F8: How Facebook Google challenge by reinventing the ad model

Posted by Franck Perrier

Facebook F8 conference was held April 21, 2010 in San Francisco. What conclusions can we draw?

I believe that the vision and the announcements made ​​by Mark Zuckerberg are absolutely crucial in the evolution we can look to a social web that identifies and maps the interests of each individual. Once this mapping is established, Facebook will deploy advertising recommendations that will be a great affinity with each of us, because based on our interests, shared and reinforced with those of our "friends."

It is a radical step towards a more qualitative ad targeting, so with higher rates for advertisers. It is also a credible alternative to Google subject to the successful implementation of this project in the months to come.

Facebook: a credible alternative to Google's ad model?

The immediate revenue generated by Google in 2009 ( $ 23.7 billion ) and Facebook (estimated at $ 700 million ) are light years away from each other. It is the advertising model that is referred, however.
At Google, the ads are pushed to your searches and the results thereof are rarely relevant. Even if local actors may emerge, there are no serious alternatives to the global dominance of Google by its direct competitors like Yahoo.

In his speech Mark Zuckerberg has announced three new features: Open Graph, social Plugins, and new APIs. Each of these innovations will help strengthen the Facebook advertising model. Here is the summary that I summarized in a table and that I detail later in this post.

Open Graph

The Web consists of a set of unstructured links between pages. Putting people at the center of this network and linking the communities of each, Facebook provides the ability to create a more intelligent and personalized Web: Open Graph (open graph). Before, there was a community for music (Pandora), a community for friendship networks (Facebook) and so on. But these communities do little overlap and the Web was like a set of graphs closed and isolated from each other. Today, Facebook opens this graph and combines the entire network in one: Open the Graph which will necessarily impact the size of the database and thus the volume target for advertisers.

Plugins social Facebook

To add relevance to the display of the Web, Facebook has announced the arrival of new social plugins that will allow users to access personalized content on the sites they visit, even if this is the first time that 'they go there. These plugins also link different vehicles Web: computer, mobile devices such as Tablets, the TV or game consoles. At the social nature of Facebook has added a dimension that allows users instant without being connected to the site they visit to have access to a personalized social content. We fully appreciate the ambition affinity which will make use Facebook without knowing exactly how to date.

New Facebook API greatly simplified

The feature "I like 'replaces the functionality Become Fan". Previously, it took control of many Facebook API to integrate its website. Today, nothing is simpler. Just today a line of code to display a band of friends who "love" the site visited. A second line of code displays recent activity and friends of the visitor to the site visited. The complexity of the Facebook API long charged its creators just been scanned with this new development platform. In this spirit affinity specific to Facebook, the phenomenon of viral marketing is accelerating and impacting volumes.

We will see in the coming months the implementation of this strategy is the premise of an open war between Google and Facebook.

Here are the links to follow for more information:

• Live blogging the conference F8
• The link to the video streaming: http://apps.facebook.com/feightlive/
• Reporting from Zuckenberg's annoucement
• The announcements of the conference.

How to use the new features:

• Party developer (Plugins)
• Party developer (Credits)
• Facebook API documentation
• Facebook developer documentation