Facebook Can Help Find Answers

Facebook has rolled out the beta version of Facebook Questions, a new way for users to pose questions to the more than 500 million people in the Facebook community. Currently only available to a limited number of people, Facebook Questions allows users to “get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics,” wrote director of product management Blake Ross in a Facebook blog post.

Facebook Questions offers numerous filters designed to help users find the answers they’re searching for. When asking a question, for example, users have the option to add a photo or a poll.

You can also tag your question with a specific topic, making it visible to people who have expressed interest in the same topic. The tagging feature also allows users to see what others are asking about the same topics. Users can even browse through other users’ questions to “find ones you may have never thought to ask,” said Ross.

Ross reminds users that all questions and answers posted using Facebook Questions are public, meaning that they will be visible to everyone on the Internet. However, if you want to ask a question to a specific group of people, the application allows you to write a question as a status update on your profile and target those people.

Amazon Taps Into Facebook Networks for Recommendations

CNET.com reports that Amazon has entered into a partnership with Facebook that will let shoppers search for gift ideas by accessing their friends’ profiles. The beta version of this new feature was launched in the “Recommendations” section of the Amazon website and will suggest gift ideas for friends based on their Facebook pages along with letting people use their own Facebook profile to come up with personal purchase recommendations.

Customers can choose to “Tap into Your Facebook Network” and link their Amazon and Facebook accounts. The opt-in program warns customers that they will be sharing your own personal information and the information of friends. Once accepted, Amazon will use the movies, TV shows, music and other items which are the favorites of your friends on Facebook to develop gift recommendations.

Amazon has attempted to alleviate privacy concerns by agreeing not to share account information or buying history with Facebook or attempt to market to the Facebook contacts of their customers. The service can be disconnected to remove any Facebook content from a person’s Amazon account.

Tips for Managing Your Social Media Identity

Whether you are an individual looking to extend your personal brand or a company who wants to leverage the latest online communication tools to reach new audiences, it’s important to have a well thought out social media plan. Blindly signing up for accounts on every social media network you can find is not the way to attract new followers (and potential customers). As with any marketing strategy, it’s important to approach social media as a tactical promotional tool.

In order to get the most from your social media campaign, it’s important to maintain consistency across the different platforms you use. Not only does this make it easier for people to find you whether they are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or another social media site, but it also creates incentives for people to follow you on multiple platforms. Taking control of your social media brand can pay major dividends for you down the road.

Many people don’t give enough thought to the handles they create when they sign up for social media networks. Sometimes they create usernames that are too cute or complex (often with seemingly random numbers added to the end). This makes it tough for people to remember who you are. In other cases, people create different usernames on different sites, either because their Facebook username is taken on Twitter or because they want to “keep it different.”

You want to make it easy for potential followers and customers to find you. If you own a business and start a website, you understand that it’s important to have a web address which is easy to remember and explains what the site is about. So why not apply the same concepts to your social media sites? Research the availability of different usernames on the social media sites you plan on using and don’t sign up until you find a username that is brief, easy to remember and is available on each site.

It’s also important to understand what you are hoping to accomplish with the various social media networks available to use during a campaign. Each social media site has its own unique strengths and reaches different audiences. Instead of just blindly posting the same content on each site, spend some time researching the various platforms and create a plan of action for each. You might use Twitter to spread breaking news about a sale on your company’s site that lasts one day and your Facebook account to set up a contest to attract new customers.

Another important tip is to keep your personal and business social media lives separate. Make sure the social media accounts you create to promote your business do just that. While you can use humor and personality to make your posts and Tweets interesting, they should all have the purpose of helping to drive your business forward. This isn’t to say that you can’t have personal social media accounts and link those to your business accounts – people like to hear about the personalities behind the companies they use. Just keep in mind if you link the two accounts, you are posting as a representative of the company. Don’t post any embarrassing personal details that might reflect poorly on your business.

Facebook Reaches 500 Million Users

Facebook announced today that 500 million people are now using the social networking site. Along with hitting a new milestone, Facebook reminded users of the few big numbers the company deals with on a daily basis:

• 100 billion hits per day
• 50 billion photos
• Two trillion objects cached, with hundreds of millions of requests per second
• 130TB of logs every day

In a post on the Facebook Engineering Bobby Johnson said, “We’re very proud to have built a site that 500 million people want to use, and a site that still works with 500 million people using it.”

He added, “But this is really just the start. We’re hoping that in the not too distant future there will be another 500 million people, and that these principles will help us overcome whatever new challenges arise on the way there.”

Zendesk Upgrades Twitter Integration

There is no denying that more and more consumers are using Twitter to vent about brands and customer service. Naturally, businesses are searching for ways to tap into the twittersphere and manage their reputations by responding to complaints. Zendesk has announced that users can now treat tweets like any other support channel, allowing businesses to leverage Twitter communications through Zendesk’s Web-based helpdesk software.

In a company blog post announcing the integration, CEO and founder of Zendesk Mikkel Svane wrote, “Being able to connect the twittersphere with your current customer service workflow is something we believe will change a lot of companies’ perception of Twitter.”

Companies can now use the software to pipe in tweets, feed DMs directly into their queues, and deal with them as regular tickets benefiting from the powerful workflow capabilities of Zendesk. This includes Twitter, which began using Zendesk as its support platform in early 2009. The new feature also allows users to record any Twitter conversation and move it from Twitter to email.

“A chaotic cloud of shouts and conversations can become the foundation of a new business process; one ensuring participation and clear and timely communications,” writes Svane.

Leena Rao of TechCrunch agrees that the integration makes sense. According to Rao, “Twitter has now become a centralized place for consumer conversations about brands and companies.”

Google Invests $100-200 Million in Zynga

The Internet world was buzzing this weekend with news that Google had secretly invested $100 to $200 million in popular social media gaming company Zynga, which makes such popular Facebook games as Farmville. The investments were first reported by Tech Crunch, which said that Google completed the investment last month.

Several sources told Tech Crunch that Google is making a strategic investment in Zynga as it prepares to roll out its own Google Games feature later this year. This could be done in conjunction with the rumored new Google Me social media site. It’s currently unclear about whether Google Games will be available as a standalone site or if it will follow the Facebook model and require that users create a new social graph and access it through the social networking site.

The San Francisco Chronicle speculated that the deal with Zynga was also meant to weaken Facebook as Google prepares to enter the social media market with a major rollout. It also could provide a boost to the Google Checkout online payment model if Zynga switches its payments to that from PayPal.

Kraft Food Brands Increase Social Media Marketing Efforts

The New York Times reports that two brands of Kraft Foods, Oreo Cookies and Wheat Thins crackers, are planning to increase their social media marketing efforts through sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

According to the NY Times blog post, Oreo Cookies plans to reveal on Monday a revamped Facebook page featuring a mix of global and local content. The new page will also feature a “world’s fan of the week” as it celebrates the brand’s five million Facebook fans outside the United States.

In a similar social media marketing effort, Wheat Thins is starting a campaign to reward consumers of the brand who mention it on Twitter. The Wheat Thins campaign will also include a YouTube channel with clips of a traveling team that gives prizes to brand fans.