook feature for business owners, because they have the chance to capitalize on the largest online audience as well as leverage the power of group buying.

‘Send’ Button

The sister of the “Like” button, this button was created for you to actually share information with a specific Facebook Group, specific Facebook friends, or any email address.4 Whereas the “Like” button is designed to quickly share content with all of your friends, the “Send” button is used to share content with only the people you select. With the exclusivity factor of (also fairly new) Facebook Groups, this “Send” button seems like a viable application. This new setting within Facebook Groups allows for administrators to control who is and who is not part of a group. You can now require that the administrator approve any new members in order for them to be part of the group. The “Send” button is great, too, because it can be placed on your actual page, which, in turn, does not force the person to leave your site in order to go to the Facebook site. What will be next: a “Love” button? A “Dislike” button? Or something much bigger? For more information, visit: 1. “You Can Now Tag Pages in Facebook Photos” 2. “Facebook Is Latest Rival to Groupon and LivingSocial” 3. “Looks Like Facebook Deals Is Being Unveiled Tonight With Credits and Partners in Tow” 4. “Facebook Launches Send Button, Replaces Email to a Friend