This Facebook Ad a Great IKEA commercial !!!

I was watching this video randomly & almost till the end I was thinking it was an IKEA commercial selling chairs.. and that very serious voiceover lady was depressing the living crap out of me  telling that Facebook is humanity’s  only hope against the dark universe, Facebook has over 1 billion active users and I heard later this ad was made to embark it… titled “Things That Connect Us” compares Facebook to chairs, bridges, basketball and other vehicles that bring people together. The social network as hired ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, best known for its Nike work to create that 90-second film. Ironically, there is no mention of Facebook hitting the 1 billion mark in the film.

Com’n Facebook u very well know that every user has a different relationship, as a tech blogger I know technology is a little piece of magic that can define how we interact with the world and with ourselves..  and if u want to take a more active role in making money from those users, it makes sense to start defining the company’s role in every one of those relationships. To see a company that’s done that incredibly well, look at Google.  Bring the narrative under one roof, and you can start to steer it. This ad makes it clear that Facebook needs to do a little work defining that narrative and define yourself as yet another service or product & gags to the riches selling relationships..

Facebook Chair ad

The New Facebook App Center

facebook-app-center

Just last week announced its Facebook App Center, currently more than 600 apps are featured in the App Center. These apps are not new, and are already able to sync with your Facebook account, should you let them. but it wasn’t immediately clear how users would benefit, or whether it simply added another layer between you and apps you download to your smartphone.

So now you can go to Facebook.com/appcenter, and choose apps you want to download on your Android or iOS device. Those apps then show up as notifications in your Facebook mobile app. Click the notification and it will take you to the regular app store on your phone so you can download the app in question. But you still need to go back to the Facebook app to authorize the app you just downloaded.

When you access an app on your phone that you synced with the Facebook app, and one of your Facebook friends visits the App Center, it will show your friend which apps you use.

In that sense, it’s more like a recommendation center than a store. For newbie smartphone owners, this might be useful for finding popular apps. There are numerous app review sites, but this would be a place where users can see which apps their friends are using. You can see what apps are popular with Facebook users in general.

Facebook earlier announced 60 apps integrated with Timeline and its Open Graph that made sharing easier than ever and opened the gateway for developers to put their apps on Facebook. The app center makes it easier to view and read about these apps. Is this worthwhile for you? Will you be using Facebook’s new app center? Let us know

Personalities Behind Facebook

We all know Facebook filed its IPO setting the stage for the internet industry’s biggest coming-out party and one of Wall Street’s most hotly anticipated events of 2012, with a valuation of over $100 billion. Here is a look at some of the personalities behind the world’s largest social network.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive and co-founder

We all know Zuckerberg, portrayed as a brilliant, ambitious and ruthless empire-builder in the 2010 movie “The Social Network,” founded Facebook with Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin while at Harvard University in 2004.

The 27-year-old frontman, who has repeatedly said he was in no rush to go public because that might distract employees and dilute his control, decides the direction and product strategy of the company. Forbes estimates Zuckberg’s net worth at $17.5 billion, making him the 14th richest man in the United States.

Peter Thiel, investor and director

The billionaire Stanford alumnus and former Wall Street trader was Facebook’s first outside investor and director. Thiel co-founded online payments service PayPal and sold it to eBay Inc for $1.5 billion in 2002.

Christopher Cox, vice president of product

Cox organizes Facebook’s product strategy and oversees product management and design.

He joined the company in 2005 as a software engineer and was involved in the first versions of Facebook features such as the News Feed and Inbox

Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships

A former Amazon.com Inc manager who helped develop the “Kindle” digital book reader, Rose oversees Facebook’s partnerships, forging ties with Hollywood film studios, game makers, mobile phone companies and even carmakers. Rose also takes the lead on mergers and acquisitions.

David Fischer, VP of advertising and global operations

Fischer is responsible for much of Facebook’s vast and highly profitable advertising network. He runs sales, advertiser marketing and customer operations.

During seven years at Google Inc, Fischer helped build that company’s online ad network into the largest in the world. Before that, he was deputy chief of staff at the Treasury Department during the Clinton Administration.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer

Sandberg, one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley, oversees business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications.

Another former Google employee, Sandberg built and managed Google’s online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products.

Before working for Google, she was chief of staff at the Treasury Department under President Clinton.