Monthly Archives: August 2010

I’m not sure if it was this article yesterday that drew my attention to the rise Facebook spam, or maybe it was a product page that contained 23 spam messages in the top 25 posts on its wall. Landing on a wall of spam isn’t an attractive sight for any visitor. Now this was an extreme case, the page was an unofficial page set up in tribute to a product no longer manufactured. It still had 120,000 fans nonetheless. But the admin of the page hadn’t posted since March so all the spam messages have gone unchecked. While at extreme end of the spectrum, it does highlight the growth in Facebook spam in recent months. Continue reading →

Facebook Places was the big social media story of last week when it was launched in the USA. Although there is no official launch date of the service in Europe as of yet, it has big implications for business as almost 500,000 Irish Facebook users access the network via their mobile. That underlines the importance of getting to know Places in advance of its launch here. Last week I gave an in depth look at the service. Today I’m pulling together some of the best resources on the web that have been released in the meantime. Continue reading →

Yesterday, or very late Wednesday night depending on how you see it, Facebook announced the roll out of its new Facebook Places service. I thought it might be worth waiting for the dust to settle and give the service as in-depth a look as possible, as it’s not yet available in Europe and no launch date is known.

What is it?

It’s a location based feature that allows people to ‘check-in’ to real locations using their iPhone (other phones will be supported in due course). So if I go to a bar, restaurant or even a beach and ‘check in’ my Facebook friends know where I am. I can also check to see who else is using the service in that location – both friends and strangers. Although, this information will only be available to those at the location for a limited time. The official Facebook Blog states that this allows people with similar interests to meet up. Although you can opt out of such a service it’s worth noting that a lot of studies into the use of social networks indicate that only a small percentage of users actually want to meet new people. This takes Facebook stalking (where you check out peoples profiles that you are not friends with such as former classmates, colleagues and ex’s) into the real world. I would assume you will know nothing of other people at your location if they have their profiles locked down to strangers. Continue reading →

I spend a good portion of my week looking at different aspects to Facebook. Coming up with new ideas on how Facebook (and other social media channels) can be better utilised for marketing. While I’m seeking new ways to use Facebook, I’m often surprised at how some companies fail to cover even the basics of Facebook Pages. So here’s what I think are the basics Continue reading →