As thousands of Facebook users change their profile picture in support of same-sex marriage, a trend that was started by the Human Rights Campaign, some brands have also jumped into the discussion, including this image from Smirnoff, which was shared on their Facebook Page.
A polarizing issue like this can often be challenging for brands that want to engage in the conversation, but when the company has developed a strong voice and personality over time, it gives them more freedom to make a strong statement in support of one side or the other.
In this case, Smirnoff is benefiting from their show of support, with 6,000 likes and 2,300 comments on the image from mostly supportive fans.
Facebook announced an update to their News Feed yesterday that aims to reduce clutter, put the focus on individual stories, and give users more control over the types of information that they see. The redesign brings over many of the features Facebook developed for their mobile and tablet apps, including an always-available left-hand menu, and new content notifications that allow a user to jump to the top of the page when new updates are posted. Updates are now separated into individual feeds, including friends, photos, music, and games, with each feed designed to highlight the best content within that group. Items within feeds will also be larger, putting more focus on images and visual content.
For brands this change is both good and bad news. The good news is that all branded content will now appear in the Pages feed. Previously EdgeRank, Facebook’s content algorithm, would determined what branded content would filter into the feed, and only about 15% of fans would see each update. But now, when a user clicks on Pages, they will see everything that has been shared by the Pages they have Liked, displayed in chronological order. In addition, the focus on images supports the shift towards visual updates that many brands have made recently, which also carries through to sponsored and promoted content. The simplified layout will also make ads that appear in the sidebar more prominent, as they will appear directly below the main menu.
The bad news is that users will now have the option to view a feed called All Friends that just includes updates posted by their friends, removing all branded content from view. The default view will still be the redesigned News Feed, which integrates all types of content together, but this is the first time Facebook has really given users the option to filter out branded content in an obvious way. Ultimately the onus is on all marketers to share content that users find worth their attention.
You’re looking at the most popular photo to ever get shared on social media.
With the simple caption, “Four more years.” this photo of President Barack Obama has already received more than 3.5 million Likes, 475,000 shares, and 175,000 comments on Facebook, and more than 715,000 retweets and 245,000 favorites on Twitter.
