A new application hit Facebook called the Friend Network Optimizer sponsored by SAP. It has grown in popularity even though it is such a brand new application. The tool works by telling users how active they are on their Facebook compared to a portion of a social graph. While it may not seem like much at first, this tool is quite interesting to use. It has spread so quickly because it immediately posts feed stories when a user installs the application, therefore generating more users to sign up.

The fact that this Facebook app has done so well is due to the way that it has worked around the Facebook permission tools. Users now need to accept all or none of the app’s usage at the time of installation. Could this be good for developers? Yes, it most certainly is. This allows for a way to grow application demand without spending a small fortune on ad buys.

Friend Network Optimizer is interesting itself because it does provide some data including status updates and photo upload data that can help users to determine where they rank. It is also interesting to check out active other users are, too.

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At f8, Facebook announced its new Facebook Insights and it has finally rolled them out. While it is no match for Google Analytics as of now, many believe that there is some positive benefit to this particularly new feature. It works with websites and applications as well as Facebook pages. In order to use it with a website, all one needs to do is to have Facebook Connect implemented on the website.

In addition to this, Facebook Insights now allows you to view analytics around specific elements of your website, such as specific stories as well as the comments that visitors post to your Facebook page. Information regarding referral traffic is also being rolled out. When you visit the Insights dashboard, you will find more tools for you to use including some nice visualization tools such as graphs that may be saved or printed.

If you are the domain administrator, you can now view sharing metrics as well as the demographic information for the domains or URl’s that visit your site or page. User actions that contributed to active user count is provided to you. There is no doubt that Facebook Insights is likely to be any website owner’s toy for the coming months.

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Would you like to see your traffic from Facebook increase by some 50 percent? If so, you might want to do what some TypePad users did when they installed Facebook “like” widget on their blog’s sidebar. These users have reported an increase in the amount of referral traffic that amounts to a 50 percent increase.

The Like Feature, introduced recently at the F8 Developer Conference, allows readers to click on the small “like” button to share the information with their Facebook friends. In doing so, the user does not have to leave the site, but other friends on Facebook have the opportunity to visit the blog as well.

TypePad has released a second feature that enables users to have this “like” feature at the bottom of every blog post they produce. In doing so, the 2400 bloggers who have added it have seen a 200 percent growth in traffic from Facebook referrals. It may be an easy way to gain traffic to your site, too.

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In the month of April, the growth of Facebook increased tremendously in the Middle East. The fact that the popularity of this global social networking site continues to expand and grow exponentially all over the world. In places where the site never imagined there to be a strong following this has occurred. This is because the way that the marketing is happening and the easiness that one has to get onto the internet, it is easy to see why so many people in the Middle East have decided to climb on board and see what it is that they are missing. From April to May Egypt added over 390,000 new users to the site and in Saudi Arabia added over 190,000 new users to the site.

With Facebeook using its monitoring tool, Global Monitor, it is able to track and collect data in regards to new members and to know what type of growth the company is experiencing in the 100 countries in which the Global Monitor is used. What Facebook contributes to being a major cause to the influx of new members on the networking site is an event that was referred to as the April 6 Youth Movement. This was an event that was organized by Middle Easterners who were looking to get as many people as possible to understand and join in the social networking site so as to protest the lack of approval that many face for Facebook in their home countries. The number of people who registered for that group was 77,345 members.

As many will see however, this is not the only reason for the growth and that there has been continued to be large amounts of increase of Facebook users in the Middle East for a good amount of time now. As the number of users increases so does the popularity of Facebook as well as its ability to reach into more and more lives and homes. This is a phenomenon that is not in way close to being over as countries such as Qatar and the UAE are experiencing significant growth and expansion in the Facebook world as well. Kuwait had an over 11 percent increase in the number of users on Facebook and Lebanon and Jordan had increases of over 10 percent from April to May. This is not just something that occurred over the course of one month and is not a simple blip on the radar.

The fact that Facebook has experiences such significant growth over such a short period of time in this region only shows the enormous importance of social networking as well as all of the other things that affect and occur in that region of the world. Social networking has become one of the easiest and best ways to communicate with people from all over the world and is a tool that is not only used for fun and games, but plays a major role in the business and goings of the world as a whole.

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If there is one thing that Facebook has gotten good at over the last few years it is in its ability to generate publicity and to create growth for themselves. This is true for many reasons and continues to occur. Due to the extensive increase in ads on Facebook, and mind you these are only self generated ads on the homepage, not even outside ads, they have surpassed Yahoo and Microsoft in their number of impressions. This just shows, not only how much they have grown, but also how much they do and how well they relate to their customers if they are willing to click and use them.

One thing that many people do not consider when they are going to their favorite page or they log onto Facebook are the ads, however, apparently enough people are doing so that this is becoming a larger than life revenue source for the company. When you think about how much time you are there and all of the different things you say and do while there you need to ask yourself why you do not need to pay for this. What you need to realize is that the people who are paying to advertise on Facebook in order to be able to advertise all of us who are so entrenched and wanting to use this service are providing a great source for people to go to and in many ways be attracted to what it is that they have to offer.

What we do not realize, is that even if we do not spend our money on one of the products advertised or shown at that time, the fact that we have been made aware of it, or we remember what we saw has already worked to the advantage of the company with the ad. Consider that you will more likely buy something if you recognize the name and have at some point seen it somewhere before. If this happens because you saw the ad on Facebook, then the money that was spent to put the ad there was a success. What many of us do not realize is the number of ads on Facebook because we just assume it is a normal part of the page. That is because they are well disguised into the page and do their jobs very effectively.

What we are seeing is an internet phenomenon that is not only limited to Facebook as Yahoo and Microsoft have been doing it for far longer, but what we are seeing is the takeovert of the ads by Facebook as their revenues continue to climb. Just think, in essence you are paying for Facebook, if you are paying for any of the products advertised there. Your money will at some point in some way end up paying for the ad that was there in order for you to purchase the product. A vicious cycle if you think about it.

What are your thoughts on Facebook advertising? Have you tried it? Have you clicked on an ad yourself?

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Clearly from this blog you can probably surmise that I enjoy Facebook quite a bit. I accept the fact that privacy concerns are valid and Facebook simply isn’t for everyone – as evident by the May 31st Quit Facebook Day that thousands are now supporting.

So, for those who are considering leaving Facebook, I thought it would be helpful to simply have someone point you in the right direction to delete your Facebook account.

You can do this fairly easily. There is a specific link and form to fill out on Facebook that allows you to close off the account. You can find it at https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account. All you need to do is to confirm with Facebook that you wish to deactivate the account. It can then take up to two weeks for the process to occur.

Note*** If you log into your account during that two week period, it will stop the deletion process.

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Facebook has a love or hate type of audience. You love to sign in and to interact with your account but many of its users have a very thin line from not liking the applications and overall usability of Facebook. This has become the topic of conversation as of late. Facebook has made some key changes to its privacy policy. This policy governs how information about Facebook users is shared, or is not shared, and is accessed by other users and third parties. Many people are not happy with the new changes, as would be expected.

Facebook Users Unite

One way in which Facebook users are reacting to these latest developments is by forming Facebook protests. These protests allow users to join a group on Facebook that promises not to use the service for a specific time or just to voice their concerns about the changes. However, there are many other Facebook users that are planning a much more drastic move. These individuals plan to leave Facebook altogether. In fact, there is one group entitled, “May 31st Quit Facebook Day” group.

While this may seem like just a challenge on the part of users that will not be truly followed up on, one thing makes it a bit more realistic. In the last week, the number of search queries for topics such as “how do I delete my Facebook account” and similar variations has increased incredibly.  Could this be an indiciation that people really are considering leaving their Facebook account for good?

Will Facebook pay attention to these new concerns of the public? That information is not yet known. Specifically, whenever there is a significant change in the Facebook Platform and how it is used, there is up and down movement in the number of users on the site. Further, there are nearly always groups created that promise to leave the application altogether if the company does not make changes to the way it is set up.

In recent history, the major changes to the Facebook layout caused many people to form such groups. The new layout was confusing people said, and it makes playing games and interacting with friends more difficult. Nevertheless, the company did not actually change features back, even though thousands of users promised to leave if these changes were not made.

What are your thoughts? Are you planning on ‘quitting’ Facebook on May 31st?

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Everyone has those moments on Facebook that are just embarrassing. A bad photo is posted. You have to deal with saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. You make a statement and wish you just had not. The bad news is that now, these messages are able to be collected by a new application and displayed, again, for everyone to see.

In a time when Facebook privacy settings are all important, it has become increasingly necessary to pay attention to the specifics of each setting or security measure provided. Some Facebook users are now learning the hard way that these messages, those all embarrassing ones that you hoped would get lost in the Facebook stratosphere, are popping up again.

A new website is now able to pull posts from the wall of various Facebook users in an effort to expose them. The website is located at YourOpenBook.org. The application on the site that is in question is Facebook Search. As the name implies, the feature allows users to search through the site for various reasons and with various methods.

One of the ways in which the application is working is by posting messages on the site from Facebook users who are brazenly bragging about playing hooky from school or work. Have you ever said something about your boss? Perhaps you made a comment about your coworker to another coworker thinking they would never learn about it. These are all things that could get you in trouble if they make it to FacebookSearch and on the site.

Perhaps you are like another group of Facebook users who posts information that is all too personal. If you are guilty of posting “too much information” on any subject, keep in mind that it is not just your followers on Facebook that are going to have to deal with it. Now, this search feature can easily pull information off the site and place it on the web.

Who are these people? While it may seem that the developers of such an application are after you or are being malicious with the way that the site is designed, they promise they do not have malicious intentions. So, why do it?
One of the reasons why the group has put together the website is to offer the world of Facebook users some way to teach others. There are plenty of naïve Facebook users that really have no idea what their security settings are nor are they conscious about what they put up on the site.

What is the moral of the story? Perhaps what people can take from this exposure through FacebookSearch is that they should take the time to learn what their privacy settings are and to adjust them accordingly. Further, realize that what you say on a social networking site like Facebook, does become public knowledge in many cases.

You can check your Facebook privacy settings by simply visiting the site directly and logging in to the security features. If you have not done so, check out the site and find out just what people are talking about.

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Many people have heard that Betty White was recently on Saturday Night Live, the popular evening variety and comedy show. While she may not seem like the typical comedian or performer for this venue, it is in part the success of Facebook and other social media networks that has helped her to do so well. The fact is that social media is changing the way that people interact with each other, even as far as who is put onto television.

While the Saturday Night Live gig was a big one for Betty White, there is now a new push for the actress and comedienne. Now, a new Facebook page has sprung up with the goal of helping to put the comedienne at the Oscars. Further, another Facebook campaign is hoping to get her onto the new season of Glee, the fabulously popular show on Fox Network. The page is called Betty White on Glee.

A similar campaign was successful at landing White on Saturday Night Live just a few months ago. The first campaign was on a page called Betty White to Host SNL (please?). That Facebook page was started in February and throughout the following months managed to build a fan base of more than half of a million fans. After seeing the popularity that White had, through the use of this Facebook page, NBC decided to provide White with the offer to host the program, which she did on May 8th, 2010. And, the Betty White hosting of SNL did well with both online fans and offline fans able to enjoy it.

There is no doubt that if this new campaign is going to need a good deal of momentum behind it to gain the same amount of attention with Glee producers, but many are confident that White will be seen in numerous new programs. Within 24 hours of the posting of the Glee page, it had over 500 “likes” on it.

How is it possible for veteran actress to have just a following through Facebook? Many people believe that the underlying tool that is working in her favor is social media. In other words, while Facebook is a significant part of this, there are also other methods of promotion being used by the founders of these pages. Not only are they working to get their friends on Facebook to promote the page on Facebook, but they are using social media bloggers, blogs as well as Twitter and other forms of social media to help get even more attention.

Why is this Betty White Facebook page so important? It shows the strength of social media in many ways. Imagine the simple fact that through someone’s idea to have Betty White on SNL to that actually happening is an example of how individuals can control what they watch on television. The influence of social media on the movies you see, the television programs and even the actors and actresses used in those mediums is something that every day people can control through social media, at least to some level.

What are your thoughts? Can we use social media to “change th world”?

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Zynga is one of the largest gaming platforms on the Facebook network right now. You may have heard of the game Farmville, one of the largest and longest running games thus far on Facebook. With millions of users, there is little doubt that Farmville alone could not be abandoned easily. Still, there are currently rumors that Zynga and Facebook are in somewhat of a war against each other.

Application developers are watching this rumor closely as it could signal a switch in the way that people interact with games on Facebook. Fox News recently picked up the rumor. According to Fox News, “Sources at Facebook described Zynga as a bad actor, which is putting profits before its users, and suggested that if the situation persisted it would be best if Zynga’s games left Facebook altogether.”

However, many people are not believing this. The fact is, it is unlikely that Facebook suggest that Zynga leave the Facebook Platform. It is unlikely that Facebook would want Zynga to just go away. The numbers speak of themselves. Consider the fact that Zynga’s Farmville sees some 24 million people every single day. If you compare this to the number of users who sign in to Facebook each day, it would amount to one tenth of all Facebook users.

Why would the two companies go to war? This is where there are even more rumors and speculation. With Facebook’s new payment methods it is requiring all games to collect money solely through the Facebook payment methods rather than through the individual games. In games like Farmville, the application is free to use but users can purchase additions to the game at minimal costs. Currently, they are making such purchases through the Farmville game, through the Facebook Platform. However, Facebook wants all of these funds channeled through their Facebook payment method which would standardize the process. However, Farmville users, like those of other games, are not happy about the switch. Estimates are that Facebook collects some 30 percent of every purchase made through their games, including through Zynga’s games.

In addition to this, keep in mind that Facebook’s security measures, including the way that security settings are ever changing and the way that “gifts” are able to be sent to and from users, have become more challenging for the game players. In addition, players have complained about the slow movement of Facebook in the game as well as lost gifts and other complications.

What has lead to additional speculation is the recent promotion that Zynga has done to encourage players to move to the Farmville.com platform. While it is likely that players will still sign in to Facebook through Farmville.com to access their current account, the move to its own platform like this could be some fuel behind the angry that Facebook is displaying toward Zynga.

Could this mean a break for the two companies? It is unlikely. Both are quite dependent on each other. It may mean some changes in the near future for game players and for Facebook users, though.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Facebook is making

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