5 Important numbers from the Facebook Groups launch

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Oct 6, 2010 in Default | 0 comments

Facebook announced a new feature to encourage more interactions between users in an environment of fewer people. The feature confusingly labeled Groups lets users have a shared space, group chat and group email address to allow for closer conversation and maybe even feature collaboration. Detailed coverage of the feature can be found at the usual sources.

There however numbers and statistics thrown about throughout the conference by various speakers, I’ve listed 5 of them which I think should be information worthy.

Why I’m supporting the UAE Blackberry ban

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Sep 24, 2010 in Default | 1 comment

We’re just over 2 weeks away from the final decision about the Blackberry ban in the UAE and as we draw closer to the date, I find myself supporting the ban. Now I know this sounds absolutely ludicrous but hear me out, there is a (partly) sound logic behind this.

There is no doubt that the Blackberry does email like no other device and to businesses it is practically irreplaceable, but the reason it has picked up steam among end consumers – at least here in the UAE – is the Blackberry Messenger service. The instant messaging service has been a rage, especially among younger consumers, reducing their spend to a fraction of what it would be over text messaging. However, apart from these two capabilities, the Blackberry doesn’t put up much of a fight against the iPhone and Android devices. (The physical keyboard is fantastic but that’s hardly the decisive factor for end consumers) Bar a few, the applications on Blackberry don’t come close to matching those on the iPhone and Android, both in terms of functionality and a visual experience. More importantly the browser on the Blackberries (both OS4.x and OS5) makes browsing a chore and leaves a lot to be desired. Compare this to the speed and fluidity of the Android and iPhone browser and the Blackberry browser seems bloated and clunky.

Should the ban go into effect, a major chunk of the users who have tasted the mobile internet blood will move to a data enabled device; hopefully an iPhone or an Android. And with that happening, these users will spend more time browsing the internet on their mobiles and engaging with apps and games. This state of increased mobile web consumption is what I’m looking forward to so the region can move – albeit forcefully – towards being a more developed mobile audience.

Now I know that the Blackberry OS6 supports Webkit browsing and is a dramatic improvement over the previous versions but how many users can we really expect to make the jump? A survey by YouGov Siraj says about 2/3rd of the users will switch from their Blackberries should the ban come into effect.

At the end of it, I do hope that there is some form of a resolution, atleast for corporate users. But as consumers, I believe users stand to gain a lot more than they know, technologically speaking of course.

What part of ‘No Automated DMs’ don’t you understand?

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 6, 2010 in Default | 0 comments

I know this is neither a ‘current’ topic of discussion nor an exciting one but it got me thinking again after I received a couple of auto-DMs from both individuals and businesses after I followed them. I was immediately put off by it, but then I thought maybe I’m being too much of a purist, and maybe with a more practical approach they did have some utility. So I decided to put the question out there to collect the wisdom of the crowds.

The answer was a resounding ‘No’. You can see some of the responses as embedded tweets below

The rest of the responses were in the same vein. But it seems many Social Media ‘Experts’ and Agencies continue to do this. So I’m forced to ask,
What part of ‘No Automated DMs’ don’t you understand? Is it the No? Or is it the Automated DMs?

7 things Facebook needs to fix for Businesses

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 5, 2010 in Default | 1 comment

There is no doubt about the fact that Facebook is a pretty good Community engagement platform. By introducing pages, Facebook has let businesses converse with their audience on a platform they are already at. However Facebook’s offering is far from perfect and the whole experience leaves a lot to be desired. Here we talk about 5 annoyances Facebook needs to fix in order to make it that much more useful.

1. Allow Pages to post to other Pages, Profiles, Groups

Right now, individuals may post to individuals, pages and groups, but pages can only post on the page itself. If a page admin wants to promote itself on other pages, he has to do it from his personal profile. By allowing pages to post on other pages, Facebook allows admins to cross promote linked pages. Issues of spam can be solved with a simple delete/report/mark as spam button as exists on Groups currently.

2. Allow Admins to comment as Individuals as well as Pages

Many a time there are comments and posts on a page that need not warrant a response by the page, but a reply or a like from an individual is nice. Or maybe a discussion veers into an area where page involvement may not always be appropriate but an individual may indulge in it. Allow admins to choose whether they want to do an action as  a page or an individual instead of restricting them to only ‘Page’ as it is setup right now.

3. Notifications on Interactions by Email

Yes it is the job of a community manager to thoroughly monitor the Facebook fan page, but email notifications will make life simpler for page admins. Allow users to subscribe to email updates for a particular discussion, comment or photo so they can stay updated on certain time-critical topics.

4. Allow Page Creator to be different from Page Owner

More often than not, it’s your intern or agency who creates the Facebook page for you. While it is necessary they have administrator access to your page, what happens when your intern leaves on a not-so-pleasant note, or you switch agencies and they aren’t too happy about it. Setting up the page by allowing the real  owner to indisputable rights lets you separate the two. An absolute god mode if you may. In fact, different access rights to admins may actually be a good thing.

5. Fans be allowed to contact Admin

Groups show who the creators and administrators of the page are. For fanpages, there is no such feature. So unless a contact form tab is specifically created, users have no way to contact the page admins. This can be fixed if Facebook itself were to provide a simple form with a ‘Contact page admin’ link under the profile picture.

6. Share Access to Ads

While Facebook may be an engagement driven platform, Ads are an important component of Facebook Marketing. The problem lies in the fact that only the ad creator gets access to it, and all modifications need to be routed through that user. Even wanting to check performance requires an export of the report by the creator and then send it via email. Again, setting up an access level system for users would solve this problem.

7. Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration

This problem is specific to pages with multiple admins. Right now admins work individually with no real way to trace back what action was taken by which admin. The problem is minimized if the admins are physically close and/or communicate well, but a log of actions in the admin section would increase accountability and collaboration. Moreover a view of the page by any admin may display “Admin: Username” to display what action/comment is attributed to an admin would allow them to keep tabs on each others actions minimizing the need for manual action logging by users.

These are some of the annoyances I’ve faced when working with clients on Fan pages. Have you had any similar experiences?

UAE loves to socialize

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on Jul 1, 2010 in Default | 2 comments

It finally happened, the first Social Media Day was celebrated all across the world including the UAE and it was a huge success. UAE’s version of it was held at The Shelter in Al Quoz, Dubai. The event was spearheaded by @mita56 , but in a true social manner, it was crowd-sourced with helping coming in from various means. The evening saw a turn out of over 200 people which included both individuals and businesses.

The main area had a bazaar style layout with businesses on either ends – everything from Home made toffees like @toffeeprincess to training companies like @Loomni – who got the platform to connect to a community they wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. . The event even had an iPad 360 give away by @me360 and the lucky winner for that was @Dorksterdave. Local student darlings @campusradiome was present broadcasting live from the venue and despite my requests, they did not let me read the news. The inside room featured talks. The event also featured community talks which were on topics ranging from Nutrition among Emirati Society to Educating for Road Safety.

The atmosphere, as is always at such an event, was very jovial. People formed new relationships and strengthened existing ones.

Pictures from the event can be seen here (by @mich1mich) and here (by @faisalkhatib)