Background on Questions

Last July, Facebook launched a beta of Facebook Questions to a small group of people and gathered feedback. On March 25th, Facebook broadly rolled out an update to Questions that makes it even easier to ask and respond to questions from people and Pages on Facebook. What’s more, all Page owners can opt-in to Facebook Questions to start using the product today.

About – The Questions Product Update

The updated Facebook Questions product allows people and Page owners to ask structured, lightweight questions to friends and fans, similar to publishing a simple poll. Questions are now easier and faster to answer—people can agree with an existing answer with a single click, or they can quickly add a different response. This makes it easy for many more people to respond to questions. The new version of Questions is also more focused on getting answers from their friends, and friends-of-friends.

More Materials

You can learn more about the updated Facebook Questions at http://www.facebook.com/questions. There, you can opt-in to start using the product immediately by clicking the green “Get Questions Now” button. While we encourage you to explore and use the new Questions product, it is purely an optional product for your Page(s). Page admins can choose to not ask, follow or answer questions on the site, and they always have the option to remove the Questions tab from their Page at any time.

What Impact Does This Have on Advertising?

Facebook does not currently offer contextual advertising in the Questions product (i.e. targeting a person who has shown interest in a brand or product in their question).  Given Facebook’s expanding advertising capabilities, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this product evolves and ad targeting opportunities become available in the very near future. We will keep you posted!

What are your thought so far – have you used the Questions product yet? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

As of March 10th, all Facebook pages have received an updated layout and several new features to help you engage with your fans. Here are some of the Facebook page upgrades:

• Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
• A place to showcase photos along the top of your page
• A news feed for your page
• The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page

The transition guide below will help you understand the changes in more detail and help businesses and brand managers get a stronger grasp on the potential for Facebook Pages following the redesign.

Here are is a fan Page upgrade checklist for anyone who already has a Facebook Page:

1. The Page profile picture size has changed. Be sure to review your profile picture and upload a re-sized picture if needed.
2. An optional feature will now allow you to feature other Pages and Page admins. If you have any cross-promotion to do this is a great opportunity to take advantage of!
3. This is also a great time to review your Page category. You can update this at any time by visiting Edit Page > Basic Information > Category
4. Review the five thumbnail photos that are now displayed in the “photostrip”. X-out any photos you do not want to appear in the top right of each thumbnail and tag your Page in the photos to center the thumbnail picture.

Feel free to download the Facebook Page Transition Guide!

I stumbled across this Facebook reporting guide for those who are interested in running Facebook ads, or already are! It’s called “Facebook Online Campaign Reports: Product Guide for Brand Advertisers”.

Since it was created earlier this year, I’m sure there’s some content that could be outdated – i.e. like vs. fan. That said, it is still worth the read to learn more about the reporting features available to Facebook advertisers.

You can view the report below or download a copy of the Facebook report for yourself.

With a release date already scheduled, The Social Network is quickly gaining some high profile buzz. With an acclaimed writer (Aaron Sorkin) and director David Fincher on board has landed the script for the Social Network at the top of 2009′s The Black List – a compilation of the most-liked unproduced scripts of the year and chose by Hollywood insiders.

Entertainment Weekly describes the film:

The Social Network

By Aaron Sorkin

What it’s about: Chronicles Mark Zuckerberg’s complicated journey towards creating Facebook. Sorkin depicts both the founders motivations for starting the largest social network in the world and the human casualties that came with his profound success.

What it’s like: The fascinating biographical elements of Shattered Glass meets the courtroom drama of Kramer vs. Kramer, without the tears. Sorkin cuts between Zuckerberg’s heated depositions with his former Harvard colleagues who  claimed he stole Facebook from them and the chronological retelling of the company’s trip to becoming a billion-dollar enterprise.

Status: In production for Sony Pictures. Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg while Justin Timberlake portrays Sean Parker, one of the founders of Napster and Zuckerberg’s idol. David Fincher is directing.

Perhaps this movie won’t suck after all!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and Happy Holidays from your friends at Only Facebook!

Mashable, one of the best Social Marketing blogs out there, recently announced the winners of their 3rd annual Open Web Awards – an international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology and achievements in Social Media.

I thought I would provide a quick run-down and a ‘congratulations’ to the Facebook specific winners. Feel free to browse the full 50 Open Web Award Winners.

• Best Brand Use of Facebook: Pet Society
• Best Facebook App: Fish Wrangler
• Best Facebook Fan Page: Big Prize Giveaways
• Best Facebook Game: Fish Wrangler
• Most Creative Use of Facebook Connect: Pet Society
• Best Mobile Social Network App: Facebook

What would your choices have been?

One of the things I’m horrible at is remembering birthdays. One of the best things about Facebook for me was the birthday notifications of friends and family. After all, who doesn’t like getting a “Happy Birthday” note on their wall!

As part of the numerous changes Facebook has been pushing live another important annual celebration will be included in the mix: the anniversary. Facebookers can now go to their relationship status and add the specific day, month and year in which they became a couple.

To update your anniversary status, simply click on the Edit (Update Info) button on your profile (soon to be known as timeline):

1. Click on the Friends and Family bo
2. Select your anniversary date from the Anniversary dropdown menu
3. Save your changes

Please Note: You must first be in a relationship with someone on Facebook in order to select an anniversary date.

One less date for me to try to keep track of! Now I just need to get my parents on Facebook!