Facebook Changes Contest and Promotions Guidelines!

Shocking News!! Some thoughts on this change.....
  
1) Never expected this... 

2) This has to be related to the recent algorithm change. We wondered why Facebook would suddenly focus on punishing brand posts that ask for comments, likes and shares. Really easy to connect the dots here.

3) It may be within the rules, but we will see a lot MORE spammy, poorly done contests floating around FB . See #2.

4) While it makes a lot of sense to now run some small contests this way, keep in mind the benefits of third party app contests that collect email addresses. Third party apps still have their place. 

5) And, no, this doesn't kill third party apps. Third party apps will continue to thrive, even third party contest apps. And other apps are still necessary/helpful for creating tabs that aren't contest related (landing tabs for ads, product features, ebook, newsletter signup, etc.).

6) It's all about selling more ads

7) FB also gave up on trying to enforce "rogue" contests (when they realized they didn't have enough man power to police it AND they figured out they could make more money on ads this way. 

8) Third party apps will adapt to provide timeline post contest apps that collect emails and function much the way their app/tabs do now...

9) This will actually open up some new creative and effective ways to run contests

How To See What YOU Want in YOUR Facebook Newsfeed!

Are you seeing all updates from the Pages you've Liked? Chances are you don't have the settings correct.

By default, when you Like a Page, Facebook sets the amount of updates you'll see in your News to "Most Updates". You need to manually change it to "All Updates" if you want to see the majority of posts from that Page. You still won't see 100% of their updates, but you'll definitely see more of them if you select "All Updates".

Step 1: Mouse over the "Liked" button for the Page and make sure, "Show in News Feed" is checked. You may also want to turn on "Get Notifications" so you'll get a notification every time that Page posts an update.

Step 2: If "Show in News Feed" is checked you'll also see a "Settings..." option. Click on "Settings..." and if "Most Updates" is checked, change it to "All Updates".

BTW, this applies to your friends profiles as well.

Please share this post with your friends or fans. I know many of you are savvy about Facebook settings, but most of your friends probably aren't.

Image sizes for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube

Thanks to the folks at Tent Social 

for this great infographic! 

  

Social Media Design Dimensions - An infographic by the team at Social Media Design Dimensions