'Net Features : facebook connect

LiveChat, Facebook Connect for More Personal Support

Linc Wonham — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Real-time software and e-commerce analytics provider LiveChat is integrating with Facebook’s massive, 750 million-plus user database in an effort to take online support to a whole new level.

By integrating Facebook Connect, LiveChat can present the name, picture and email address for each website visitor, along with any additional data made available from the visitor’s Facebook profile. Businesses can know exactly who their online visitors are and what their Likes are, turning these virtual interactions into deeper connections between seller and shopper.

Once a customer signs into LiveChat using their Facebook credentials, they will automatically be recognized by LiveChat on any other website that has the product installed. This creates a network effect and an additional value for merchants using the LiveChat platform.

E-commerce sites are able to tap into the vast amount of data in Facebook profiles to get to know their shoppers better and tailor the support, shopping and marketing processes to the unique interests and needs of each consumer. Below is an example from LiveChat of how the integration can work for retailers:

A high school football player named John is looking for a new pair of football shoes online. He’s undecided about which shoes to buy and an invitation to chat with a support representative pops up. With one click, John logs into LiveChat with his Facebook credentials. The operator he’s chatting with can instantly access John’s Facebook profile and learn that John plays as wide receiver for his high school team and that he’s a short, quick guy. The operator then makes a personalized suggestion for the best shoes for John, along with a discount offer on warm-up gear in John’s team colors.

LiveChat starts at $36 per month for a single agent, with discounts available for larger plans. Mobile applications including iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows 7 apps are free for active LiveChat customers.

Facebook Connect Driving Engagement, Website Visits

Mike Phillips — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:38:00 GMT

Facebook Connect launched one year ago and, so far, it's having a positive impact for website developers. In its simplest form, Facebook Connect allows website visitors to log in to websites and share content with a click - sending that website's content to the user's wall, which is then viewable by all of their friends and social connections, or as a private message. But it goes beyond that. Facebook Connect can also work with mobile devices, desktops and even gaming consoles. As users become more accustomed to sharing content through Facebook and essentially carrying their Facebook identities with them as they surf the Web, website owners have the possibility of their content being spread to a massive audience, very easily. This might have something to do with Facebook now being the Web's third-largest site where users watch online video. Logically, if you produce Web video, you will certainly want a Facebook Connect button right next to it so users can share it with their network.

From Facebook's Ethan Beard, who leads the Facebook Developer Network: "From social widgets like the Comments Box, Share button and Live Stream Box to deeper integrations including log in, Facebook Connect is helping developers drive more traffic to their site, ease the registration process, and provide a more engaging experience for users. By adding social elements through Facebook Connect, websites in a variety of verticals are revolutionizing industries."

Below are some pretty impressive numbers that show not only the scope of implementation of Facebook Connect, but also the potentional. Either way, there are more than 350 million Facebook users, and however they decide to share content is good for website owners. News like this is even more important in light of Google's recently launched real-time search. Learn more about Facebook Connect and how to implement it on your site.

More than 80,000 websites and devices have implemented Facebook Connect
More than 60 million Facebook users are engaging with Facebook Connect on external services each month
Two-thirds of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites have implemented Facebook Connect

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Social & Local; Now More Than Ever

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:14:00 GMT

Just a quick note: Yelp announced a new feature which makes social media more relevant to your offline (local) business than ever before. The new feature lets users share Yelp reviews with Facebook and Twitter.

It's easy to imagine that many Yelp users were already doing this but with a direct integration count on it being a much more prominent activity now. Upon completing a review, users are presented with an option to choose sharing the information they just posted.

Quick look at Yelp growth year-over-year:

Facebook API: Status, Notes, Links and Video

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:14:00 GMT

Facebook announced the release of several APIs for their platform over the weekend.

Content developers have been openly clamoring for access to new interfaces like these: Facebook status, Notes, Links (posted items), and Video. Developers' applications will now be able to direct access to all of a user's visible status, links and notes via new methods and FQL (Facebook Query Language) calls.

Facebook has also created new APIs for developers to post links, create notes or upload videos for users, and made setting a user's status easier. Clearly, these improvements are made to bring other sites into the Facebook fold. Potential is limitless really. There is a good example of how a travel website might use the new API, but virtually any dynamic site could use Facebook Connect now to allow users to post links from their site and even feature links that a site's users have shared.

Facebook Connect Now Available

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:52:00 GMT

Facebook announced the general availability of Facebook Connect, a service which enables users of the social network powerhouse to combine their Facebook experience with any participating website, desktop application or mobile device.

Facebook Connect is essentially a Web platform that lets users connect their Facebook account (and its information) with your website. Users of sites that have deployed Facebook Connect will be able to socialize directly with members of their network who might also use the site. The advantage of deploying Facebook Connect is that it provides the ability for your users to automatically share information and the actions that they take on the Facebook site and through their personal network, which offers a tremendous opportunity to gain exposure.

Over 100 websites implemented Facebook Connect during the testing period or are set to release in the coming weeks. Examples include: Citysearch, CNET and TheInsider.com by CBS Interactive, CNN.com/Forum, ConnectedWeddings, Gawker, Global Grind, Govit, Howcast, IndieGoGo, Inside Facebook, Joost, MoveOn, and MyBarackObama. Early results for several of these sites show that two out of three new registrations are generated through Facebook Connect, and these users have about 50 percent more engagement when compared to non-Facebook Connect users of a Website.

"Facebook Connect is great for our users and business alike. It makes the site more useful and gives us exposure to a whole new audience," said Jay Herratti, CEO of Citysearch. "Citysearch users will get a much richer experience, because they can now discover and share reviews on local businesses with friends they know and trust."