For the sake of saving time, if you’re not aware of what the Facebook Open Graph is then quickly familiarise yourself with it.
Open Graph apps
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There have been some colossal success stories, notably circulating around the Guardian, Spotify, RunKeeper, Pinterest and polyvore apps being the major winners but what about the rest and is the open graph the single, most important driver behind these success stories?
The guardian witnessed ridiculous growth towards the backend of 2011 and into 2012 and this was primarily down to the injection of ‘read articles’ being shot into everyone’s news feed, the guardian content was snappy, paradoxical and more pop culture than anything. It was highbrow buzz feed but delivered millions of impressions and hundreds of thousands of native app downloads, the Guardian caught the wave and rode it hard.
Spotify is still ticking away in our desktop versions and adoption of RunKeeper has been exponential for those of us who have the energy and gut for those hearty, autumn runs.
However, many are asking the question, ‘I’m no longer seeing activity from others in my news feed’ and right you would be, you’re not.
Facebook have pulled the rug from under your feet, they’ve given brands and startups a glimpse into the ‘relative’ power of their graph and will no doubt allow it to return in similar velocity with a structured payment model in place. Likewise for fans pages, if you wish to reach more than 15% of your fans, you have to ‘pay-per-promoted-post’ and the open graph is likely to impose even less affordable methods to reach new adopters.
This makes sense for Facebook, they won’t have to continue their assault on users with the most obscene ads (see Shell Below) and will be able to propogate their ideology of sharing via the graph AND make great money from it.
It’s not all rosy
For every success story there are at least 20 flops, while Spotify has seen ridiculous volumes of growth, their primary competitor, Rdio, has seen virtually no growth via the graph and yet arguably boasts a more superior and design conscious platform. Is it true? Is the open graph all about high velocity spam with no demand on great quality or value? If that is true, the open graph is positioned well to become the voice of broadcasting commercials, peppering us with products we don’t need while ignoring the better alternatives out there, creating one dimensional adoption, driven by the masses where the voice of reason is drowned out.
Facebook certainly needs to become more of a discovery platform to survive the longer haul, yet fatigue is already setting in across many of the features within the world’s most popular social network. Search is also not the answer as we move away from a search driven world.
Being solely reliant on Facebook for traffic and growth is not always wise either, going by the recent cool hunter debacle that ended in horror with no reprieve for the page and its admin.
Polyvore (founded in 2007 and built in 2006) was long successful before syncing with open graph, AirBnB does not attribute its growth to the open graph and many other apps have seen very little, or no growth through their allegiance.
Distancing yourself
While I’m not advocating you just sever all ties with utilising a property you have at your finger tips, startups need to adopt the plan A, B and C mantra, that is not banking on being featured in app stores to drive growth or relying on Facebook’s open graph to stimulate your dissemination to early adopters.
Uber are an example of growth without requiring Facebook to push the product and they’ve accomplished it on a shoestring budget by simply just being nice and a little candid. Roses for the girls on St. Valentines day, Ice Cream trucks, Chariots, aviators… bizarre but quirky, it worked and delivered millions of impressions across social media and general news. Sweet.
Uber handing out ice creams
But what are the practical ways to grow without the open graph at a rapid pace?
– Cleverly devised email strategies
– High volume, low influencer reach via Klout, Kred and Peer Index
– Invite only
– Socially woven fabric for impulse sharing that’s made easy!
None of these ways are guaranteed to be successful, there is no universal, bumper strategy that can deliver great results but a social login and reliance on Facebook’s open graph is not a growth strategy, it’s a very small piece of the jigsaw.
myaulter 