The American Heart Association has launched it’s own love song channel on Pandora.com during February and March, 2012. ‘Heart Beats’ plays classic love songs that are sure to make your heart go pitter patter. (more…)
Check out our newest animated spot for McDonald‘s®, highlighting the special launch price of $1 on snack size McBites™ from January 20 – 21. This :15 spot was animated and produced completely in-house at the Dalton Agency. (more…)
The Dalton Agency is proud to announce that The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has broken all previous attendance records for the Zoo’s fiscal year October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2011. (more…)
Look at what our in-house motion graphics department scared up
A little over a week ago, Facebook announced some very significant changes at its annual f8 conference. Given these new developments, many people are wondering, What exactly does this mean for me? or What does this mean for my brand? Two of our social media managers, Aliera Peterson and Caroline Winegeart, have briefly outlined the changes below, as well as tackled a few key questions in a two-part series regarding the updates from the perspective of both individual users and brands.
Here’s a quick summary of what’s changing.
-The Facebook profile will evolve to the Facebook Timeline, which is a dynamic, chronological account of a user’s history of sharing onFacebook.
-Apps will now only ask your permission to post content once when you first begin using them.
-App activity from friends will show up in your “Ticker” (a real-time feed of “lightweight activity” to the right of your News Feed) but will not show up in your News Feed unless it is an important event.
-Users can now share activities through the new apps, and not just content. (ie. I’m watching this show, hiking this trail, cooking this meal.)
So what does this mean for you or your business? Our social media intern, Emily, has put together some broad questions for us to explore. Aliera will be answering each question from the perspective of the individual user, and Caroline will be answering from the perspective of the brand.
What effect, if any, do you believe the new changes will have on the usage behavior of consumers or brands on Facebook?
Aliera:
As Mark Zuckerberg stated in his f8 address, Facebook is working to make it even easier to share EVERYTHING with your friends – music, movies, interests, you name it. The new Timeline feature has been crafted to allow users to not only easily share, but also highlight their most memorable posts, photos and life events, based on their own preferences – a first.
This gives users a unique control that’s been lacking in earlier versions of the platform. However, it’s important to note that with the new integrated application platform made possible by Open Graph, it also means that users will be sharing their preferences more and more with outside audiences, i.e. marketers, app developers, Facebook, etc. This “breach of privacy” has some Facebook users threatening to jump ship to Google+.
Caroline:
I expect more people interacting with social apps, or at least those interactions becoming more visible. I think there is a real possibility of losing some of the older demographic or light Facebook users with the changes, because there is an increase in the amount of activity on the Home page with the addition of Ticker. I also think that when the profile rolls over into the Timeline for everyone, the changes might be too drastic for the casual Facebook user that doesn’t want to learn the new functionality. This is something that businesses should keep an eye on, as it’s always important to know where your audience is, as well as where your audience is not.
Do you think this will cause another wave of debate over privacy on Facebook?
Aliera:
Facebook platform updates have been the cause of the privacy debates since the network first launched back in February 2004. Facebook’s Timeline announcement has instigated a renewed fervor around the topic of user privacy, although Facebook is assuring its users that those settings are fully customizable to share as much or as little as the user want.
So why the renewed debate over user privacy?
1. With the new Open Graph model for applications, apps only have to ask users for permission to post activity once. While you can choose which friends have access to that activity stream, the process can be a little daunting depending on how many apps you have active on your profile. You can also choose to hide all activity from the app.
2. It’s easier than ever to tag your friends, locations, and Facebook pages, whether they want you to or not. To ensure you’re not the victim of a tagging gone wrong, make sure to tweak how others can tag you. Head to your privacy settings and click on the link, “Tags – How They Work” for a list of options.
3. The recent activity stream is another issue that has some users concerned. As with app activities, the stream can be customized so that only certain types of recent activity are displayed and so that they’re only available to certain groups.
4. Another issue that’s come up with the new timeline is the fact that in some cases, Facebook is publicly displaying mobile phone numbers. This issue is a little tricky. Even if you’ve take the precaution to set your mobile number as visible to “only me,” if you have the box checked “Share with friends,” it’s possible for outsiders to score your digits.
Caroline:
Privacy will always be an issue when it comes to Facebook. With each new change it’s important to be mindful of what settings have changed and what needs to be adapted to keep the level of privacy that you want to retain. Any brand that decides to get into the social app space will need to keep this a priority. People love to share information, but they also love to be in control of how and when that information is shared.
Do you think the new Timeline is beneficial to users/brands. In what ways?
Aliera:
As Mark Zuckerberg stated during the big Timeline reveal, “millions of people spent years curating the story of their life with no way of sharing it.” Timeline reorganizes and changes the presentation of the information users have spent years accumulating, letting them choose which stories are featured, and in essence, creating a virtual scrapbook of their life through content posted on the site. Users will be given access to more robust options in how they choose highlight specific life events, friendships, vacations, memories and more – deciding who they share with and the relative prominence of certain types of content.
And it doesn’t stop there. With the reinvention of Facebook applications, Zuckerberg has promised users reports of various activities. For example, if you’ve incorporated the Nike+ application, you’ll be able to send yourself weekly, monthly or annual reports of all the miles you’ve run.
Caroline:
If the new Timeline is opened up to brands as well as users, there are certainly some aspects that could prove advantageous for businesses. For instance, the huge cover photo at the top of the Timeline is prime real estate. Whether you want it for a product shot, an extension of your branding, a promotion, contest, or a new product launch – the sky is the limit. Any community manager that has explored the boundaries of creativity with the current profile image and photo strip would be ecstatic to have all that new space to play around with.
Via Mashable. Not official McDonald’s page – just a look at what is possible.
Also, the Timeline’s layout presents content in a more visually compelling way than a simple static list of wall posts and photos. The changes to layout lend themselves nicely to more rich, interesting storytelling. I’d love to see brands use this as a way to recreate their company’s history in a very visual way over time, because you do have the ability to add events to your Timeline retroactively.
Our latest original :15 TV spot for McDonald’s shows what happens when everyone in the office hears McDonald’s rich, creamy, icy frappes are only $1.49. A prime example that “simple” and “creative” aren’t mutually exclusive.
Dalton-designed Boy Scout Rifle now in the Boy Scouts of America Museum
Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown showed his support for the Jaguars by participating in the latest viral campaign launched by the Jacksonville Jaguars and Touchdown Jacksonville. (more…)
The American Heart Association has launched it’s own love song channel on Pandora.com during February and March, 2012. ‘Heart Beats’ plays classic love songs that are sure to make your heart go pitter patter. (more…)
