Posts

Facebook (Insights) Fails…Again!

I am a geek. So I spend a lot of time pouring through data and looking at analytics. Its just what I do. If you have a Facebook page for your business or brand, you should be doing this too. Thankfully this is easily done through Facebook Insights. Insights is the reporting system for all you Facebook data. It tells you how many page views you had, who is clicking, liking, sharing. You can get age and gender demographics. How many times your story appeared in the newsfeed. How viral your content is. And a lot more. There is so much information in the downloaded excel spreadsheet that you go well into the double alphabet column. You can also view a synopsis of your Insights right on Facebook from you page. The link is on the left side menu, under your profile pic.

Normally insights is behind real time by 2 days. This is not a big deal. 2 days still gives you an accurate picture of what is happening with your page. However, for the past 2 weeks insights has pretty much been down. It has provided some spotty information, but for the most part it is not actually reporting anything useful. For a data geek like me, this has been enormously frustrating.

Thankfully, despite being quiet about it for the past few weeks, Facebook has finally admitted that they are aware of the problem and are considering it high priority.

Now, usually when their is a big FAIL on Facebook it is because they are making some changes to the site. Of course, they don’t let anyone know of any potential changes so when they drop and then the site is working again, we all get to have an “A-Ha” moment.

There is a marketing conference at the end of the month, so maybe they will be announcing some big new changes coming to the site.

Facebook Releases New Timeline Profile

,

Facebook Timeline Profile
The Facebook timeline profile is coming out! The new profile is being released right now and will be available for all profiles within the next few weeks.

I have had the new profile since it was released to developers in September. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. But since using it, I have come to really like the new design. It is much more graphically oriented and fells more comprehensive, like it is giving you a more robust snapshot of the person.

The new profile is simply beautiful. It is a chronicling of your life, even before your started on Facebook. The timeline features photos and life events starting at birth. You can add information, photos, videos and posts into any time period. Have a prom photo from 20 years ago, add it in to the year 1976.

The beautiful layout, featuring photos and comments from your friends, has a deep emotional resonance. You are able to go throw the years and see your pictures. The things your friends wrote on your wall. The posts you shared and were shared with you. You not only get a glimpse of your history on Facebook, but a glimpse of your life history. It is like watching an old home movie on an old reel-to-reel.

Reminiscing has always been a social activity. Facebook has found a way to harness that.

For people using their profile to promote their business this will give additional opportunity for branding. You can have a banner photo at the top and still have your head shot for the profile pic.  It will give a way to create a more graphically beautiful display for your business.

Read more about the new Facebook Timeline. To get yours you just have to wait. When it is available to you there will be a notice at the top of your old profile.

Facebook Throwing Us a Bone

,

Facebook Recomendation 7 VeilsThough Facebook has been hard on the adult industry, holding us to standards that other pages don’t seem to have to abide by. Many people in the adult industry still want to have access to the 800+ million members on Facebook.  One of the big challenges for pages have been reaching their audience. The best way to reach your target audience is to find, and network with, similar pages. But this has not been easy. Fan pages have finally been given a tool that will help us network with each other.

Recommendations

It use to be that you could suggest your page to your friends. It was a button at the bottom of your left nav menu. You clicked “suggest page” and you could send suggestions to all your friends. At one point this was a great way to spread the word very quickly about your page. If you were able to get someone who was influential on Twitter to suggest your page you could get literally hundreds of new fans over night! But then Facebook changed their notification system. So instead of seeing your page suggestions, they were buried in the Facebook matrix. This essentially left page suggestions completely impotent.

From that point the only way you could suggest a page was to post on your fan page and ask your friends to spread the word about you. Does this work? Yes, well sometimes. A lot of people don’t know how to “share” a post, or they are just not interested in doing PR for your fan page. Though the suggest a page is not being brought back, Facebook mainframe is now going to actually help fan pages network with each other.

When you use facebook as your page you will now see 2 rows of recommended pages. The first row are generally recommended pages, based off of other pages you like. Then below that is another set of recommendations. These show pages that your fans like. Giving you the opportunity for your page to like pages that your fans like.

This is a big boost for adult. The best way to find your fans is to engage with the pages they like.  The recommendations will help us to find the pages our fans like as well as suggesting other similar pages.

 

The New Facebook “Timeline” Profile

Pretty soon you will notice that Facebook has a new profile. It is called the “Timeline” profile. Essentially it is showcasing your photos, comments, posts and updates from your entire time on Facebook. You can browse back to your very first days on Facebook. Though I am still concerned that it is too “me” centric, I have to admit that the layout is beautiful and that it prompted me to take a walk down memory lane.

1. The Cover

This is a giant picture at the top of your profile. It can be anything you want as kind of sets the theme to your profile. In essence this photo is supposed to be a personal expression of you. This is the first thing people see when they come to your “timeline”.

2. Views

Underneath your cover is your “views” this was previously your info section, or a hybrid thereof. This is where you’ll find your info, photos, likes, apps and other stuff all on one header bar.

3. Activity Log

This is a section that is only available to you. This is where you can edit the privacy settings on your posts and pictures, even ones previously posted. This will let you see all your activity on Facebook since the dawn of time.

4. Stories

This are shows your top stories. Your photos, updates, posts and shares from all time that are considered top news. You can view top stories from any period of time by clicking a time period on the timeline at the top right of your profile.

5. Star or Hide

You can star or hide any post at any time. If you click the star on a story it will expand it to full screen. If you click the pencil, you have the ability to hide or delete it off your profile.

6. Life Events Menu

Above the area for status updates is your life events menu. This is where you can add or edit you significant life events. You can even set up when they happened so they are properly archived in your timeline. For instance, never put in your marriage? Well, now you can add it in and add the date that you were married.

7. Info

Your info area is now much more extensive as far as your familial connections. You can add your entire family tree from aunts, uncles and cousins to in-laws!

New Facebook Timeline Profile

Facebook Removing a Feature You Never Knew About

,

Facebook TattooThe use of Facebook in adult entertainment is always a big question. But many people persist in using Facebook for branding purposes. So for those of you us who persist, there are some updates happening that might affect the way you use your fan page.

Facebook is removing yet another feature from Fan Pages. As of Sept 30th, you will no longer have the ability to update your fans via email. I am sure many of you didn’t even know that you could update your fans via email, well if you are just learning about this now you have about 2 more days before it is being removed.

So why is it being removed? For the exact reason why you are wondering why you have never received a page update. Well, it is likely that you have and did not know it. When Facebook updated their email service, they created their version of a spam box. It is a file on your email called “Other” this is where Facebook puts any email that it thinks is likely spam or unwanted. Of course this means any email from a fan page. They only way around emails not being filtered into this other box was to go into your email, open up a message and then move it to your “messages” box. Of course non of us ever did that. In fact, most of us never even go into the other box.

Since all fan page emails get shoved into other as soon as it is sent, Facebook has decided to remove the option entirely. Often times when a big update goes through, like Facebook email, certain things don’t function the way they were anticipated. Though Facebook wants people to use their network as a primary email address, most people are not. Very few people look at Facebook as a way to communicate with people not on the social network, and they definitely do not view it as a replacement for their primary email address. So the spam filter is under utilized and generally ignored.

How to Link your Facebook to Twitter

,

How do you link a Facebook Page to Twitter?  This has been a big question that people ask all the time.  It is called syndication when you post on one source and it shares that same post in multiple locations.

I am going to tell you how to link your Facebook to your Twitter. Then I am going to tell you why you shouldn’t do it.

How to Link your Facebook Page to Twitter

Social Syndication: Linking Facebook to Twitter

First things you need to have are 1. a Facebook account and 2. a Twitter account.

Then go to www.facebook.com/twitter

Click the “Link to Twitter” button next to your fan page and you are done.

You can also choose what content is shared from Facebook to Twitter. For instance you want to share updates but not events, or photos but not links. You can customize your syndication so not everything you post on Facebook is simultaneously posted on Twitter.

Why you should say no to syndication

Facebook and Twitter are two very different social networks. They are used for different purposes, in different ways. They have different audiences and different voices. Many of us in adult avoid Facebook because too many profiles and pages get deleted. But for those of us who do use Facebook we have figured out that the best way to stay on Facebook is to keep our posts clean.  Well, on Twitter we don’t really have to worry about that.  So to say that the audiences are different, and the posts that are acceptable are different is a pretty gross understatement.

  1. Twitter is limited to 140 characters and Facebook is not. So when you post on Facebook, and it is longer than 140 characters, you will get a post on Twitter that will be truncated.. The problem with this is that it becomes obvious that you are posting from another account.
    Facebook post on Facebook

    This is the original Facebook post. It is much longer than what you saw on Twitter. Though this is a good post of Facebook, it was not one written for Twitter.

    Facebook post on Twitter

    This is a tweeted posted by Facebook. You can see that the majority of the update has been cut off and a link has been given for you to be able to read the entire post.

  2. Truncated posts. The problem with having a truncated post is that your tweet is being cut off mid thought or sentence. If the person is interested in reading the rest they will have to click the link and go to another platform to read the rest of the post. Though the pornsters on Twitter are use to clicking links, they will not be as thrilled to click a link that takes them to a post that has been made Facebook acceptable.
  3. Phoning in your Social Media. No one likes to think that your social media account is not actually you. They want your Twitter to be you tweeting and know that you are there to respond to them if they interact with you. A post coming from Facebook demonstrates that you are not interested in being on this social platform and that you just want to get your information out to the world.
  4. Duplicate Posts. If you are posting the same thing on both the social networks, the part of your audience that does follow you on both will be bored. The audience that is looking into your and checking out your two profiles will see that they are the same and not find any reason to follow both.

Camming on Facebook?

,
Friday Feature Photo: Liz Taylor on her Limited Edition Adult Trading Card

Friday Feature Photo: Liz Taylor on her Limited Edition Adult Trading Card

Facebook, the number 1 social network, and Skype, the number 1 VOIP, have gotten in bed together. Mark Zuckerberg announced that Skype was being integrated with Facebook to provide video chat to their users.

Some of my first thoughts were how could this be monetized? Could this be another way for web cam girls to cam with people? Will this open up a whole new market for Facebook cam girls?  Yeah, it might.

The problem will be actually monetizing it. The girls will have to bill their customers separate from the application and will not able to integrate any billing function into the application. However, this will allow you to access more of the Facebook network through a personal profile. The other benefit is that you don’t have to have a Skype account in order to use the application, so for those worried about privacy and registering for skype, it solves that issue.

Though I am sure Zuckerberg did not think about this as a possible usage for the application, I am sure we will see girls using it.

It is easy to use. On profiles you now have a “Call” button at the top of your profile. When you open up a chat window, you will see a video button at the top of the chat window.

When you go to make a call for the first time you will have to download a small plugin. Once the plugin is installed the call will be placed and a window will pop up on your friends screen asking them if they want to accept the call.

The built in privacy features are also good.  Facebook users will not have to set up a Skype account to use the feature. The user API is anonymous, so you will be able to use it independent of a Skype account.

Another cool feature is that the system detects what your browser and operating system is before giving you the plugin. So Facebook was able to ensure that the new app is running smoothly for your system.

Phillip Su, Facebook Engineer, published notes on how the team built the app into the Facebook mainframe to ensure ease of use and privacy.

If you want to get started with video chat on Facebook, you can go here to download the plugin.


Every Friday we do a picture of a hot adult star to feature on our blog. Today is the sexy Lizz Taylor on her Limited Edition Adult Trading Card. You can follow her on Twitter at @LizzxxxTayler. If you want to get her trading card, make sure you check out AdultTradingCardCompany.com or visit them on Twitter at @ATCCompany

Facebook lets you evict your fans!

, , ,
Sexy fans

Are your fans enthusiastic or crazy spammers?

Facebook has added a great new feature for Fan Pages, the ability to unlike a page or person.  Are spammers plaguing your Fan Page? Do you have fans who post inappropriate content? Now you can do something about it besides just deleting the post.

In February, Facebook made some big changes. One of them was allowing Fan Pages the ability to like other Fan Pages.

Well, some pages started Liking pages and then posting inappropriate content on their wall. The page could remove the content, but they could not do anything about the page that Liked them. So they were being left open to more spam, plus they were also getting associated with these pages by being listed on their Likes. So, for example, if a hate group Liked your page, you would be listed on their page among the pages they Liked. With the Fan Page’s ability to set their featured page, you might even be a featured Like, displayed prominently on their sidebar.

Facebook now allows Fan Pages to remove a Like from their page. You can “unlike” them, even ban someone so they will not be able to post or otherwise interact with your page.

This new feature doesn’t just let you kick people off your page, it will also help you engage better. You can now sort your fans by people and pages, so you can see everyone who Liked your page. This gives you more opportunity to interact with other pages and deepen your Facebook relationships.

Keep in mind, if you are posting content on other people’s pages, you can now be removed. If you get banned by pages, you might also risk catching the attention of Facebook and getting deleted from Facebook for spam. So when you post on another Fan Page wall, make sure it is quality engagement and not spam.

Facebook’s New Fan Page for Everyone!

, ,

Facebook GirlsYesterday the new Fan Page dropped for all Facebook users. Many of us converted our Fan Pages in February when we were first given the option, and because of this we experienced the plusses and minuses of what the new page was about. In fact, we even started an online rally against some of the negatives of the Fan Page wall. Our cry to bring back chronological posts was a success. So the early adopters helped pave the way for the rollout.

Many people in the Adult Industry are leery of Facebook pages, and for good reason.  However, the new layout and functionality will actually make it easier for the Adult Industry to interact with people in a way that does not violate the Terms of Service. If you are using the new features of the Fan Page to interact with other pages and engage in discussions, you won’t be flagged – unless you are spamming. These new engagement opportunities are paving the way for Adult Industry sites to start using Facebook in ways that are actually beneficial.

  • Your Fan Page is visually more like a profile now. This will make it easier for people to
    Feature Photo Friday: PornoBobbie

    PornoBobbie is this week's Feature Friday Photo. He is an adult star, writer (and blogger) and connoisseur of life. This photo just inspires me to be naughty...and naked.

    engage with you, because familiarity breeds comfort.

  • You also have the ability to use Facebook as your Fan Page identity or brand. Now you can interact with other pages, post on their walls and comment on their posts. This will dramatically help with engagement and networking. Previously, you could only interact with people as your business or brand if you were on your own Fan Page.
  • The best part of the new functionality is notification. When someone comments on a post, you will receive an email (if your settings are set to do so) and you will see a notification alert just like you would if you were normally using Facebook. This is a great way to know when people are interacting, so you can respond. The notifications will also let you know when you have new fans. Now you can see your number of Likes increasing and you’ll know who recently Liked you. This is great for demographics and networking.

No doubt there will a lot of discussion about the new Fan Page as it is released for everyone. Stay tuned!


PornobobbiePornoBobbie is this week’s Feature Friday Photo.  Not only is Bobbie a sexy porn star but he is also a talented writer.  He posts frequently to his blog, The Life and Times in Pornolandia, which chronicles his adventures in the San Fernando Valley as a porn star and writer, and the general craziness of life.  Bobbie is another example of a porn star who can write!  He is funny, witty, provocative and alluring. He is also a great Twitter tweep.  Always good for an interesting tweet, I recommend you give him a shout. I also love this picture, he looks academic and devious. My favorite combination.

Read Bobbie’s blog at The Life and Times in Pornolandia

Follow PornoBobbie on Twitter @PornoBobbie

Talk to PornoBobbie on Black Book Buddies!