Random Posts from Blogs about Facebook
The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.
Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at Plumbee, GREE International, Inc., Tapjoy, LolGames, 6 Waves/Lolapps, Funcom Games Canada, Addmired, Identified, Spooky Cool Labs, King.com, Mobile Deluxe, Game Show Network, IMVU, Stealth Mobile Startup, XMG Studio and FashionPlaytes, Inc.
- Technical Recruiter
- Senior Operations Engineer
- Acquisition Manager/Mobile Ad Buyer
- Business Intelligence Analyst
- 3D (Isometric) Environment Artist
- 2D Digital Painter/Illustrator
- 3D (Isometric) Character Artist – Modeler/Animator
- Build/Release Engineer
- Tools Engineer
- Scalability Engineer
- Erlang Infrastructure Developer
- C/C++ Game Developer
- UX Artist
Stealth Mobile Startup
Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.
Facebook hired former Levi’s CMO Rebecca Van Dyck to lead its global marketing efforts, according to Ad Age.
Van Dyck, who worked at Apple and Wieden+Kennedy before Levi’s, will bring important branding experience to Facebook. An initial public offering this year will put more pressure on the company to improve its image. Although it has in eight years become one of the most well-known brands in the world, it ranks among the lowest in consumer satisfaction. With Google heavily promoting an alternative social network, Facebook will need to be strategic in coming years.
Facebook significantly increased its marketing and advertising efforts in 2011. It spent $28 million in advertising last year — up from $8 million in 2010, according to IPO documents. The social network runs Google AdWords and Facebook ad campaigns. (We have reached out to Facebook to clarify how its house ads are billed.) The company has recently formed a number of partnerships with media companies like NBC, the New York Times, USA Today and Politico to build its brand.
Facebook mentioned in its IPO filing that unfavorable press coverage could negatively affect its business. This is true for any company, but it is notable that Facebook included it in the risk factors section of its prospectus. Google and LinkedIn did not.
Google ran a number of television commercials last year promoting its social network and other products. Facebook could follow suit, but since CEO Mark Zuckerberg is known to be skeptical of traditional advertising, the company could be looking to try other types of campaigns.
Van Dyck was recently involved in Levi’s “Go Forth” initiative, in which the company donated more than $1 million to renovate a community center and aid an urban farming program in Braddock, Pa. Facebook was likely most interested in Van Dyck’s experience with Apple where she worked for seven years and helped with launches of the iPhone, iPad, iPod and iTunes.
Image credit: Rebecca Van Dyck’s LinkedIn profile
Facebook polls appear in Times Square – Facebook and ad agency R/GA partnered to produce a political polling app, 2012 Matters: What Matters Most. Users can indicate which issues are most important to them and have their answers appear on the Nasdaq digital billboard in Times Square.
Facebook, USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter - Involver is powering Facebook and USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter on Facebook.com/sports and other pages. The app allows users to see, rate and share Super Bowl ads before, during and after the game via web or mobile.
Most users get big social return from Facebook – A study from the Pew Research Internet Project found that most users receive more social feedback than they put into the platform. This is due to the fact that there’s a small percentage of power users that is extremely active in liking, commenting and providing other social feedback on the site.
Bday Gift Finder uses data to find gifts – Bday’s Bday Gift Finder is an app that allows users to find the right gifts for friends by utilizing user data to settle on the most appropriate gift card. The app analyzes Likes and the sentiment attached to those Likes. Bday recently received $2 million in Series A funding.
A greater percentage of Facebook’s monthly active users became daily active users in recent years as consumers switched to smartphones, according to an analysis of the company’s filing for an initial public offering.
DAU as a percentage of MAU is an important metric to judge “stickiness.” If the company were gaining millions of new users but not maintaining a steady DAU over MAU, it would suggest those users were not finding reasons to return as frequently. In Facebook’s case, the ratio of monthly users returning daily has increased from 44 percent to 57 percent since June 2009. This supports the idea that the social network not only grew in volume but became more engaging. In its IPO prospectus, the company attributes much of this growth to mobile usage.
DAU over MAU grew at its fastest rate between June 30 and Dec. 31, 2009, as smartphone growth took off in the U.S. and Europe. Apple released the iPhone 3GS and Palm released the Pre in June 2009. Motorola introduced the first Droid in October of that year. As millions of consumers purchased smartphones and added Facebook apps, daily engagement accelerated. That period saw faster DAU growth in the U.S. and Europe than it did in Asia and the rest of the world.
The DAU/MAU ratio is not increasing as drastically as it had been, but it continues to grow. DAU as a percentage of MAU increased from 54 percent in December 2010 to 57 percent in December 2011. We can expect this number to keep improving as more users connect to Facebook through mobile apps. Another factor that could encourage more users to engage daily is Open Graph. As more apps and websites integrate Facebook, the social network can increase daily active users without those users visiting the site directly.
It’s unclear how high the percentage will go, but at some point, DAU over MAU will hit a threshold. Investors should keep an eye on this metric to gauge how well Facebook is growing and maintaining interest among its new and existing users.
 February 8 – 9, 2012 | San Francisco
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Inside Social Apps 2012 is coming next Wednesday and Thursday!
Pre-registration passes are $599 until February 7, and will be $799 at the door.
Join us as we host the industry’s leading developers for two days of panels, discussions, and networking around the social and mobile app ecosystem.
How do developers in the industry view today’s top challenges in social and mobile apps and games? Which platforms will see the most growth in 2012, and what are the key opportunities ahead? We’ve recently finalized our event agenda that looks at this industry’s biggest questions from the perspectives of those who are shaping it every day. View the full agenda here.
Better yet, save your spot and register now.
Who’s Speaking?
We’re excited to present the following 44 confirmed speakers at Inside Social Apps 2012:
 | Carl Sjogreen Director of Product Management, Facebook |  | Cory Ondrejka Director of Engineering, Facebook |
 | Russ Heddleston Product Manager, Facebook |  | David Glazer Engineering Director, Google+ |
 | Carla Bourque SVP, Buddy Media |  | Simon Mansell CEO, TBG Digital |
 | Clara Shih Founder and CEO, Hearsay Labs |  | Mike Ouye Founder and CEO, Red Robot Labs |
 | John Spinale Senior Vice President, Social Games, Disney Interactive Media Group |  | Barry Cottle Executive Vice President, EA Interactive |
 | Daniel Terry Co-founder & CEO, Pocket Gems |  | Perry Tam CEO, Storm8 |
 | Jens Begemann Founder and CEO, wooga |  | Lee Linden Founder, Karma Science |
 | Charles Hudson Co-founder and CEO, Bionic Panda Games |  | John Earner GM European Studios, EA / Playfish |
 | Paul Bettner GM, Zynga With Friends |  | Kevin Chou Co-founder and CEO, Kabam |
 | Suleman Ali Co-founder and CEO, TinyCo |  | Will Harbin Chairman and CEO, Kixeye |
 | Mario Schlosser Chief Scientist, Vostu |  | Jeff Tseng CEO and Co-Founder, Kontagent |
 | Dennis Ryan EVP Worldwide Publishing, PopCap |  | Eric Goldberg Managing Director, Crossover Technologies |
 | Haining Wang CEO, Happy Elements |  | Sho Masuda VP Marketing, Social Games, GREE |
 | Clay Kellogg Head of App Dev. Sales, AdMob |  | Terry Angelos Co-Founder and CPO, TrialPay |
 | David Katz VP of Digital Media, Starz |  | Suchit Dash Co-founder and VP of Product, Ifeelgoods |
 | Atul Bagga Senior Analyst – Video Games & China Internet, Lazard Capital Markets |  | Peter Farago VP Marketing, Flurry |
 | Anil Dharni Co-founder, Funzio; Founder, Storm8 |  | Mike Sego CEO, Gaia Interactive |
 | Tim Chang Managing Director, Mayfield Fund |  | Micah Adler Founder & CEO, Fiksu |
 | Arjun Sethi CEO, 6waves Lolapps |  | Brenda Garno COO & Game Designer, Loot Drop |
 | Bill Jackson Creative Director, CastleVille, Zynga |  | Hussein Fazal CEO & Co-founder, AdParlor |
 | Mihir Shah President & CEO, TapJoy |  | Lisa Marino CEO, RockYou |
 | Rick Thompson Co-Founder, Playdom, and Investor |  | Riz Virk Co-founder and CEO, Gameview Studios |
Registration
Previous Inside Social Apps conferences have sold out in advance of event day, so we strongly encourage you to register now.
Pre-registration passes are $599 until February 7, and will be $799 at the door. Register Now
About Inside Social Apps
Inside Social Apps 2012 will explore new opportunities, as well as emerging risks, in the development, distribution and monetization of social and mobile applications. Inside Social Apps 2012 will span February 8 – 9, and will bring together the world’s leading social and mobile developers and investors for critical discussion and analysis.
Social applications first made their splash in the US in 2007, and have now evolved into a global media ecosystem. Today’s social and mobile apps comprise a profitable multi-billion dollar industry, characterized by vibrant investment activity and newly emerging opportunities on mobile platforms.
Inside Social Apps is Inside Network’s content-focused conference series that investigates the latest trends and challenges for social and mobile applications and the companies that bring them to market.
Past Inside Social Apps events have seen sold out before conference day, so we strongly encourage you to register early.
Registration
Pre-registration passes are $599 until February 7, and will be $799 at the door. If you’re doing business in social and mobile apps, we strongly encourage you to register now.
From all of us at Inside Network, we look forward to seeing you on February 8 and 9 in San Francisco!
Upon reaching 10 million Facebook likes, BBC automotive show “Top Gear” did what any other brand achieving such a milestone would do: It blew up a caravan.
As the “Top Gear” Facebook page approached 10 million likes, fans were asked what the hosts and crew should do to celebrate.
After sorting through 7,832 suggestions received in a little more than six hours, this is what they decided upon:
First, there was Take This Lollipop. Then came Facebooks own Timeline Movie Maker. Now, the latest application to make movies out of users Facebook content has arrived from down under.
Australian athletic and leisure clothing retailer Lorna Jane joined the social networks movie-making fray with The Year of You, which casts users as runners, and taps into Facebook photos, friends, and status updates to showcase their greatest achievements of 2011 and motivate them to push even harder in 2012.
All three Facebook movie-making apps weve profiled have completely different purposes: Take This Lollipop is aimed at scaring Facebook users into rethinking how much of their information is available publicly; Timeline Movie Maker pushes the social networks new profile design; and The Year of You is geared toward self-betterment.
Lorna Jane Founder and Creative Director Lorna Jane Clarkson said:
With the start of a new year comes an opportunity to create a new you, and the application is designed to be a fun way to motivate our customers to think about this. The new year is the best time to think about you and what you want from the year ahead, and this video application allows you to enjoy the highlights of your past year and plan for the next.
Readers: Have you used any of the three Facebook movie-making apps weve profiled, or any others?
How can you tell if a Facebook account is fake? Barracuda Labs is on the case.
Barracuda Labs analyzed 2,884 active Facebook accounts to determine the differences between authentic ones and fake pages created by scammers and spammers.
Among the findings are:
- 97 percent of fake profiles are created using womens names, and 58 percent claim to be interested in both men and women.
- The fake profiles averaged 726 friends, while the authentic ones averaged just 130.
- 15 percent of the actual profiles had no status updates, while that figure soared to 43 percent for the fakes.
Barracuda Networks Chief Research Officer Paul Judge said:
Likes, newsfeeds, and apps have helped lead Facebook to its social network dominance, and now attackers are harnessing those same features to efficiently scale their efforts. These fake profiles and apps give attackers a long-lived path to continuously present malicious links to innocent users.
Also, researchers have shown how friending malicious accounts can lead to account takeover using Facebooks trusted friend account recovery (http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-improves-2011-10). We have analyzed thousands of fake accounts to determine features and patterns that distinguish them from real users, and created a feature-based heuristic engine to distinguish real users from fake profiles.
A prevailing theme in much of the reaction to Facebooks initial public offering announcement was uncertainty over how the social networks advertising business actually works.
Several stories about Facebooks registration to go public focused on the lack of details on how the company earns revenues from advertising, and how to project what those totals could be going forward.
The Wall Street Journal shared a concept that seems to be gaining legs: Facebook charging advertisers, rather than allowing them to set up pages free-of-charge, as has been the case since brand pages launched on the social network.
We’re curious to know what you think of this idea. Share your opinion in our poll, including an explanation of your rationale in the comments section. Then check back later to see how others voted.
A new study claims that Facebook users take more than they give to their friends through the number of friend requests received, the use of the like button, the number of messages sent, or tagging people in photos.
The phenomenon, identified in a report from the Pew Research Center, is driven by about 20 percent to 30 percent of Facebookers called power users.
They’re who send friend requests, add content, or like the content of their friends on a daily or more than weekly basis.
As a result of these power users, the average Facebook user receives friend requests, receives personal messages, is tagged in photos. and receives feedback in terms of likes at a higher rate than they contribute.
Pew says the study is a first, because it combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being. The survey size was small — only about 269 people. who were studied over one month.
The study has a great chart measuring the frequency of regular Facebook activities.Following are some of they key findings.
Making Friends
Some 40 percent of the sample of Facebook users made a friend request in the month of our observation, but 63 percent received a friend request. The 19 percent of Fscebook power users initiated a request once per week, and 80 percent of friend requests were not accepted.
Men Rule
On average, men were more likely to send friend requests, and women were more likely to receive them.
We Like, A Lot
Use of the like button is among the most popular activities on Facebook. One-third of the sample, about 33 percent, used the like button at least once per week, and 37 percent had content they contributed liked by a friend at least once per week. However, the majority of Facebook users neither liked content, nor was their content liked by others, in Pew’s month of observation.
Send More Than Receive
More than half of Facebook users in the study, 54 percent, did not send a private message in the month, but 59 percent did receive a message. A subset of 27 percent of Facebook power users sent a personal message at least once per week.
Despite the small sample, the complete Pew report includes some notable details and is worth taking a look at.
