Tim Peterson says, “Facebook’s rival to Google Analytics has piqued developers’ interest, though it’s unclear to what extent it’s been able to sustain that interest. And at the same time Facebook adds new features to its measurement tool, the company has not yet fixed as measurement error disclosed last year. More than 1 million mobile apps, websites and Messenger bots have used Facebook’s Analytics for Apps at some point since Facebook rolled out the free tool in March 2015. That means 200,000 new apps, sites and bots have used Facebook’s analytics tool since September 2016,... [...]

Michael Guta says, “When Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) launched its Lite version in 2015, the goal was to make it more accessible in developing countries where internet connections are not optimal. Fast forward two years, and Facebook Lite has 200 million users — impressive no matter how you look at it. In a post on Facebook, the company’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg recognized the accomplishment, but she made an even more important point about how Lite can help businesses better monetize the platform. With mobile the primary gateway for internet access in the vast majority of the... [...]

Angela Moscaritolo says, “When Facebook first started rolling out auto-play videos on timelines, it mercifully muted the footage by default. That changes going forward, though, as videos will now automatically play with the sound turned on. Facebook Engineering Manager Alex Li and Product Manager Dana Sittler announced the change in a Tuesday blog post, writing that “as people watch more video on phones, they’ve come to expect sound when the volume on their device is turned on.” The social network has been testing this new “sound on” feature, and received... [...]

Laura Forer says, “Facebook ad targeting allows marketers to carefully select an audience. It’s a powerful way for Facebook advertisers to hyper-target very specific groups. But ad targeting can also be overwhelming, because there are so many options to choose from. An infographic by Facebook ad agency Advertisemint brings clarity to the ad targeting choices by breaking them down into five categories: 1. Demographics: Targeting options include age, gender, interest, and language, among many others. 2. Connections: Targeting options include people who liked a brand’s Facebook page... [...]

Hope Horner says, “Finally! You can now make real money using Facebook videos. This mega-platform is clearly taking video seriously as an advertising resource — as it should. Historically, Facebook videos have been free of advertisements; but then came last year’s announcement that pre-roll ads would play before videos within Facebook’s Audience Network. And that started brands exploring new ways to leverage video on the platform. What’s become popular over the last year, for example, is in-article ads appearing between paragraphs of text on mobile; they begin playing silently... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “Influencer marketing platform Mavrck has published a many informative statistics for marketers who are using Facebook to speak to their audiences, particularly with how the algorithm has affected user engagement with branded content and general user posting behavior. Using Mavrck’s dataset, which culled data 25 million Facebook posts, they’ve been able to learn quite a lot of what we can expect in the future. Engagement is down In 2016, user engagement went down when compared to 2015. A 15.14 percent decrease in engagements per post compared to 2015 might make marketers... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “A single Facebook page is no longer enough for many big brands or publishers. Neither it seems, is two or three. Now an increasing number are creating numerous Facebook pages in order to reach the biggest audience possible. Of course, it’s not always appropriate or realistic to do this, with some arguing that it can dilute quality and even damage brand perception. So what’s the answer? Here are a few pros and cons to help weigh up the argument. Pros Greater impact While Facebook pages used to be a destination – the place users went to be able to consume content... [...]

Chris Kerns says, “Likes are so yesterday. Don’t get me wrong — I love Likes. They continue to serve as a simple way for people to show support for a thought, product offering or opinion, and they have provided marketers with a valuable tool to measure media effectiveness. Unlike the one-way nature of other media, social feedback mechanisms allow you to see how your audience is responding to different types of content with one lightning-fast, simple metric. But ever since Facebook Reactions were introduced, things have become a bit more complicated. A Like has always signified support... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “In an effort to rebuild advertisers’ trust following a series of measurement errors last year, Facebook has moved to make its ad measurements more transparent and give advertisers more control over what they are buying. Facebook has agreed to let the media industry’s independent measurement monitor, Media Rating Council (MRC), audit the measurements it provides advertisers, the company announced on Friday. The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, follows talks between the company and industry watchdog in December that were fueled by an industry increasingly... [...]

Kerry Flynn says, “You may scroll through something so fast on Facebook that you don’t notice it. But Facebook wants every moment to count — at least in what it presents to advertisers. The company announced Friday they will provide millisecond-level data for ads on Facebook, Instagram and its online ad ecosystem Audience Network. Now, for the first time through Facebook, advertisers can see how long their ads were seen by the millisecond. That includes how many milliseconds overall the ad was on a screen and then broken out into how many milliseconds 100 percent of the ad was on... [...]