Here’s a quick update of some Twitter changes being made that were announced this morning.  The updates are obvious improvements of their service that although may initially interrupt some services for a short period while apps get up to speed, but my guess is most of the reputable apps are already on board and prepared for the switch.  Both updates also appear to be directly related to the user experience and protecting Twitter users from Twitter hackers:

Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.

What are applications?

There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications likeTweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, orTopsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.

Update 1: New authorization rules for applications

Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.

What’s OAuth?

• OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
• Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.

What does this mean for me?

• Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
• If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
• Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
• All applications you have authorized will be listed athttp://twitter.com/settings/connections.
• You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping

In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.

You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.

What does this mean for me?

• A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
• You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
• When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.

Facebook ‘Land’ Pages, Not Fan Pages

More than 1.5 million businesses have a presence within Facebook, mostly through the use of Fan Pages. A recent SmartBrief on Social Media poll reported that over 73% of respondents had a fan page, and another 9% were considering it. 

The problem is that many, if not most businesses focus solely on the “conversation” side of the equation and don’t realize there is also a “conversion” side as well — conversions which can come in the form of sales leads, direct sales transactions, webinar registrations, email newsletter subscriptions and more. Oh, and let’s not forget traffic to the company Website too. That certainly qualifies as a conversion. 

With that in mind, I want to introduce a new concept. Don’t think of these as fan pages. Think of them as “land” pages instead (as in landing pages). 

The use of landing pages (or “squeeze pages” as some refer to them) are a long-standing staple in online marketing. It’s commonplace to see them used in concert with Google Adwords, email marketing and online advertising. Nothing new about that. What is new is the use of them as part of a “conversation + conversion” methodology, in this case on Facebook. 

Here are a few stellar examples of fan pages that employ this landing page idea (click each image to see a larger version). 

In each case, there is a specific call to action associated with the page. 

Take Genetic Demin, for example. They are a luxury denim designer worn by celebrities like Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Halle Berry, Britney Spears and Kristen Stewart.

They offered a discount code for 20% off Genetic Jeans to fans and within 30 minutes of the page going live, there were 17 sales totaling $2150. Not too bad for a custom page that cost them $295 to develop. 

(Statistics courtesy of the page developer, Mary McKnight.)

FACEBOOK MARKETING

Having an attractive landing page with a compelling offer is one thing, but getting traffic to it is another. I can think of two primary ways that can happen within Facebook itself: word of mouth for existing fans and the use of Facebook advertising. 

Facebook Ads uses a bidding system similar to Google Adwords, just much simpler. You place bids based on either a CPM or CPC basis. Ad campaigns are easy to create and can be setup right from the fan page. You can create several campaigns and micro-target each of them to attract a particular audience. 

In fact, the best thing about the system is its targeting capabilities. You can select by geographic location, age, gender, education, keywords and more. 

The worst thing about Facebook Ads is that they are notorious for low click-thru rates. But, the cost is dirt cheap, so you can afford to purchase more. And, the better you target, the better your ads will convert. 

How do you know who to target? 

That’s where Facebook Insights comes into play. It’s the analytics engine that runs behind the fan page giving you data on fans, including age, gender and location. You can also see fan interactions such as comments, likes, etc. 

If fan pages become landing pages and advertising is used as a primary way to drive traffic, this sounds strangely unlike the way social media has traditionally operated and very much like how traditional online advertising is conducted. The past meets the future. It’s called Social Commerce and it is what’s on the horizon, especially where Facebook is concerned.

What of the fans? 

This is not to minimize the value of engaging with fans in a conversational fashion, though using this landing page/ads scenario, it would be easy to dismiss that aspect. However, to do so is to “cut off your nose in spite of your face.” 

Your fans can be your biggest allies and the best salesforce you ever had in helping spread the message via word-of-mouth. If, as the in the case with Genetic Denim, you’ve got a good offer, the fans will indeed spread the word.

Ideally, the goal here is to pair a conversion mechanism together with the conversational aspect in a manner where one does not impinge upon the other, but compliments them. 

What types of conversions can be used? Several.

Direct sales - via the use of a shopping cart embedded in the fan page. A number of companies have developed Facebook-based shopping carts. 

Coupons - Genetic Demin offered a coupon code that could be used in the shopping cart. 

Email subscriptions - Practical Ecommerce has a newsletter signup form on its fan page. 

Lead generation - Why not have a special offer that requires the completion of a form, such as an ebook or whitepaper download or enrollment in a customer loyalty program. Once that data is captured, fans can be followed-up with via the use of email autoresponders such as AWeber or Infusionsoft. (The latter incorporates a CRM system within the marketing technology.) 

What we are experiencing is a seismic shift in thinking about the way social media works. I call it social media that sells. (Again, the term in common use is “social commerce.”)

Certainly, we are seeing a morphing of the medium from conversational marketing and relationship building alone to one that clearly supports sales and marketing initiatives in a much more tangible, trackable manner. I think that’s kind of a big deal and I’m anxious to see how this continues to develop over the next few months. 

What about you? Are you seeing this trend as well? If so, what do you think of it? 

Source:  Paul Chaney; Author of The Digital Handshake