The
changes to Facebook in 2016 are new to
Facebook, but aren’t new to the social landscape.Facebook appears to be
borrowing the best aspects of other popular services and integrating them into
Facebook as a central hub.
For
communication professionals, this means that the ways that you can communicate
on Facebookare expanding and are increasing in complexity.
1. Facebook Live Video (For All)
Usage of
these apps remains low, which may give Facebook Live Video an opportunity to
become the go-to-live-streaming app rather quickly. No additional app is needed
to use this feature: the live Videocontent prompt is located in the normal
“Update Status” prompt in the mobile app.
2. Facebook Professional Services
If you
haven’t noticed, Facebook actively prompts you to review the places you’ve
been. If you check in at or tag a location, odds are Facebook will ask you to
elaborate about your experience…. And (of course) this is purposeful.
3. Facebook at Work
Facebook
at Work is Facebook’s (currently in beta) enterprise solution, and they have a
pretty compelling sales pitch: an enterprise social solution with functionality
that most people are familiar with. For communication professionals, this means
that in the near future you may perform internal communication in a closed
Facebook ecosystem.
4. Improved Search
When
Facebook quietly dropped Bing as the search provider powering Facebook’s
Internet search, few people knew that Bing’s replacement would be Facebook itself.
In October, Facebook rolled out an improved search function opening up all
public posts as well as improved intelligence to inform personalized results.
5. Uber/lyft integration Through Facebook Messenger
Facebook
recently announced integration of Uber and Messenger where users can now
request an Uber ride through the Messenger app. Similar, integration with Lyft
is purportedly forthcoming. While the communication implications of this
additional feature are probably slight, it’s worth noting thatFacebook users
may start using Messenger instead of the native apps to use these services.
6. Facebook Shopping Tab
Back in
July, Facebook added a “buy” button and allowed e-commerce partners to sell
products onFacebook through Shopify. Even though the results of social shopping
were disappointing forFacebook this year, Facebook appears poised to expand
their e-commerce offerings in 2016.
7. Instant Articles
In May
of this year, Facebook introduced Instant Articles for iOS, a feature that
allow publishers to have their content distributed and viewed directly within
the Facebook app. Just recently, Instant Articles was expanded to Android
devices as well. A feature designed to mimic Snapchat’s agile, unique content,
Instant Articles can be viewed in nearly all mobile devices with great reach
than Snapchat or the similar Apple News App.
8. Events
The new
Facebook Events allows you to do all of the following in a very user-friendly
environment:
• Browse Invitations
• Accept/decline invitations (public
and private)
• Bookmarks
• RSVPs
• Schedules
• Calendar entries
• Ticket buying
• Check-ins
• Photos
9. Non-profit Crowdfunding
Utilizing
the Facebook “donate” button and Facebook’s platform and distribution,
nonprofits may be able to fundraise more effectively on Facebook than with
other crowdfunding sites.
10. Music Stories
Facebook
recently rolled out their “Music Stories” feature, which gives users the
capability to preview 30 second
snippets of music from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, NPR and other sources. It
is currently only available for iOS but will be available for desktop use soon.
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