Facebook’s New Emoticons Really Just Another Method For Facebook To Provide Targeted Ads

On the surface, it looks like Facebook is taking a page from MySpace and LiveJournal by introducing a new emoticon feature that will allow users to share different emoticons expressing what they're doing or feeling through the status update box.

Facebook's emoticons range from simple animations allowing users to express how they're feeling (tired, happy, wonderful, sad, etc.) to activity based, allowing users to let their friends know what they're up to (drinking a beverage, watching a show, reading a book, and others).

This may seem innocent enough, but the drop-down menu give users the ability to connect their activity with pages of interest, specific products or brands, businesses and anything else that's likeable on Facebook. For example, if you're drinking a cup of coffee, you can tag 'coffee' with 'Starbucks' Facebook' page or with a specific drink like 'Starbucks Peppermint Mocha'.

So while this new feature might seem like a fun and more interactive way for users to share specifics of what they're doing, this feature is really being introduced to allow Facebook to increase advertising without seeming invasive.

It was reported last month that Facebook is able to provide targeted advertisements based on a users offline choices. This new tool is just another method for Facebook to collect data about users to further their agenda of providing targeted ads.

As reported by Slate and explained by Josh Constine: “By selecting your current activity instead of merely writing it out, you structure data for Facebook.”

"If you choose a particular pre-formatted emotion, piece of media, or food, Facebook could potentially use that behavior to pinpoint you with ads. If you listen to a Daft Punk song, it could target you with ads for their new album or [a] nearby concert. Coffee shops might be able to pay to reach coffee drinkers, and Netflix would probably love to target sad users who could be primed to stay home and watch some videos. Going further, Facebook could even sell “Sponsored Activities,” where advertisers could pay to have themselves suggested as what someone was up to in the category selector."

Basically, emoticons along with 'like', hashtags and other features that Facebook offers gets its users to do much of the hard work themselves for Facebook.

Aside from being able to provide targeted ads to users, this is just another way for Facebook to go after Google and make a more determined play within the search niche. The more data that Facebook is able to collect about specific individuals, the better they can  integrate with Facebook's new "Graph Search" which allows members to conduct complex queries related to their friends' profiles, allowing people to find particular restaurants, products or websites based off of their friends.

It'll be interesting to see if users take to this new method of tagging or will see this for what it really is - a bid to capture more of their consumer habits.

Facebook Adds Weather Forecasts To Events Page

Facebook is getting on the data mining train by boosting its Events feature with some predictive features.

Some of the features that Facebook users will now find are forecasts (thanks to Weather Underground), satellite imagery, and other conditions of the area where they're planning their next romantic picnic or hike. 

Users will be able to see conditions up to 10 days in advance, giving them the ability to choose the ideal day to host their event which is especially useful if one is planning to have the event take place outdoors.

A company spokesman shared the following statement with AllFacebook: "To get more information about the weather, you can click through to see Weather Underground's full conditions, forecasts, and satellite imagery. Thanks to its localized weather stations, we're able to provide results tailored to the particular location within cities (not just the city's overall weather). This is important for places like San Francisco, where the climate can vary dramatically from block to block. Current conditions will also be shown on places pages like parks, cities, and neighborhoods."

Since Facebook is looking to make interactions engaging, it's possible that the next step will be towards recommending contextualized information thereby influencing what decisions a user of Facebook makes. For example, if you are posting an event that's to take place outdoors for a softball game, Facebook might make a listing of recommended days based off of the weather, the schedule of your friends, etc.

The changes were rolled out this month to a limited group of users; full roll out will happen within the next few weeks and users who use the app on their phones and tablets can expect to see the roll out happen soon as well.

Iconic Mind Utilizes Social Media For Maximum Benefits

Iconic Mind Sees Incredible Growth from Social Media (via SBWire)

Annapolis, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/15/2013 -- Word of mouth marketing is now more powerful than ever. Consumers are continuously embracing social media channels to get a variety of information including news, updates and even offers from their favorite brands. Iconic Mind, a company that provides organizations…

Netflix Adds Feature To Allow Account To Be Connected To Facebook

Netflix is planning to launch a service it calls "Netflix Social" which will allow the media giant's users to share information regarding the movies and television shows that they watch with family and friends through Facebook.

This long-awaited feature is going to start rolling out today and expectations are that all accounts will be able to share by the end of the month. You can read a post from Netflix on their blog for additional information. 

The feature had been on delay until now due to the Video Privacy Prootection Act; now that Congress passed a bill dropping restrictions, Netflix is able to give users' the ability to share their video rental history.