FACEBOOK'S OPEN GRAPH: A CONTROL CENTRE FOR THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION

An important, but under-reported part of the the recent Facebook Open Graph launch, is the power it gives brands in the spreading of ideas. Graphs are ideally designed, both theoretically and practically, for the diffusion of innovation.

I produced the diagram above a few years ago using the Friend Wheel app on Facebook and it illustrates my social graph on Facebook or put more simply my friends on Facebook. It also shows how they interconnect. We chat, share information, use apps, but these activities are confined within Facebook. Facebook Connect opened the rest of web to these connections. This meant that every time I logged-in or did something on a site with Facebook Connect I could share that content with my social graph via their newsfeeds. Facebook's recent launch of the Open Graph to replace Facebook Connect moves this all on one step further.

According to Facebook:

The Open Graph protocol enables you to integrate your web pages into the social graph. It is currently designed for web pages representing profiles of real-world things — things like movies, sports teams, celebrities, and restaurants. Once your pages become objects in the graph, users can establish connections to your pages as they do with Facebook Pages. Based on the structured data you provide via the Open Graph protocol, your pages show up richly across Facebook: in user profiles, within search results and in News Feed.

A lot of the reporting on the Facebook Open Graph launch has focused on the spreading of Facebook 'Like Buttons' over the web, which means that a visitor to CNN.com, for instance, can click a button to "like" certain news articles, and see which of their Facebook friends have endorsed content on other websites.

But for me the really powerful development, is that once somebody has liked your page, you can then directly communicate with them, and consequently their social graph using Facebook Fanpage functionality.

Again from Facebook:

Once users have liked your page, you can publish stream updates to the users who have liked your page and get statistics about your pages just like you can with Facebook Pages. To administer your page, you need to associate it with your Facebook account.

This means the people that have liked your page on Facebook, can be treated like Facebook Fans and you will be able to update your fans with news and information, and they'll be able to talk and connect with each other. The like function therefore becomes a tool for the diffusion of innovation, and spreading of ideas.

What perhaps is an even more profound development, is that a network of sites using this functionality will be sharing and providing data to Facebook, and helping it not only map social graphs, but also will now help it map and connect separate parts of the whole web.

Mark Zuckerberg said at the Open Graph launch:

"Yelp is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to small businesses. Pandora is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to music. If we can take these separate maps of the graph and pull them all together, then we can create a Web that's smarter, more social, more personalized, and more semantically aware"

Organising and mapping the web was supposed to be Google's job. Facebook's Open Graph is a huge threat to Google. If you thought the battle between these two giants was already intense, you haven't seen anything yet. I can't wait to see what Google's next move will be.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS - STARTING TO TAKE OFF

The Internet of Things is very quickly moving out of the hype stage. Wikipedia defines it as:

"The idea is as simple as its application is difficult. If all cans, books, shoes or parts of cars are equipped with minuscule identifying devices, daily life on our planet will undergo a transformation. Things like running out of stock or wasted products will no longer exist as we will know exactly what is being consumed on the other side of the globe. Theft will be a thing of the past as we will know where a product is at all times. The same applies to parcels lost in the post. If all objects of daily life, from yoghurt to an airplane, are equipped with radio tags, they can be identified and managed by computers in the same way humans can"

Over the last couple of years, we have had a few tasters of what it could mean, including Botanicals, the kits (pictured above) that:

"Lets plants reach out for human help! They offer a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates to your mobile phone. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love." botanicalls.com

Many of you will also know Baker Tweet as well.

"BakerTweet is a way for busy bakers to tell the world that something hot and fresh has just come out of the oven. It's as simple as turning the dial and hitting the button. All of the baker's followers get a Twitter alert to tell them that it's bun-time. Or bread time. Or whatever." bakertweet.com

Although both of these are clever, they are also gimmicky, and driven more for the press releases than any long lasting higher aim or profit motive (although I do see both Baker Tweet and Botanicals are selling their hardware).

The Internet of Things will be grander than both of these ideas, but they are interesting because they both give us a tantalising glimpse into what it could be.

IBM are currently making a big play for this area, under their smarter planet campaign. The IBM video below also gives a fantastic overview of what we are hyping today, but will be a key part of our day-to-day work much sooner than we initially anticipated.

IAB SOCIAL MEDIA COUNCIL LAUNCHES PRACTITIONERS CERTIFICATE

A key part of my agenda as chair of the IAB Social Media Council is to grow, and professionalise the industry. And as part of this effort to grow, and professionalise the industry, the IAB Social Media Council is launching a Practitioner Certificate to educate new starters. I'm personally very excited by this initiative.

The background:

The IAB Social Media Practitioner Certificate is a series of 5 sessions, all 2 hours in length - complete with coursework - designed to turn new starters within the industry into real experts. Social media is a vast, complex and thoroughly diverse space, so we believe that an introduction should be much more than a one-hour presentation. This is why we’re inviting 60 social media beginners to sign up and let us teach them how to become a social media practitioner.

We’ve employed the collective expertise of the IAB Social Media Council - representing media owners, creative, media and social agencies - to help nurture upcoming talent in the industry and provide young workers within the industry with the foundations needed to succeed.

Covering definitions of social media, industry research and all the case studies we can get our hands on, over 5 months our delegates will have all the latest, most practical knowledge at their fingertips. From word of mouth marketing to paid-for advertising, research and measurement to public affairs, this is an essential induction to the social media space.

More information, and to book:

To book a place click here IAB Social Media Council Practitioners Certificate