Protect Your Reputation in the Online Jungle

The new world of social media offers many an opportunity to reach out, to engage. For a local Ottawa business, it can allow you to turn your customers into “friends” and “followers” and provide you with a chance to speak to potential leads on a more personal level.

There are some amazing success stories of little shops who dramatically increased their client base through effective word-of-mouth advertising 2.0. Indeed, at Marketing Breakthroughs have seen mid-sized Ottawa businesses become big businesses based on a clever online campaign.

Naturally, one of the tenants of social media is that it is indeed social. This means actually building relationships with people and not just being an anonymous presence. As in any interaction, we try to present ourselves in the best light possible – highlighting certain traits over others and “putting your best foot forward” to use a cliché.

But what happens when we trip?

Social media can be a very friendly place, until the rules are broken. Any hint of fraud can send the self-affirmed super Internet sleuths on the hunt for evidence and the bigger the trail, the bigger “the scandal”.

Breaking the values of the Internet jungle can quickly escalate out of control. Think of the ravenous mobs that occasionally erupt on The Simpsons – one slight trigger, and the town is rioting with fire and pitchforks, not for any particular reason, but for the fun of the riot itself.

A recent example of this would be Cooks Source magazine and the ugly 15-minutes of fame this tiny publication got after a dispute with a former writer. Once the story broke, angry bloggers began attacking their Facebook page with a vengeance. Ouch.

Of course, you are not involved in any sort of duplicity, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t constantly safeguard your online image. Even the Queen ran into this sort of trouble when she set up her Facebook page.

What are your customers saying about you?

What are your competitors saying about you?

It is important to consider these questions as we expand our social circles.

Social media lessons from “shellacking” in U.S. election

A week after U.S. voters gave Barack Obama a “shellacking” at the polls, the post-game analysis is in full swing.

From discussions of strategy, the president’s vulnerability, and the popularity of tea, the political brain trust to the south is easily filling column inches and airtime on the cable news networks.

Certainly there are lessons to be learned for Republicans and Democrats alike, but what about communicators in Canada?

One article that caught my eye was a piece in the Globe and Mail that looked at the Republicans’ successful use of social media in the campaign. In comparing the two sides, the article noted that the Grand Ole Party had a huge advantage in its presence on Facebook and Twitter. The GOP had an average of 38,718 Facebook fans per candidate, while the Democrats were only able to garner 8,260. A similar pattern emerged on Twitter, with the Republicans having an average of 14,009 followers per candidate versus 2,591 for the Democrats.

Is this becoming “a deciding factor in politics” as the article claims? Hard to say. But it is safe to assume that candidates who are able to attract more followers will be able to get their message out to a larger audience, especially when said followers summon the power of the “re-tweet”. Whether this is enough to drive people to the polls is yet to be determined.

With that said, you better believe that in Ottawa political marketers are studying these numbers right now to understand how or if they actually translated into votes. As our minority government teeters on the verge of an election, prospective candidates will be increasingly revving up their Facebook engines and driving out tweets.

At the same time, commercial marketers would be wise to develop a little research in this as well. As more businesses head to social media to reach new customers, it is important to understand what successful strategies turns a “follower” or “friend” into a customer, or in political-speak, what transforms a follower into an actual voter.

It's Moustache Time

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation has organized the global men's health initiative called Movember. The idea was born in Australia, where men grew their "mo's" to raise awareness and funds for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. The great thing about this initiative is that male participants of Movember "become walking, talking billboards for the cause, raising awareness by prompting private and public conversations around the often ignored issue of men's health." It's a fun, interactive, "on your face" (as opposed to "in your face," ha ha) charitable approach.

How do you get involved? Register online at Movember.com, grow a moustache for the month of November, and raise some money along the way. Last year, 255,722 people participated around the world and raised $42 million. All funds raised here in Canada will support Prostate Cancer Canada. Last year there was a 273% increase of registrations here in Canada, so it's clear that this phenomenon is gaining momentum.

Keep in touch with your fellow Mo Bros here in Ottawa by checking out the Movember Ottawa Facebook page.

The Do-Good Power of Blogs and Social Media

Pedigree is promoting their brand of dog food with an interesting viral web marketing campaign. They're taking advantage of social media and the blogosphere to get some attention and do some good. As Amber Macarthur of the Globe and Mail reports, Pedigree will donate a 20-pound bag of dog food to an animal shelter every time a blogger writes about their adoption program. Over 300 bloggers took advantage of this opportunity. Unfortunately, this blog post won't count as the campaign ran from September 16th through the 19th only. If you'd still like to help, become a fan of the Pedigree Adoption Drive on Facebook and they'll donate a bowl of food to shelter dogs on your behalf.

This is a great example of the power of blogs and social media for businesses in Ottawa and around the world. Macarthur explains the possibilities:

Ever so gradually, companies are recognizing that social media success isn't so much about what consumers can do for them but what they can do for consumers -- and the world. There are plenty of excellent examples from brands south of the border that are leading this trend. In Canada, big businesses are little slower at finding the connection between social media and corporate responsibility, but there is no reason we can't play catch-up, help a few animals in the process, or even better, make this country a better place to live.

Watson vs. O'Brien: The Ottawa Mayoral Race on Social Media

I know it seems like the campaigning has been going on for a month (at least), but the Ottawa mayoral race officially starts tonight. At this point, it’s really a two-man race between former mayor and Ontario MPP Jim Watson and our current mayor, businessman-turned-city-politician Larry O’Brien.

Watson is kicking his campaign off tonight at Tudor Hall on North Bowesville Rd., while O’Brien will be getting his re-election campaign started at the Heart & Crown in the Irish Village (Clarence St.).

Recent polls show that Watson is the man to beat, but we’re a long way away from October 25. I was curious to see how the two heavyweights were doing on the social media front thus far. Let’s have a look:

Facebook

Watson’s Facebook page is a little more dynamic than O’Brien’s. He’s got more pictures up, and messages from supporters taking up space on his wall.

O’Brien’s wall is mostly filled with posts coming through from his campaign twitter account. The page doesn’t seem to be monitored by O’Brien or anyone else on his campaign. In fact, the last post is from a Jim Watson fan. It reads: “there is no way shape or form you should ever get re elected. You will run this city into the ground. Your no tax platform years ago was a lie, and your over spending and raises are absurd.” Ouch. That’s not a good first impression for someone trying to find O’Brien on Facebook. Hopefully someone on the campaign will take care of that soon.

Jim Watson “likes”: 1,181

Larry O’Brien “likes”: 139

Advantage: Jim Watson

Twitter

It’s night and day here for the two candidates. Watson is doing all the right things on twitter – getting a conversation started, responding to people, showing a personal side, and reaching out to his Ottawa-based supporters. Look at these two tweets:

“@DBast Yes, it's me. On my blackberry and on my computer. If you still want to volunteer, come to my office and we can set that up!”

“@k8brownlee Thank you! I've lost 9 pounds canvassing as a matter of fact!”

O’Brien is doing a lot of the wrong things on his twitter page. Nearly every post is just a link to information you can find elsewhere. There’s no conversation going on here, and no personality shining through. If people aren’t engaged, they won’t follow. Here’s the last tweet from the O’Brien campaign:

“Latest newsletter from Larry O'Brien Campaign http://conta.cc/bui6zm via #constantcontact ”

See what I mean?

LarryObrien2010 followers: 196
JimWatsonOttawa followers: 1472

Advantage: Watson

Photo Hosting Pages

Both Watson’s and O’Briens campaign websites are using outside hosting sites to showcase pictures. O’Brien’s using Picasa, Watson is on Flickr.

O’Brien has one album up from June 29, 2010.

Watson’s Flickr Page already has a ton of election-targeted photos. The first one is Jim positioned perfectly in the centre of a photo taken at the Capital Pride Parade (Aug. 30). In the foreground is a Jim Watson for Mayor sign, in the background is a clear blue sky and the Parliament buildings. It’s a bit staged for my liking, but that’s ok. The Flickr page also has a photo of Jim helping a supporter drive in the “First Lawn Sign of the Campaign”.

Advantage: Watson

Watson is dominating on the social media front, and it’s clear that he sees a lot of benefit in it. Maybe his supporter base is part of a more "online" demographic, but I do think that O’Brien should exert a bit more effort to have a more robust online presence. I’ll check in again mid-campaign to see if things have evened out a bit. Stay tuned for that.

Are Games the New Social Media?

We all know that the last five years, if not the last decade, have been about the birth, growth, and spread of social media. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networks and blogs, have transformed not only the internet, but the way people live their lives. Social media isn’t a fad, and it’s not done evolving. Just this week, Apple joined the fray with the new Ping social network that will be included in its iTunes 10 offering. Facebook continues to grow and offer new features, and new social media sites spring up all the time. It seems to be all social media all the time, but what’s next?

Seth Priebatsch, the founder of SCVNGR (a start-up company backed by Google Ventures), thinks the future lies in games. At a TEDx event in Boston, he said the last decade was about creating a “social layer” over the world that actively connected people. The next decade, he asserts, is going to be about the “game layer” that will serve to influence people. It’s fascinating stuff. Check out the video.

Sound Too Good to Be True? It Probably Is.

Today, and today only, IKEA is offering a $1,000 gift card to Facebookers who 1) become "fans" of IKEA on Facebook and 2) "invite" their Facebook friends to do the same. Sound too good to be true? That's because it is. Unfortunately for the 40,000 fans of this page, this is a scam. Not only will you be spamming all of your friends, you'll be divulging personal information to untrustworthy scam artists. IKEA is obviously not too impressed. IKEA spokeswoman Mona Liss told WalletPop.com, "Needless to say this is most frustrating."

Let this be a warning to big businesses like IKEA that they should keep an eye out in the social media world for phony Facebook and Twitter identities that could tarnish their brand and offer the public insincere offers.

FAIL: Nestle's Social Media PR Blunder

One of the foremost reasons why engaging with social media can be advantageous to businesses is that they can catch customers' concerns about their company that they are sharing with their neighbours in cyberspace and address them directly before too much damage is done. Earlier this month, the people over at Nestle found themselves in some hot water (or shall I say, hot chocolate?) on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous blogs.

The kerfuffle stemmed from a campaign that has been initiated by Greenpeace, accusing Nestle of "threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orang-utans towards extinction" due to their use of "palm oil from companies that are trashing Indonesian rainforests". Part of this campaign was a gruesome online video, which Nestle lobbied to have removed from YouTube citing copyright infringement. This probably wasn't the greatest PR move, since this stirred up even more controversy and conflict.

Round two of the battle between Greenpeace supporters and Nestle took place over on Facebook. Unfortunately for Nestle, their representative on Facebook did not keep things professional and later had to backpedal and apologize "for being rude" in his/her comments. Bridget Carey of the Miami Herald sums up the lesson of all of this pretty well:

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all... Companies can learn something from this moment... Companies use social media to present a voice. When people are screaming at you, it's best not to scream back."

Google's New Onomatopoeia

Did you know that Google's mantra, as a company, is "don't be evil"? Does it scare you that they're so powerful that they need to remind themselves to be virtuous? Well, they're taking one more step towards world domination with the introduction of Google Buzz. It has similarities to social networking giants Facebook and Twitter, but there are some distinct differences.

According to the Official Google Blog,

"Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there's always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you're sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time."

It will be interesting to see how the power play between Facebook, Twitter, and Google Buzz turns out. My hunch is that they will continue to try to one-up each other, taking on commonalities that work, discarding elements that users don't like, and continually evolving.

It's a Sad Day for Centretown

A few years ago, I lived in Centretown in Ottawa. One of my favourite memories from that era was going to Hartman's Your Independent Grocer and perusing the fruits and vegetables section while appreciating (or not) the musical stylings of whatever piano player happened to be playing there that day. One particular musician had a penchant for playing 80's and 90's pop hits by the likes of Billy Idol and Ace of Bass. It was awesome.

That's right - you read correctly. If you're unfamiliar with Hartman's, you may find it quite odd to hear of a downtown grocery store with a piano available for use by members of the community. It is odd in this day and age. It doesn't fit with the glossy, cookie-cutter image of grocery stores that we are used to visiting. The closest thing you get to music at most grocery stores is muzak or, at best, inoffensive adult contemporary over the PA system. Hartman's was different. The old wooden piano and the few comfy chairs set nearby added definite character to the store.

Today, I came across a blog post on Ottawa blog Apartment613 that delivered some terrible news: the piano is gone! Apparently, Hartman's needed to make room for a new flower section. Facebook to the rescue (I hope)! There is a Facebook group devoted to the cause called "Bring Back the Hartman's Piano!!!" According to the group's wall, this issue is going to start getting some media attention, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out (no pun intended). I hope that due to the outrage of its patrons, Hartman's will find a way to reinstate the piano. I believe it's in their best interest as the piano was a special touch that differentiated it from its competitors and promoted a sense of community.

The Friday Breakthrough: The Future is Now!

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

LeWeb conference in Paris, France took place this week with some of the most innovative websites, social media tools, and all around geeky gadgets on display. Some worthy-to-mention ideas included:

1) ClubCooee - just when you thought you'd lived a fulfilling real-life, it's time to embrace your virtual life. ClubCooee is social media in 3D! It's a web messenger program that allows users to create and furnish their own rooms and then host friends to chat and share videos and photos. Why? Why? Why? Because 3D is cool.

2) Yatedo - For those who love to "Google" themselves, here's a chance to learn even more about yourself. Yatedo claims it can compile an easy-to-read online dossier about anyone from all available information on the Internet (not just Google). Ego-maniacs unite!

3) BlueKiwi - A simple idea that may actual have potential. Companies create their own secure social network, linking up employees and clients to share ideas and possibly improve efficiency. It's Facebook on a secure network, with less of your "real" friends to talk to.

Finally, world famous singer/songwriter Alicia Keys is doing something brilliant with Facebook. She's giving away her newest album, scheduled for release next week, for FREE! Users can check out Alicia's Facebook page and stream the entire album. Because users can't actually download the songs, music industry experts believe this tactic will drum up enough interest in the album to get people kicking down the virtual doors of iTunes to get their hands on it.

Visit her Facebook page to see all the buzz being created!

Do you believe the 'Alicia Keys strategy' convince people to buy her album? Let us know! Leave a comment or send us a tweet @marketingottawa.

Ottawa's Little Italy Uses Social Media Well!

In an ambitious campaign to remind Ottawa that Little Italy's businesses are open during the final phase of construction, the Preston Street BIA has launched an online social media campaign that is about to get Ottawa moving!

Luigi is the lovable chef that has been predominately featured on signage over the last month throughout Ottawa's Little Italy. Now, Luigi is branching out online with a social media campaign that will see a $5,000 Grand Prize Shopping Spree awarded to one lucky participant later this summer.

How does it work? All you have to do is Catch Luigi! Over the course of the 13-week campaign, participants are being asked to follow Luigi on Twitter, Facebook, and on the Preston Street website to track his location.

Make note: Luigi is a 5-foot 8-inch cartoon cardboard cutout that will be found at local events and inside Preston Street businesses. Those who can catch Luigi will need to follow his clues online and will have a limited time to find him. Those who see him will then take a picture with the cartoon character and send it to catchluigi@prestonstreet.com.

Weekly prizes will be awarded as well, and participants are encouraged to submit as often as they are able to catch the lovable Luigi.

For full contest details, visit Catch Luigi.

You can track Luigi by following him on Twitter (@catchluigi) OR become his friend on Facebook (Become Luigi's Facebook Friend).

Within minutes of the campaign's launch, Tweeters from all across Ottawa were standing by for the first clue (expected to be given on Wednesday, June 3rd).

pattichurch RT @krusk Great to see locals having fun and experimenting with new marketing tools. Go Luigi! http://twitter.com/catchluigi

Good luck Ottawa!

The future of social networking?

Ning, the newest in online social networking tools, is taking the way we are used to interacting with people online and turning it upside down.

Tools like Facebook and Twitter connect users to friends and family, whereby Ning connects people based on users' unique interests and passions. Pretty much helping people create their own social networks.

For example, I like the Ottawa Senators. If you like the Ottawa Senators too, you'll find me. And subsequently, using Ning, you'll join the conversation I'm currently having about the Ottawa Senators.

It's all about like-minded people becoming friends based on similar interests, rather than being thrust into a friendship with someone you may have met at a party in 2003...but you're not quite sure (I'm talking to you Facebook).

How will this shape the future of online social networking? For one, it adds another tool to the social media toolbox, and I'd like to think that people will embrace this way of networking more. Some social networking campaigns are talking to anyone and everyone, and some of those people don't care to hear from you.

If you speak to a group of people using Ning, than all of a sudden you're talking to people who are already showing interest in what you do. From a marketing standpoint, organizations now have a more focused and direct approach to speaking with potential targets. That's to say, of course, only if Ning becomes popular.

In January, Ning saw 4.7 million unique visitors and there are now over 1 million social networks. So, it's showing some very good potential.

Check it out and let me know what you think: www.ning.com

Great Glebe Garage Sale!

This Saturday is circled on my calendar... well, actually, Facebook is reminding me that there is an important upcoming event that day! The event is the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale, taking place on May 23rd this year. This community event has been taking place here in Ottawa since 1986. In the process of finding treasures for yourself, you'll be helping those in need. The Great Glebe Garage Sale continues to support the Ottawa Food Bank each year. Vendors and shoppers alike are encouraged to donate to this worthy cause.

Be warned - Ottawans take this event seriously! If you want to make the most out of the day, you have to head to the Glebe as early as possible! Check out blogger David Scrimshaw's tips for the big day here: David Scrimshaw's Blog.

60% of Twitter Users Quit Within the First Month

Mashable has a post about the fact that 60% of Twitter users quit within the first month. They're getting their info from this Nielson report.

Here's how Twitter stacks up against Facebook and Myspace's retention rates:


A key fact that Mashable pointed out is that this study ONLY measures Twitter.com users. Many, many users don't go to twitter.com anymore. They use downloadable applications that use scripts to access the site. Tweetdeck is an example.

It's not surprising. I've seen a lot of people who just don't "get" Twitter. Why would I write updates all day? No one cares that I'm brushing my teeth right now! I don't care what you're watching on TV!

If you're not following interesting people, and if you're not engaging the people you're following/are following you, Twitter sucks. There's a definite learning curve before it stops being completely lame. But eventually you realize that it's useful for:

• Keeping up with the news.
• Getting links to blog posts from people whose opinion you care about.
• Getting hilarious tidbits.
• Finding out what other people are interested in.

I barely even check news websites anymore. If anything is really important, I can usually find about 10 links to the story in my Twitter feed. This takes time, however, because you have to follow people who will actually post links to stuff you care about, and not links to boring stuff that you have no interest in. It takes time and trimming, but once it's done, it's pretty sweet.

The more people you know who join Twitter, the better. But if the bubble explodes before people experience Twitter's potential, well, we'll have to wait for something else to come along.

The Facebook ToS Group: A Lesson in Going Viral

When Facebook released their new Terms of Service, there was quite a backlash. A bunch of groups were created that were completely against them. One of these groups really went viral, and grew to be much larger than the other ones.

Why? What made one group succeed over the others?

Thankfully, the guy who made the group blogs on yojibee.com, and he has some answers to that question.

The main answer seems to be initial reach.

He didn't just use Facebook. He blogged about it. He tweeted. One idea that was really good was searching Twitter for anyone who had mentioned the new ToS. He then sent them a tweet telling them about the group. This is a good idea for two obvious reasons: 1) chances are that people on Twitter are also on Facebook and 2) people who mentioned the keyword would be very likely interested in the group.

Now, this wouldn't always work. The ToS issue was conducive to this because anyone who tweeted about it had to know about it, and in order to know about it you had to be pretty up-to-date on Facebook happenings. In short, people who tweeted about the Facebook ToS actually cared, and would respond to a tweet that mentioned something related to it. This wouldn't always work. For many things, you'd have to do multiple searches of more long tail keywords... which is still a good strategy.

Speaking of the Facebook ToS, you the vote page is up. Go vote now.

550% Increase in 55+ Female Facebook users in 6 months

"Parents are finally at the point where they realize this is not going away. They better figure out how to get on it and they'd better figure out how to use it," said Fogg-Phillips, who is a mother of eight in Las Vegas, Nevada. "It's a snowball effect. It's viral in a good sense."

There are now about 1.5 million female users older than 55 on the site -- roughly a 550 per cent increase over six months ago.

Read the full article: All in the Facebook family: older generation join social networks

Facebook Has a New Homepage. Again.

Facebook has reinvented itself yet again, this time taking aim at social networking competitors such as Twitter and Friendfeed. The most significant overhaul is the renovation of the News Feed that users see when the first login. As of this week the News Feed has moved to a real-time format, meaning that updates are instantaneous as opposed to occurring every "10 to 20 minutes" as they did in the past.

I first discovered Facebook's new homepage when I logged in this morning. Not even done my first coffee of the day, I must admit that the new format was confusing and I felt quite disoriented. At least I was greeted by a message from the always-friendly Facebook folk. "You're looking at the real-time stream of posts from your friends and connections. Control the stream using the filters on the left. To hide posts from friends in this stream, click the "x" in the upper-right corner of a post."

Smack in the middle and occupying more than a third of the page, this "real-time stream of posts" definitely takes center stage. I am not sure how thrilled I am about this, especially given that I primarily use Facebook for messaging friends, making plans, looking at pictures and, of course, the occasional creeping.

While I may not love it (at least not yet) I understand what the new Twitter-esque Facebook homepage is trying to do. By changing the News Feed to a real-time format, Facebook is cleverly positioning itself as a solid alternative (as opposed to just a compliment) to other real-time social networking sites. This format also has the advantage of encouraging users to stay logged on all day, as opposed to only checking in periodically, to see what their friends are up too.

Although I am still not totally convinced, it looks like Mark Zuckerberg has done it again. Reinvention seems to be the name of the game at Facebook, and a lot of people seem to be excited by this change. Are you one of them?

Twitter through Facebook

Twitter is obviously the latest and most popular social network to arise from the sea of new web platforms we've seen in the past year.

Of course, Facebook is still up there, and it's taking Twitter on at its own game: Facebook's Response to Twitter (the press conference for these changes was liveblogged here)and you can find a post by Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook changes here).

I'm fine with this. I find Twitter too limiting, and it would be much more convenient if I could get my tweet fix through Facebook. I also wouldn't mind if you could do more than write 140 characters of pure text. If you haven't noticed, that's pretty limiting. If only social networks that actually allowed more than 140 character of pure text actually become more popular.

I don't think Facebook is going to beat Twitter at its own game, but I wouldn't mind if the Twitter application for Facebook was made better. Hopefully some type of agreement can be reached, because right now the Twitter app for facebook sucks. I tend to just import by tweets as status updates. That's alright, I suppose, but I'd like to see something a bit more powerful.

From AdRants: Facebook begs users to stay

Adrants has noticed that when users try to delete their account, they get a little "please stay" message. The Facebook Blog has more about issues regarding the Terms of Services.

Is it just me, or does Facebook not really understand where it's going? How is it going to monetize itself? What's it's role in the future of social networking?

I heard from a friend that Mark Zuckerberg has actually stated he doesn't intend to have a formal business plan for Facebook for three years. I guess for now he's just winging it.

Will investors still be around in three years?

On the one hand, I like the idea of Facebook only monetizing in a way that provides value to its users. On the other hand, I haven't seen a lot of evidence that this will happen. Facebook's greatest asset is the information it collects, but, because of the Terms of Service, there's only so much they can do with that information.

Then again, there is quite a bit of info out there that can be merged with Facebook. Dave here at the office found a Facebook app for doing criminal record checks (at least in the US). What we've found so far is that basically everyone has a record for driving without a seatbelt or speeding or something.

The Internet opens up a whole whack of privacy issues, mostly because people don't understand what's private and what's public (which isn't always their fault). Social networks are going to have to be very careful going forward how they treat their users. I suspect that people will start to show their appreciation for those platforms that clearly demonstrate that they respect the rights of their registered users.

For now, it does appear that Facebook is trying to do this, while they balance it with where the website will go in the future.