JP Mangalindan says, “Facebook may have missed Wall Street’s estimates for its latest quarter, but it continues to grow at a healthy clip when it comes to users. During the social network’s Q1 2015 earnings report on Wednesday, the company reported its user base is larger than ever on desktop and mobile. There are now 1.44 billion people who use Facebook every month, up from the 1.39 billion last quarter. Of those users, nearly 1.25 billion folks also use their phone or tablets to crawl their News Feeds. Meanwhile, the number of users who peruse Facebook exclusively on mobile... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Today, Facebook announced three brand new updates to the News Feed algorithm specifically meant to improve user experience. How? By providing a better balance of updates from friends versus updates from businesses, publishers, public figures, and local organizations. Every time Facebook updates its algorithm, brands and marketers freak out. To help you quickly get to the bottom of this change, here’s a quick rundown of the three News Feed algorithm updates and how they might affect your Page. Update 1: If users run out of content to see but want to spend... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Facebook says it’s giving people what they want — and that could result in Pages getting less of what they crave: reach and referral traffic. Facebook announced three updates to its News Feed algorithm today and warned that the changes could cause reduced distribution for some Pages. Facebook said referral traffic to media publishers has doubled in the past 18 months, but there’s no denying that overall organic reach for business Pages has plunged. How significant and widespread the potential drop caused by today’s updates wasn’t stated. Your mileage may vary,... [...]

Lara O’Reilly says, “Facebook has filed a fascinating patent that suggests it has considered building a mega ad exchange that harnesses its social data to serve ads and, interestingly, content (like paid-for news articles or videos from brands, otherwise known as native advertising) on sites beyond the social network’s own platform. The patent application, published Thursday, details an ad exchange that combines an advertiser’s data with Facebook’s own social graph to find users that match a given profile (say, a woman, in her 30s, who has recently bought a pair of... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is planning a presentation just days before this month’s NewFronts event in New York to give advertisers an overview of its upcoming video advertising plans, as well as showcase its new Anthology video ad product. “Several of Facebook’s Anthology partners will deliver presentations at the gathering,”reports The Wall Street Journal, “Providing ad agencies and marketers with their first look at how Facebook plans to uniquely incorporate brand messages into videos on the site.””. Facebook To Showcase New Video... [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “Facebook rolled out a web browser version of its standalone Messenger app on Wednesday. Like the Messenger mobile app, the web platform — which can be found at messenger.com— is completely separate from the rest of the site and has the same barebones look. But unlike the mobile app, the social network claims it will not force the new service on its users. Facebook caught a lot of flak when it first split its messaging function off into a separate app last fall. Users complained then that the company was strong-arming them into downloading the new app”. Facebook... [...]

JP Mangalindan says, “From Instagram and Hyperlapse to, more recently, an embeddable video player, Facebook has slowly woven video sharing into many of its products and services. But Facebook’s new app called Riff, released for iOS and Android on Wednesday, tackles video with a distinct twist. Normally, when someone shares something on Facebook, someone else might see it, share it and add a short comment of their own. Riff actually goes one step further and lets friends tack on their own video to the original. After users log into the app with their Facebook credentials, creating a video... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Facebook is the world’s largest social network, but it’s not just a social network. If this wasn’t already evident, it should be now that reports have surfaced indicating the tech giant is negotiating with prominent publishers to host their content within Facebook’s walls so that users don’t have to go to publishers’ sites to consume it. The New York Times, said to be one of the publishers in talks with Facebook, itselfdescribed the plan: Facebook has said publicly that it wants to make the experience of consuming content online more... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Every year, Facebook holds its F8 conference where it makes key announcements and launches new offerings. This year was one of the biggest yet and dozens of announcements were made. Here are the five most important for brands and marketers. Messenger Platform Reports that Facebook would be opening its Messenger app to third parties were correct. With the newly unveiled Messenger Platform, third party developers, including brands like ESPN, will be able to reach the more than 600m Facebook members who use Messenger on a daily basis. Apps can be installed from within Messenger,... [...]

Chris Grasinger Kelly says, “Facebook announced a series of features and updates at its annual F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, and while the news is mostly targeted for developers and app designers right now, it could eventually mean big things for Facebook users. CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the two-day long conference with a major update to the Facebook Messenger chatting platform. Users will be able to send photos, GIFs, music and integrate with apps like ESPN and the Weather Channel. Other improvements were made to Facebook’s video player and its app analytics... [...]