Facebook has changed its business promotions protocol, but will it change the way it uses data?
The social media giant is offering businesses the chance to have Page Timeline promotions as an alternative to using third-party apps, although many companies have been using their Timelines in this way 'illegally' for some time.
With 50 million business Pages hosted on the network, companies need to consider a number of issues when it comes to Timeline promotions, according to a recent blog:
- Users' resistance to revealing personal information on a public platform.
- The potential volume of responses to a competition and the challenge of choosing a winner without breaking any local laws relating to online contests.
- The level of interactivity businesses want to give their fans.
- If the aim of a competition is to grow a business' fan base, it's not possible to prevent users from accessing certain content if they haven't Liked a Page.
- Branding consistency
Meanwhile, the way in which Facebook collects and uses data, also needs to be carefully examined, according to Gerd Leonhard, the Chief Executive of the Futures Agency. He indicated that Facebook will be 'dead in three years' if the company doesn't change the way it works.
The recent transparency of requesting permission to collect cookies has been innovative in giving people an understanding of what is happening to their data behind the scenes.
Trust between users and social media is vital or users will "vote with their mice" according to Leonhard.