At Facebook's live event today, Mark Zuckerberg addressed "the biggest problem in social networking" – sharing. Marketers are always hoping consumers will share links to their content via the site, but Zuckerberg says users have traditionally had problems sharing info with specific friends and in different contexts.
The social network announced that Facebook is now offering users more control over who sees what they share on the site. Marketers may want to monitor their brands' on-site activity to discern whether more specific groups facilitate business discovery among users who recommend products or services to their close friends via the network.
The updated Groups feature lets users selectively share information with small groups of friends. The redesign also includes chat, document sharing and notification options that can help Facebook members connect with specific subsets of users.
Groups will partially employ Facebook's inner algorithm, called Co-Efficient. Co-Efficient, Zuckerberg explained at the event, indexes relationships and tracks interactions users have had with other Facebook members. He acknowledges an algorithm can't determine the value of a friendship, so users can perfect their groups with manual edits and by "tagging" friends as they might in photos.
The site also announced download options for users to transfer their Facebook information to desktops, as well as a new dashboard that lets members see what data applications are using.
Users are already responding very positively to these updates, with more than 6,000 consumers "liking" the announcement at press time. Marketers, too, may like this feature but only time will tell if more secure sharing options have any impact on brand discussions that occur on Facebook. According to the e-Tailing Group, 31 percent of consumers consider friends Facebook posts about products when making purchase decisions.
