f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016: The Long Game

What happened at f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016? Here’s what businesses need to know to plan their growth and Facebook Marketing strategy.

What businesses need to know about f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016

Just before f8 came the announcement and rollout of Instant Articles on Facebook.  They load 10x faster, allowing brands to syndicate their content easily on the social network.  (This post will be an Instant Article very soon…) So, what was f8 Facebook Developer Conference all about?  It’s like… Tech WOW!! (See the Prelude to this post on LinkedIn about f8 + additional photos)

f8 Facebook Developer Conference

This annual event is now always a big part of social media marketing conversations.  The last time I was inspired to write about it was when we were still talking about the Facebook Timeline and Facebook News Feed as new and exciting. Both Facebook and the social landscape have evolved so far past that!  Yet, f8 Conference 2016 was timely, as popular websites were putting out articles titled, “The Worst Thing That Could Happen To Facebook Is Already Happening,” and the like. They couldn’t have been more off-base. The 2016 f8 Facebook Developer Conference addressed the lull of excitement users were beginning to feel with every rockin’ release they announced!

Facebook f8 Conference Highlights

You can access the Facebook f8 conference video library to see the keynotes and other live session videos for as long as they leave them up.  But that would take you hours and hours! This article is meant to be a simplified guide to the multiple awesome announcements at f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016.  You will discover:

• Facebook Live Video
• 360 Video
• Facebook Messenger
• Artificial Intelligence
• The SAVE Button for websites
• Facebook’s Satellite
• The Facebook Plane

And more! Are you ready for all the cool details?

f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016: The Long Game

In his keynote, Mark Zuckerberg laid out Facebook’s five year plan, and the ten year plan.  So, think Facebook 2026.  This is where we’re headed.  Below are the tools and technologies that will get us there. A few will be surprising to you! Businesses that embrace these f8 Facebook Developer Conference developments and shift their social media strategies accordingly will win in the social space.

f8 Facebook Developer Conference 2016

Each year, the theme phrase at these conferences is simple.  But when you see the the releases rolled out at f8 Facebook Developer Conference, it’s amazing, all of what is involved! Ready for this year’s motto? Facebook’s mission: “Give everyone the power to share anything with anyone.” Simple enough, right?  Not really, considering we are a globe of BILLIONS of people with varied technological challenges in connectivity, language, and availability. How Facebook bridges that may blow your mind! If you remember hearing that Facebook was “unrolling” their apps, they have now announced their Family Of Apps ecosystem.  Meant to serve:

• One-to-one
• Small groups
• Friends
• Community
• World

Where you found Facebook perhaps tiresome, this new approach should cater to specific purposes, making them all more user-friendly. Now open your mind – Lets take the ecosystem into the long-term plan.  It looks like this: Depending on how you are reading this, it may be hard to see the text on the image.  So, to break it down… Facebook The social network as you know it, is not going anywhere.  It will be more fine-tuned to users, yet staying available to marketers. Facebook Products

• Video
• Search
• Groups
• Messenger
• WhatsApp
• Instagram

These are meant to integrate with the Facebook experience, but offer stand alone opportunities. Facebook Technologies Virtual Reality/Alternate Reality

• Touch
• Social VR
• AR Tech
• Mobile VR
• Rift

The takeaway here: When Mark Zuckerberg showed us the Virtual Reality goggles, he was quite firm in his statement and belief that virtual reality has the potential to be the most social of technologies.    There have been many articles to support the intense focus on this technology, so look for fun coming down the road, and I suspect new marketing opportunities as well. Artificial Intelligence

• Vision
• Language
• Reasoning
• Planning

What readers will be most interested in knowing is that Facebook will be able to understand user actions more profoundly and be able to suggest content and opportunities for them. Connectivity

• Drones
• Satellites
• Lasers
• Terrestrial Solutions
• Telco Infra
• Free Basics

Would it surprise you to know that more than 70% of the apps built on the Facebook Platform are from outside the US?  Naturally, it became important for Facebook to consider

• Availability
• Affordability
• Awareness

if they are going to stay true to their missing of giving everyone the power to share anything with anyone. Society is becoming more and more mobile.  Via mobile device, Facebook’s Free basics serves 25 million people in 37 countries with “life help” categories like:

• Buy & Sell
• Communication
• Finance
• Health & Safety
• Jobs
• Learning
• News & Weather
• Sports & Entertainment

The visuals at f8 were inspiring!  They showed drones serving a few different capacities, and flew one from the back to the front of the room. Even more cool – The Facebook Satellite launched the day after f8 Developer Conference.  This will serve for connecting new populations to the Internet, and also Facebook, through the Telecom Infra Project – A connectivity lab. The SUPER COOL thing: A Facebook Airplane!  It has a healthy wing span, yet it will be as light as a small car.  Mr. Zuckerberg held a piece of it up over his head right on stage.  The Facebook airplane seems pretty impressive! Enough of the flashy stuff — Lets get more into what f8 Facebook Developer Conference had to offer for businesses and marketers…

Apps At F8 Facebook Developers Conference

People are becoming more and more mobile, and they access more and more via mobile devices.  So we must discuss the importance of apps and Facebook.  Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have more than one Facebook app on your mobile phone. To put things in perspective for you, the social network has grown from “The Facebook,” to growth strides in 2007, and via apps, now touches about 250 countries. Worth noting:

• There are 4.1 Billion people still not connected to the Internet
• One-third of those connected are without broadband access
• 2 Billion peoples’ languages aren’t supported online
• Only 55 of 7,000 global languages are commonly used online

Good news:

• Facebook Like button available in 90+ languages
• Facebook is the top sign-in product
• Facebook sign-in conversion rates are up 10% year-over-year

If you serve, or want to serve, a global audience, pay attention: 80% of top apps built with Facebook originate from the above countries. If you are marketing with apps, three of your concerns are:

• Getting people signed up
• Keeping users engaged
• Understanding your audience

Understanding those points is key to continuing growth and staying relevant with your marketing as a business or organization, as more than 70% of developers are outside the USA. Expect to see better analytics for apps, as well as enhanced push notifications options.

Facebook’s Save Button For Websites

Have you used the Save Button on Facebook? If not, you have had the ability to save delicious posts you see on Facebook.  Just click the “save” button and they are saved for you in a special Save feed. NEW: The Save Button For Websites! Announced at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference, this integrates with your blog, website, or other web page much like the LIKE button did a few years back.  You should see the small version up at the top of this post, and the large version at the bottom of this page. From the business and marketing perspective, this allows your readers to love your content, and save it for later on Facebook where they already spend a great deal of time.  Additionally, your awesome article stays there as long as they opt to keep it saved. Understand the value here? I’d expect to see enhancements to this feature in the near future.

Facebook Messenger

Just before the f8 Facebook Developers Conference, Facebook released “Messenger Scan Codes” – Like Snapchat, but customized for the Facebook Platform.  By scanning one on a mobile device, it is a short cut to opening up the messenger, and communication with that person (or brand). For perspective:

• 900 million people use Facebook Messenger every month
• 1 billion messages are sent via Facebook Messenger every month

Of all the cool things unveiled at f8 Facebook Developers Conference, for 2016, Facebook Messenger has the potential to make a profound difference in a multi-dimensional way. The toy box is given to marketers, yet Facebook users get the benefits of playing with the toys. Three things to talk about:

• “Bots For Messenger” Send/Receive API
• Facebook Messenger Plugins
• News Feed CTA Facebook Ads

The word “ads” sends many running for the hills.  However, check this out… You can now attach a “Send Message” button on an ad, and encourage 2-way dialogue with potential customers.  How many advertising options give you that option? For the general public: How many ads can you interact with and ask a direct question and receive an answer? If you remember the “Reach Out And Touch Someone” campaign from the 70s and 80s, this is putting profound reality to the “Just Say Hi,” part of the phrase. Are you getting this?  You can showcase a product or service, and your ideal customer can reach out to you to inquire right then.  AND, you, as a brand, can reply! To put the cherry on top: The Messenger Bot API will let you customize the experience to your brands needs and preferences. Sweet!

Facebook Live Video

When Facebook encouraged more organic uploaded video on the platform, they began to see that people interacted with video 10x MORE than other posts and video types. Factor in:

• Approximately 70% of all mobile traffic will be video by 2021
• Global average of time spent watching video per day is 3.4 hours

Of those 3.4 hours, 20 to 45 minutes of that is on a computer or mobile device. The trends begged for Facebook Live Video!  Facebook rolled out the Facebook LIVE option about six months before the f8 Facebook Developers Conference to select users.  The day of the conference, they began rolling out to all users. My test of the Facebook Live Video Feature (teasing this post): For awhile, we will certainly see Facebook news feeds filled with live video.  But after the excitement wears off, I believe we will see a trend of people and brands personalizing their social activity in ways we haven’t imagined yet. In addition, this gives brands a unique way of sharing their stories.  My guess is we will begin to see a trend of quality over quantity of posts from Facebook Pages. Tip: On  your mobile device, Facebook Live gets a tab all it’s own so you can search live videos — by category, or on the map! Not sure how you feel about Facebook Live video?  Try making your profile photo a video – Facebook offers you an expression kit!

360 Video

If Facebook LIVE paves a path for better storytelling, Facebook’s 360 video paves a path for “globetelling.”  Of all the goodies unveiled at f8 Facebook Developers Conference this year, this one has the most profound potential to improve technologies that help people in real, life-impacting ways, in my opinion. The narrative of the process to get 360 to where it is at now was inspiring.  Visuals too! Here, you’re able to see on a monitor what you would have to stand and turn in a circle to see. Ready for the 360 ride?  Meet Mevo, the 360 video camera designed so you can produce 360 video too!

Facebook Pages

We’ve all been much less enchanted by the decrease in organic reach, right? While our reach will probably not return, Facebook has put together some good data, and developed tools to help Facebook Page owners relate with their fans. Relevant data from f8 Facebook Developers Conference:

• 50 Million small business with Facebook Pages
• 1 Billion visits to those Facebook Pages
• 85% of US consumers’ smart phone time is spent in native apps
• 75% of US consumers’ app time is spent using just 4 apps

Facebook found that some brands were seeing amazing results from using the Facebook Messenger option:

• As much as 70-75% of eads from Facebook Page efforts
• As many as 50,000 monthly messages
• Usage 5x more than email

Remember from above: 900 million people use Facebook Messenger each month, sending 1 Billion messages. “Bots For Messenger” Send/Receive API will be most useful for brands with Facebook Pages.  Developers will be able to customize communication experiences.  Use it just for general communication, customer service, or even integrate with product sales. Well before the f8 Facebook Developers Conference, the Call To Action (CTA) was rolled out as a tool for Facebook Page admins.  This will continue to be a focal point with some tweaks over time. Facebook Pages will also see product and/or services sections meant to showcase what your business does and engage fans around these details. And, look for new mobile page navigation.

f8 Facebook Developer Conference – That’s not all!

What, your mind is swimming with all of the new Facebook releases?  🙂 Above was a summary of what businesses will want to know so they can use the details for planning and strategy. Facebook also released new ways to re-purpose Facebook content.  Jon Loomer does a great job of summing up f8 2016 – Facebook For Publishers. In case you’re curious: The f8 Facebook Developers Conference video library.

Your Turn

We covered a lot of statistics, new fancy toys, and Facebook’s long-term plan revealed at f8 Facebook Developers Conference 2016. What do you think we will hear about at the next f8 Facebook Developers Conference? What new feature can’t you wait to try? Do you think the new options for Facebook Pages will help you? Please share your thoughts and questions with me in the comments box below…  🙂   If you liked this post and found it helpful, click the save button below to refer back to it when you’re on Facebook.

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