Despite earlier criticisms, Facebook is chugging along according to its latest quarterly report. It has its mobile presence to thank for besting Wall Street’s expectations, although admittedly investors aren’t going to be seeing a particularly high return. But there’s plenty else going on and new features Facebook is testing out that may have been overshadowed by its earnings reports – so here they are.
Facebook courts journalists and news organizations
Twitter is synonymous with breaking news. It’s the de facto social platform that journalists turn to to find the latest developments on any breaking news. When it comes to news, Facebook has fallen behind platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and even Reddit, which are faster than any news organization – although the accuracy is questionable.
To attract purpose to Facebook as a platform for news, the social network outlined best practices for both media companies and journalists. For instance, Facebook wants its platform to be used for storytelling to keep people “informed about news as it happens.” The outline by Facebook Journalism Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik adds, “As news breaks, post a status update or photo to inform your audience.”
Sound familiar? These are best practices that citizen journalists and professionals alike are already using on Twitter.
Science says that Facebook can make you mad
Researchers warn that Facebook can cause psychotic episodes. A study by Doctor Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University found that people will turn to social networks to “seek refuge” from their loneliness and find comfort in Internet relationships. The problem is that the comfort was short lived and in many instances, these patients later ended up getting hurt by these digital relationships.
“In each case, a connection was found between the gradual development and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms, including delusions, anxiety, confusion, and intensified use of computer communications,” said Dr. Nitzan. Chatting platforms – especially Facebook – he said were to blame.
Shockingly, cats and cute animals attract the most “likes” among ads
Yep, a cat, dog, or any cute animal photo used inside of a Facebook ad is an irresistible lure to reel in those Likes from users. SocialCode conducted a study on 3,000 images from 125 different brands to find out what types of ads worked the best.
If you’re whoring for Likes, animal photos – cats, puppies, or teddy bears – are the most successful to get people to Like your page. There’s a caveat though: The engagement levels with these users are low enough that it might not even be worth using as a strategy unless your primary concern is the number of users following your brand page. As a pointer, the study notes that using product images as Facebook posts fairs far better in the long-run.
Avast acquires Secure.me to protect your Facebook account
Facebook might be putting more effort into protecting your account as of late, but third parties are working parallel to keep your account secure. Think of Secure.me like an antivirus software for your Facebook account that points out the photos and links you don’t want to click on or interact with. We’d love to see these products being built in-house by Facebook’s security team, but the social network believes that it has bigger fish to fry. We unfortunately can’t expect to rely on Facebook to keep our accounts safe.
This is where Avast comes in, which has a distribution partnership with Facebook. Fortunately the company’s acquisition announcement might mean improved security for Facebook users, although at the same time considering Avast’s track record, it could mean that users will urged to pay for the product with annoying pop-ups.
