nitin rajput - facebook developer garage bangalore
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Nitin Rajput, Chakpak at Facebook Developer Garage BangaloreTRANSCRIPT
Facebook Growth Strategies Understanding various techniques for growth and engagement in facebook apps
Nitin RajputCo-founder www.chakpak.com28th Aug 2009
1 Why Facebook
2 Growth/Engagement Techniques
3 Q&A
Agenda
Why Facebook?
• User growth– Approx 6MM users
• Great overlay of social context– Allows for new product features– Improves the features
Virality Primer
• 10 users add your app– They do some activity like publish feed, send notifications etc
• 7 users add the app because of the activities done by above• Viral coefficient , v.c. = 7/10 = 0.7• This is a single generation. The activities by these 7 added
users would cause more users to join in and so on• The total # of users of the app is the summation of the
Geometric series = 10,7,4.9, … = 10*(1/(1-0.7))=33 approx.
Virality Primer
• Suppose v.c. = 0.9 , then the total users who add the app including these initial 10 users is 10*(1/(1-0.9))=100
• Takeaways– Virality is a multiplier. Can be a big multiplier– Viral coefficient near to 1.0 can lead to a big jump in the user
addition • Many of the facebook’s distribution flows are aligned to viral
flows and many times these are the only options availaible• Facebook product = viral distribution + product
Facebook distribution options
Feeds
Notifications
Requests & Notifications
Profile
Status
Emails
PublisherBoxesAds
Fan BoxConnect
Comment Widget
Share
#1 - Feeds
Feeds (Publishing experience)
Feeds (Friends view)
Feeds
• One of the most potent tool for growth– Is the basis of most of the viral loops
• User should should feel like publishing– Context of the flow (you need help)– Copy of the feed (you beat 99%)
• Friends should feel like clicking on it– Nice UI/Photos. Explanatory text– Call to action
• Resources– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Using_the_Open_Stream_API– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook.showFeedDialog
#2 - Notifications
Notifications
Notifications
Notifications• Doesn’t require explicit user permission• 2 types
– User-user • Can reach to non app users• For growth
– App-user• For engagement
• Sample use cases– Challenges,– Weekly newsletters, alerts, new features
• Resources– RockYou presentation -
http://www.slideshare.net/jefftee/facebook-developers-garage-march-25-2009-2-jia-shen– API - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Notifications.send– How spamminess is measured -
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2205007948&topic=13262&start=30&hash=0ce1d00dde55ae7fc1d6f206621bdfc4#post71908
– Official policy - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Additional_Policies_Governing_All_Applications_and_Developers#10._Notifications_Policy
#3 – Requests & Invitations
Requests & Invitations
Requests & Invitations
Requests & Invitations
• Were used a lot at the launch time. FB now has allocations buckets
• Can be used for flows where sending invitation is natural– Ask your relatives to join the app– Match your friends compatibility with yours– Invite members to your cause
#4 - Status
Status
Status
• Status permission is required only once• Guidelines when an application can update the
status • Twitter, fan apps
#5 – Profile & Tabs
Profiles & Tabs
Profiles & Tabs
Profiles & Tabs
• Several steps involved in adding an app to profile. • Is a long term insurance against variance in other
growth channels. Is a seed to the viral flows• Is a natural fit for some flows/apps– fans
#6- Emails
• You can get email send permission• Can be used for – Newsletters, Alerts– As a substitute for app-user notifications
• Vs Notifications– better CTRs– Need one time explicit permission from user
#7- Publisher
• Not sure if it can be
used for growth
#8 – Gathering Fans
Gathering Fans
Gathering Fans
Gathering Fans
• Gather fans to send updates and feeds later on– Sort of notifications, but much richer– Better CTRs
• Re-engages the user
#9 - Advertising
• Advertising is usually costly• Whats the lifetime value of a user• Whats the per visit value of a user• A high enough virality factor can make the per-visit or
lifetime value of a user pay for its advertising costs• Can be used for growth and for engagement
#10 - Leveraging existing web properties
• Fan Box
Leveraging existing web properties
• Comment box– http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-ad
ds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/
– Can also publish to a users feed– Can be embedded in an app also
• Share – http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-
adds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/
#11 - Measure, Measure, Measure
• You can only improve what you measure• A/B Test – Flows (add app before take quiz, or between take quiz
and see results? )– Copy (Challenge your friends vs Invite your friends)
• Measure drop offs in the flow to find hindrances
Facebook connect
Summary
• FB Products = (Viral) Distribution + Product• Maximize distribution from each of the channel• Measure – you would only improve with time• Be creative
Resources
• Tracking FB App platform, Who is growing – – http://www.insidefacebook.com/ – http://www.appdata.com/
• FBML and Facebook platform APIs– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page
• Guidelines on FB integration points – http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/
Verification_Checklist• Platform team blog
– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page
Questions
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