I’m excited to announce that I’ve turned the last 2+ years of Facebook blog posts into a book focused on Facebook: exciting campaigns, product development, virality, and platform developments. There are 200+ screenshots in the book and it’s an easy / fun / visual read.

The book, Mastering Facebook, is available:

- On Kindle, full color and links are enabled
- Paperback, black and white
- Paperback, color – unfortunately expensive due to 200+ screenshots – but looks good!)

Enjoy!

I am a sports nut. That shouldn’t be news if you follow me here or on Twitter / Facebook. I also spend my professional life on the web and looking at new technologies. In part because it is fun to think about – and in part due to personal frustrations – I’ll put those two together and brainstorm how the major leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) should improve their online product.

Note: obviously there are significant issues: content rights, ownership, players unions, etc. Let’s make the (ridiculous!) assumption those don’t come into play or that everyone wakes up and agrees these are important for leagues’ future health (NBA and MLB more so than the NFL).

1. Get an online identity.

Sounds simple and the below ideas are clearly focused on helping drive an identity. But look at these screenshots from NBA.com and NFL.com. I have no idea why I would visit these sites as opposed to ESPN.com or Twitter. They are mixtures of ads, promotions, stores, and news.

These sites are highly trafficked (see August list here) – but in August (when interest is at its max) NFL.com still represents just 40% of Yahoo’s traffic and 50% of ESPN’s. The brand is obviously there but the sites are not much more than navigational hubs.

The below ideas hopefully help create an identity and a reason for fans to visit and engage with their online properties.

2. That identity should be social.

I believe these websites should have four primary goals – probably in this order:

A. Promote the league, teams, players and partners.
B. Engage the fans.
C. Covert visitors to new properties / touch points: Twitter Followers, Facebook Fans, mobile users, etc…. recognize that fan activity is far broader than on your site.
D. Drive revenue (store, ads, etc)

The best way to directly drive points ‘B’ and ‘C’ and to indirectly impact ‘A’ and ‘D’ is by fully integrating social. More on the next point. But at the highest level, this means that the league sites should look more like a robust, branded Facebook Fan Page and less like your local newspaper site. Content should be dynamic, personalized and interact-able… not flat like your a local news article.

3. View me as an individual fan. Not a pageview.

Step 1 in making the sites more social is to view users as individuals… not as pageviews. How? Lets reimagine what NFL.com could be:

- via Facebook Connect, it recognizes my identity and prompts me to Like the NFL on FB
- it then asks me to like my favorite team(s)
- by ‘liking’, I automatically subscribe to team’s Facebook page (already subscribed to NFL)
- now NFL.com can feature content specifically crafted to my preferences and to my Facebook friends
- And they can quickly translate this from league to team to players

Those 20M uniques in August are suddenly *much* more valuable as connected users. And those 20M uniques are just the tip of the traffic iceberg… why? Those users are now:

- They are viral (hello Facebook Ticker!)

- They are shareable: instantly the NFL can have massive followings on Facebook & Twitter and can share that traffic with their teams.

- They are engageable: once you have users become fans / followers, the league can more effectively / efficiently engage with fans (and market / promote).

And now content flow can go both ways: on and off NFL.com. Just look at the Washington Post Social Reader as a good example.

4. Welcome social media. Don’t fear it. In fact, mandate it.

Encourage teams and players to use social media. Hell, mandate it. In the above example, you could have a Facebook page with 10M Dallas Cowboys fans. That’s as powerful as the team makes it.

Each team should have an official Facebook Page and Twitter account that is consistently named, branded, etc. The page should aggregate / promote the Facebook / Twitter pages of its players.

Fans should be able to subscribe to entire teams through a single follow button (ie a Dallas Cowboys officially curated Twitter list).

The league and its teams will clearly worry about player etiquette on Facebook & Twitter. But: they are going to use the platforms whether or not the league likes it… and the players will listen (and behave) if they appreciate the power of building a following & brand via social media. Bring in industry leaders to give crash courses in social. Make it a mandatory part of the rookie symposiums.

The end result:

- dynamic content that is unique to each league / team (unlike their news clippings)
- bigger followings for the league, team and players
- real-time connections with fans who are now more deeply engaged
- more control by the league and team

5. View the league as a set of teams. And teams as a set of players.

Connected to the two points above, think of the league sites as a collection of teams. And while it is the league’s duty to deliver league-wide news and promotions, it is also beneficial to promote each team. The above examples accomplished:
- building a social following for the league itself
- using that to promote individual teams
- and then using each team to promote its own brand and players

ESPN is beginning to figure this out with their personalities. See example here.

And just as the league should promote horizontally – the teams should also be asked to connect to others. Lightweight ways include:

- making sure all mentions are linkable (seems simple but so rarely done)
- official pages include links to other teams (on Facebook via favorite pages, Twitter via Lists)

6. Every league & team should hire a czar.

See the above screenshot. Enough said.

7. Go mobile.

The leagues are getting quite good at standalone apps (particularly MLB). But the same approach to social should be applied to mobile:

- There should be league apps.
- There should be standardized team apps.

Note: why team apps? for starters, the experience is better within a single app and the team can more proactively tailor content and brand. Secondly, traffic will be better (app store findability, promotion through team fan pages, etc).

- Those team apps should feature dynamic content beyond the box score (everyone has that).
- Leverage the above points to showcase team and player content
- Allow users to engage directly: follow, post, like, Q&A, etc.
- Deliver push notifications: alerts from favorite player. Scores. Injuries. Etc.

Those stand-alone apps should also pertain to in-stadium experiences / promotions. That obviously requires 3G and/or wifi to work in stadiums… which is a leap of faith today.

8. Make content available.

Figure out how to get around the rights issues and make as much content available as possible. Leverage the league website, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Full game coverage: allow me to subscribe to a team or league as I can with MLB At Bat (a perennial top grossing application.

Clips: make clips available and let users remix & share them. It’s a viral dream. You can even protect branding by controlling the experience either onsite or as a Facebook app.

Highlights: The NBA is great at releasing Top 10 Plays from Yesterday on their Facebook page. This becomes more powerful as their presence grows… and even more powerful as the team presences grow. My willingness to share a specific clip from my favorite team / player is far greater than from across the entire league.

9. Engage. Don’t just push.

Content is now a two-way street. Build experiences that encourage interaction by fans. And encourage personalities to be interactive. Learn from CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell – who really phenomenal on Twitter.

10. Welcome ESPN and the new media.
11. Similarly, concede what you won’t win.

Figure out strategically where it makes sense to leverage other properties and brands. In many cases, collaboration / aggregation will create a better product (again, see Washington Post’s Social Reader which incorporates content beyond WashingtonPost.com).

In other cases, it will allow the leagues to redeploy resources, focus elsewhere and still roll out better products. For instance, is the NFL really going to win fantasy sports? That’s ESPN’s domain. Work together and build ancillary products that support the experience and league.

More reading:

- ESPN Brings Twitter into Fantasy Football App. Getting Closer.
- Much to Learn from the NBA’s Facebook Fan Page
- My Response to Mark Cuban’s: Does ESPN.com Have a Twitter Problem?
- ESPN’s Mobile Application Strategy (and Ad Campaign to Match)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

A handful of quick, disorganized thoughts on Facebook’s announcements / releases this week:

Immersive

The activity ticker is immersive and really amplifies ‘viral’ potential. I have ‘liked’ (and listened and read and soon to be much watched, etc) so many more ‘things’ because each one of those actions is now viewable & actionable (whereas it was previously up to FB to cluster it as ‘top news’). It’s been fun and addictive. But it also requires a tighter social graph – so I’ve been unsubscribing from some brands and pages.

Relies on the Ticker

The movement to Facebook curated “Top News” and the ticker for the continuous stream is great for publishers / developers… assuming that users do in fact use the ticker (heavily I may add!). Will users watch and engage with the ticker when more content appears in it? Or if developers misuse the ticker?

Publisher Opportunity

Between the ticker and the open graph – publishers should be rushing to take advantage. There are two major opportunities:

- Ticker and canvas apps: increased virality, findability, sharability, etc. Actions will be amplified in ways that the feed couldn’t. There is a first mover advantage… see Spotify.

- Open graph: organize your content & actions internally… or become a node within the greater Facebook ecosystem. And the ability to then tie those into the Facebook profile and canvas applications is very powerful. Again, see Spotify:

Open Graph: More Than Games

This is an opportunity that opens the ecosystem beyond gaming and digital media. The open graph is an opportunity for industries like e-commerce that previously struggled to drive virality and make engaging on-Facebook experiences.

More than Spotify – Just Wait

Spotify was the marquee integration – and users are complaining that there is simply too much Spotify. That’s not a Facebook or Spotify issue – it’s a timing issue. More will come. And with the ticker, open graph, etc – the opportunity for new innovations is terrific.

For instance, here’s the Washington Post’s Social Reader. Between the ticker, the graph and their canvas app – this is truly social news reading. It really shines on the iPad (so give it a spin there).

Timeline is Gorgeous

Timeline represents the shift from newsfeed to identity & memory. That’s a big, long-lasting idea. The product video was spectacularly done – reminding me of the emotional connection that Apple and Facetime created with their ad campaign:

We Need Mobile…

Timeline doesn’t work on mobile. At least not how it is imagined and was demonstrated. For instance, on the iPad, you cannot scroll across the timeline or move the “cover” photo. It’s time for a mobile experience that allows timeline, ticker and ticker’s developer ecosystem to really shine.

In-Line Expansions

More to come here… but it is clear that Facebook is looking and behaving more like a browser. The use of expansion units is an attempt to integrate Facebook’s ever-growing list of features… without relying on new pageviews.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Robert Scoble of Building43.com and taking about Dogpatch Labs, entrepreneurship and Polaris Venture Partners.

Scoble just posted the article, “Dogpatch Labs gives startups the room—and expertise—to thrive” and the video chat is included below.

I was first introduced to Robert at other Dogpatch Labs events – the most recently of which he gave a speech about the five companies and trends he is most excited about (if you are a Scoble follower on blog or Twitter, you know that Flipboard was absolutely in that list!). He enjoyed the space and the community of entrepreneurs, and we decided to do a piece on Dogpatch Labs:

I have been spending time on Quora answering questions around Dogpatch Labs, incubators, venture capital, etc. As I receive some questions frequently, I thought it would be worth while to re-purpose my answer for a couple selected topics. This is my second Quora answer post (see all here):

Are all companies in Pier 38 obligated to receive funding from Polaris Ventures if they become successful?

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: Dogpatch Labs is a ‘no strings attached’ workspace in that Polaris does not take equity in Dogpatch start ups, there is no right of first refusal, etc.

At Dogpatch, we put great effort into making sure that companies are exposed to a deep network of entrepreneurs, business partners, and angels / venture firms. We do this through ongoing networking events, demo / pitch days, etc.

Additionally, Dogpatch Labs entrepreneurs and companies represent a diverse mix of stage and focus. Some residents are mature, well-funded, revenue-producing companies. Others are concepts that have not-yet made it to market. … and everything in between.

To put numbers to this:

In Dogpatch San Francisco alone, 30+ companies have received funding by a variety of investors (angels, ‘super angels’, venture firms, etc). Including Boston and NYC, it is a much larger number.

Across the three Dogpatch Labs collectively (SF, NYC and Boston), Polaris has participated in the funding of eight companies.

You can learn more about Dogpatch Labs here: http://dogpatchlabs.com/

I have been spending time on Quora answering questions around Dogpatch Labs, incubators, venture capital, etc. As I receive some questions frequently, I thought it would be worth while to re-purpose my answer for a couple selected topics.

Over the next week, I will couple of the related topics specifically on Dogpatch Labs. I will only post my response – but can get other answers on Quora (I will provide the link). You can also follow me directly at Quora/Ryan-Spoon

Question: What benefits can your startup get by joining Dogpatch Labs compared to just leasing an office space at Pier 38?

There are terrific entrepreneurs and companies across both DogpatchLabs (you can see Dogpatch residents here: http://dogpatchlabs.com/dogpatch…) and Pier 38 (ie Social Media, Automattic, Cotweet, individuals, etc).

I will focus on the benefits of Dogpatch Labs – which accounts for ~65 of the entrepreneurs in the pier (making it the largest ‘group’):

1. Direct Community

Your peers are fellow entrepreneurs who you will be working alongside during your six-month stay. You get to know a diverse group of individuals & companies who are all going through similar experiences. We have had residents with experience at Google, Yahoo, eBay, Microsoft, Zynga, Slide, Facebook, Imeem, and so forth. The companies are all at different stages – from concept to revenue producing – and the residents are roughly split between engineering and business.

2. Community Beyond San Francisco & Your “Class”

Related to the above bullet, Dogpatchers are connected with residents at each of our locations (SF, NYC and Boston) and with ‘graduates’. In total, that is a community of ~300 entrepreneurs each year.

3. People Flow

One of the great benefits of being within Dogpatch is the flow of great people who come through the lab – whether it be for meetings, workspace, events, etc. Residents are encouraged to take meetings in the common areas, on the pier, in the meeting rooms, etc – opening everyone to new people and potential partners.

4. Events

We host approximately an event a week at Dogpatch Labs. Some are informal gatherings (social, catch ups, etc) and some are more formal / elaborate. For instance, we have done angel nights, demo days, themed dinners (such as mobile) and events with major partners and speakers – including: Facebook, TechCrunch, Venturebeat, Robert Scoble, Hiten Shah / KISSmetrics, etc. Some events are open to the Pier but most are focused specifically for Dogpatch Labs residents (both past and current).

5. Location

Tough to beat the views:
http://www.facebook.com/dogpatchlabs

Thanks to the iPad, I have been on a documentary kick: both Netflix and iTunes make it easy to access interesting content that I otherwise wouldn’t think to watch. Combined with the iPad’s portability, consuming documentaries like Art & Copy (highly recommended!), Food Inc (recommended), A Lawyer Walks into a Bar (mildly recommended), etc.

The latest is Gary Hutwist’s Objectified. Hutwist previously released Helvetica, “which looked at the worlds of typography and graphic design”. Objectified is a direct relative, focusing on “industrial design and product design, and our relationship with the manufactured objects that surround us.”

It is well done and focuses on a combination of analog and digital brands/products (most significantly Apple). While Objectified concentrates on physical product design, it is highly relevant to web and software design.

Below is a list of guiding principles spurted out by Dieter Rams, former designer director Braun. I am sure that he has thought long and hard about these principles previously – but it was nonetheless impressive how intuitively and calmly he spurted the following out. Again, they pertain specifically to physical creation – but each of the following are traits that exist in the best designed products as well as websites, experiences, navigations, etc. For instance, Apple’s iOS and Facebook can check each of the following:

Good design should be innovative.

Good design should male a product useful.

Good design is aesthetic design.

Good design will make a product understandable.

Good design is honest.

Good design is unobtrusive.

Good design is long lived.

Good design is consistent in every detail.

Last but not least, good design is as little design as possible.

Smashing Magazine has a terrific guide to designing “call to action buttons.” Design and optimization can increase conversions dramatically – just ask (and study!) these conversion-focused leaders:

- Social gaming: RockYou, Slide, Zynga, etc
- Flash Sales: Gilt Group, Rue La La
- Couponing: Groupon, LivingSocial

Smashing Magazine lists dozens of examples. I boil it down to the following:

- size and location: think of visiting a grocery store and what catches your eye in the aisle
- color and ‘clickability’: does the button stand out? does it change on hover?
- call to action and copy: what are you asking users to do? is it tempting? This dictates size and location…

With so many variables, the only way to optimize is thorough A/B testing. Cycle through messaging, placement, size… collect data and optimize upon that.

Looking for inspiration? Visit the companies listed above: they are industry leaders in funnel and conversion optimization. Here are two examples from LivingSocial & Groupon. Notice how each call to action has large & colorful buttons, clear messaging and conveys urgency:

Facebook’s vanity URL push (covered by TechCrunch) is a big deal for two reasons:
- the direct business model opportunity
- traffic via natural search

Let’s leave the business model alone for the now as it is unclear whether Facebook plans to tie a business model to vanity URLs (whether or not they choose to do so – users would certainly be willing to pay subscriptions for the ability to brand themselves on the web’s most popular social hub). Let’s also assume that, regardless of whether Facebook implements a direct revenue model, there will be indirect benefits particularly from brands and advertisers who will continue to build their on-Facebook activity (branding, advertising, content, etc).

The most direct benefit of vanity URLs, however, is traffic via natural search. Facebook is the web’s largest network and its most active social / content hub. In a people search, Facebook should by all accounts appear as either the first or second result (for most individuals). Yet they typically don’t… Google “Ryan Spoon” and you get:

#1. RyanSpoon.com (should be #1)
#2. LinkedIn (good content, but static)
#3. Twitter (my account ID is berecruited … so the optimization isn’t even there)
#4. CrunchBase (wow… that is high)
#5. 5Spoons.com (another personal site of mine)
#6. Mobile Twitter (fascinating this is so high)
#7. Facebook (other than RyanSpoon.com – this is where I contribute most of my content)
#8. Techmeme (an article of mine)

An optimized vanity URL should almost immediately move Facebook into the #2 result. As hot as Twitter is, Facebook is more than 10x in size and activity. Currently, Twitter sees about 10% of its visits arrive from Google. With some liberal math:

- 20m monthly visitors (Compete)
- ~200m monthly visits (Quantcast)
- 10% visits from Google (Compete)
- 20m monthly visits from Google

Assume that 50% of those visits are derivatives of Twitter’s brand name (generous) and you have 10m monthly visits from Google.

According to Quantcast, Facebook sees about four billion monthly visits – which is about 20x Twitter. This gives you a sense of what improvement in Google’s rankings could mean for Facebook – which currently, according to Compete, sees 7.9% of its visits from Google. If Facebook reaches reaches the 10% mark, the above match would mean that Facebook would realize an incremental 84m visits from Google. Of course, it could be argued that Facebook could / should move beyond the 10% mark (particularly if they surpass Twitter and LinkedIn and others in SEO)…. and those numbers get very big very quickly (15% would be ~275m incremental visits).

Whether the business model around vanity URLs is direct or indirect – the Facebook model is predicated on users and activity… both of which benefit significantly.