Facebook Moves Beyond “Like”
Since the F8 Developers Conference there has been a lot of talk about the updates coming to Open Graph protocol. The next version of the Facebook Open Graph is currently in Beta, and one of the most talked about changes to the Open Graph is verbs (aka actions). Right now, Facebook users can only Like something, but with the new updates , there will be more actions they can do.
How it works:
Actions are verbs that represent an activity that a user can perform in an app.
Objects are nouns that represent an item to which the actions applies.
A running app may offer the ability to “run” (action) a “route” (object). A reading app may offer the ability to “read” (action) a “book” (object). A recipe app may offer the ability to “cook” (action) a “recipe” (object).
What it means for you as a developer
Let’s say you have a news site filled with articles and videos . Instead of offering only a Like action on each article or video, you will be able to add Read and Watch actions to these articles and videos. When a user selects Read for an article on your website, or Watch for a video, that action gets published to the News Feed, Ticker, and User’s Timeline.
There will be a set of these actions and objects predefined for common use cases. However, developers will also have the ability to create their own actions and assign objects to them.
What it means for you as a user
Marketers will be able to target you based on where you travel, foods you like, music you listen to, books you’ve read, and movies you’ve watched. I personally think this is amazing; maybe I’ll actually get advertisements and promotions from the companies I really care about. Plus if I’m into a certain brand, band, or magazine, chances are my friends are too, and this is where social context advertising comes into play.
Bottom line is that you will be sharing a lot more information. If you are one of those people that wants to keep things private, you may want to shut down your Facebook account for good. If you’re not (like me), you can enjoy the ride as Facebook expands the ways in which we can all socially interact online.
What are your thoughts? How do you think this will have a positive or negative effect on marketers and consumers?
