Facebook's "Premium" - A User's Nightmare? “People worry that technology will disconnect us, but study after study…has shown that it strengthens us,” said Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg today in New York City.
What Facebook’s technology is doing, is connecting brands with human beings. Facebook has enabled marketers to take advantage of the same technology that all of us have. “It enables brands to find their voices… and to have genuine, personal relationships with their customers,” says Sandberg. At the Facebook Marketing Conference (fMC), its first global event designed for marketers at New York’s Natural History Museum, Facebook made it clear that it is a partnership company. Just as social media transformed gaming, it’s now transforming all companies. Facebook’s VP of Product, Chris Cox took the stage after Sandberg to take the crowd through the evolution of Facebook’s product, moving beyond college gossip to news articles and major life events, as well as “lots and lots of pictures of food”.
What are Facebook Premium Offers? Pay To “Highlight” Your Facebook Status Updates To More Friends – A Reckless New Ads Test. Only 12% of your friends see your average status update, but Facebook is testing an option called “Highlight” that lets you pay a few dollars to have one of your posts appear to more friends.
Highlight lets the average user, not Pages or businesses, select an “important post” and “make sure friends see this”, but not color it yellow as Stuff wrote when it first spotted the feature. A tiny percentage of the user base is now seeing tests of a paid version of Highlight, but there’s also a free one designed to check if users are at all interested in the option. Highlight could show Facebook’s willingness to try more aggressive ways of making money, which should delight potential investors. But Facebook is playing with fire here. The service has always been free for users, and a pay-for-popularity feature could be a huge turn off, especially to its younger and less financially equipped users who couldn’t afford such narcissism.
The official statement from Facebook on this is: Facebook To Court Minority Biz Groups With New Head Of Community Engagement. To work with Congress and encourage minority-owned small businesses to use its marketing products, I’ve learned Facebook has just created a new Head of Community Engagement role to be filled by Susan Gonzales.
Until now, Gonzales was a full-time consultant in Facebook’s DC office where she’s led external affairs since August. Before that she was the VP of Comcast’s community foundation, and is currently the Vice Chairperson of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Gonzales will manage outreach to diverse communities, be a liaison to key Congress members, and help run Facebook’s Small Business Boost and digital citizenship “roadshows”.
Facebook could increase revenue and public support by putting this experienced relationship builder at the front of its education initiatives. A lack of social marketing expertise amongst independent merchants has been a major barrier to Facebook getting the long-tail of small businesses to spend more on its platform.