Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Facebook is stepping up its efforts to woo publishers with a new feature allowing users to browse curated selections of content from news publishers drawn from their individual news feeds, according to Business Insider, which first reported the news.

The move comes not long after rival Snapchat began tweaking a similar feature on its own platform.

Facebook is testing a new feature displaying curated content from publishers called Collections, which would enable publishers to highlight content in users’ news feeds regardless of how many likes and shares the content had received, BI reports, citing sources familiar with the tests.

Posts from Collections would appear based on the source and the users’ own content preferences, although it’s unclear how much real estate content Collections would receive compared to other news feed content....

In an attempt to open up a new revenue stream for shareholders the social network is bringing videos to the newsfeed.  

...Brands on Facebook's client council, which include Coca-Cola, Ford, Unilever and Diageo are expected to take part in trials, but the worry is that users may find the experience so disruptive that they stop visiting the site and move to other social networks. According to one report last week,

Facebook's user numbers are already in decline, despite the firm's numerous attempts to keep its users engaged, on mobile and elsewhere. Of course, it's no secret why Facebook is keen on videos: they drive online product sales. According to Joyus founder and ex-Googler Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, people are five times as likely to buy something from a video ad than from a picture on an e-commerce site, and buy five times as often....

Getting started on Facebook - guide to making your corporate Facebook page a success...

The days of Facebook being just a ‘new idea for businesses to try’ are long gone, as Facebook has now become one of the essential marketing tools of any self respecting business. But simply creating a Facebook page for your company is only the first and easiest step, and turning your page into a lead generating haven can seem like an uphill battle. But if the correct measures are put in place, your page should become a lead magnet in no time. Simply follow this step by step guide to create the perfect corporate Facebook page...

[This is a nice simple guide to creating a Facebook page for any size business ~ Jeff]

For all its valuation, the social network is just another ad-supported site. Without an earth-changing idea, it will collapse and take down the Web.

Facebook is not only on course to go bust, but will take the rest of the ad-supported Web with it.

Given its vast cash reserves and the glacial pace of business reckonings, that will sound hyperbolic. But that doesn't mean it isn't true.

At the heart of the Internet business is one of the great business fallacies of our time: that the Web, with all its targeting abilities, can be a more efficient, and hence more profitable, advertising medium than traditional media. Facebook, with its 900 million users, valuation of around $100 billion, and the bulk of its business in traditional display advertising, is now at the heart of the heart of the fallacy....

[A superb and provocative view from Michael Wolff - JD]

It's still unclear when Instagram ads will become widely available to marketers. Facebook doesn't appear to be in a hurry to make purchasing and placing Instagram promos an automated experience, instead maintaining that its so-called white glove service to a few dozen Fortune 500 brands will remain the status quo.