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As of today Facebook is rolling out the Facebook Questions, a new feature that prompts Facebook users to ask questions

If you are on Facebook, you may have noticed a new publisher for personal accounts and pages alike with an icon that says “Ask Question.” From what we can tell it’s in Beta mode so if you haven’t seen it yet, you probably will soon. To see the dedicated page for Facebook Questions, go to http://www.facebook.com/questions/.

You can add a description, pictures and a poll to your questions. You can follow questions and get notifications if anyone answers them. It also appears that questions are either automatically categorized and if Facebook can’t determine the category, then the user is prompted to associate a keyword with the question. It looks like now you can browse and search for questions based on these category keywords. However, Facebook Questions isn’t a filter option in Facebook search. Also, all Facebook Questions are by default public – and can’t be changed to private.

Pages can also ask questions and get credit for it. As of right now the questions appear as stories in the News Feed however they disappear from Pages’ walls. I have a feeling this is going to change and is a glitch.

Allfacebook.com shares in a post “One other pretty impressive feature is that users who define interests within their profile will have questions surfaced to them based on that information. In other words, it functions identically to Quora which also has a questions based profile for users. Just like Quora, Facebook Questions also has the ability to “Follow” specific questions and receive updates any time someone submits a new answer.”

TechCrunch reported in a post that “Facebook will also be integrating Questions and their answers into the Community Pages that launched in April, which already include content from Wikipedia and Facebook user status updates. Finally, this is a big SEO opportunity for the site, though a Facebook spokeswoman said that there are no plans to include the content in search engines yet.” Facebook is definitely building an empire of information and data, leveraging its 500 plus million users.

The big question is what are the bigger implications of Facebook Questions? Does this directly compete with Google as the go-to source for all questions? Or is it more of a threat to Yahoo! Answers? Is this a better place for businesses to establish their expertise than on sites like LinkedIn which also has an Answers feature? Here’s our question – what do you think?

Post written by Helen Todd aka @helenstravels. To learn more from fbadz.com, connect with us on Facebook!

This just came into my inbox…

Hi Helen,

Facebook will roll out changes today that will make it easier for our users to understand and control their privacy settings. As this change will have an impact on our users, we wanted to let you, a valued advertising partner, know about it. Please note that this change will not affect your advertising campaigns and there is no action required on your part.

Facebook is a company that moves quickly, constantly innovating and launching new products to improve the user experience. The feedback we heard from users was that in our efforts to innovate, some of our privacy settings h ad become confusing.

We believe in listening to our users and taking their feedback into account whenever possible. We think the following changes address these concerns by providing users with more control over their privacy settings and making them more simple to use.

Starting today, Facebook will:

• Provide an easy-to-use “master” control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook.  This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they’re comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we’ve always offered, if they wish.
• Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users’ friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.
• Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.

I encourage you to take a moment to read our CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post and check out the new Facebook Privacy Page.

Thanks,

The Facebook Ads Team

And here’s a video from Mark Zuckerberg too…

It can no longer longer be ignored: Facebook isn’t a fad. It’s a fundamental change in how we communicate, connect and share information. Brands can not only be shared too, but also can take advantage of Facebook’s inherently viral platform whether on a global or local scale. It’s changing how businesses are connecting with their customers…and effecting their bottom lines. For those who still ask “Why Facebook?” this video is for you.

To watch in HD, click here.

Have questions or feedback? Share it with us!

Post written by Helen Todd aka @helenstravels. To learn more from fbadz.com, become a fan!

This morning a post from eMarketer confirmed what many brands are already discovering on Facebook: online shoppers are on Facebook and interacting with brands. The numbers speak for themselves. The post references the “2010 Social Media Report” from ForeSee Results which reveals that 69% of online shoppers regularly use social media sites. It’s no surprises that Facebook is the most popular social media site that online shoppers use, by a landslide.

The most surprising element in the article is that Myspace is 1. present and 2. ahead of its successors which include Twitter and Yelp.

The article further shares that “more than one-half of online shoppers who use social media choose to engage with brands on the sites by friending or following them. While some social site users interacted with a large number of brands, most were fans of only a few. Social network users actively want to engage, but their time and attention is limited.” If more people are interacting with fewer brands, it means that the brands that they are interacting with have more influence and less competition for attention for the fans and followers within the social networking platforms. This is a big opportunity for brands to reach these users but it also means that brands are going to have to make it worth their customers time to interact with them on sites like Facebook.

eMarketer also shares that the main reasons why people are interacting with brands on social networking sites are to get good deals and learn about products; fewer people are interested in customer support. Repeat – they want good deals and to learn about products. This translates into sales derived from social networking sites. If the audience is king, here’s the data to support what they want. They will interact with your brand but you have to do your part to make it worth their while with relevant information and exclusive deals. It’s clear that brands can no longer ignore the fact that social media, especially Facebook, is an important tool to reach and engage with customers.

To read eMarketer’s post “Finding Online Shoppers on Facebook,” click here.

Post written by Helen Todd aka @helenstravels. To learn more from fbadz.com, become a fan!