Yogi Land

Jason Weaver is the CEO of Shoutlet, an enterprise social management software company he founded. He has been involved in social media strategy development since its inception for brands that include Disney, SC Johnson, and eBay. Follow him at @Shoutlet.

Facebook Timeline for businesses is officially here, and companies large and small are anticipating how the new changes will affect their existing Facebook presence. The early data creates a promising picture, with one report suggesting that brands are getting an average 46% more engagement with Timeline. But before we look too far in the future, let’s take a look at the major Facebook milestones that got us to this point.

SEE ALSO: 3 Reasons Facebook Brand Pages Are Good for Businesses

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Brand Pages (2007)

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Facebook has only been around for eight years, but what’s particularly hard to believe is that it was roughly five years ago that the social network opened up Facebook Pages, allowing brands and celebrities to create a profile dedicated to developing and posting original content meant to encourage fan interaction.

The introduction of brand pages is what moved the needle for Facebook, helping them make the transition from a networking platform for college kids to one that included young professionals. Since then, we’ve seen Facebook’s user base grow to more than 845 million monthly active users. Brand pages allowed this audience to build social relationships with a company for the first time ever.

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“Becoming a Fan” (2009)

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Brand pages were one of the first ways consumers could “raise their hand” online. By becoming a fan of a certain company, users said something about themselves to their friends. For brands, this meant developing content and a voice for an entirely new channel, one that taught many of them about what resonated with current and potential customers. This created a shift in how social media was viewed by businesses. It went from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have” business tool. Now, we’re seeing companies invest heavily in their social presence due to the incredible value of social fans.

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Contests and Promotions (2009)

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With contests and promotions, updated and expanded in 2009, brands grew their fan bases. A fan’s involvement in a contest or promotion told that fan’s network that they thought a brand was cool, and that others should consider becoming fans, too. For businesses, contests and promotions opened up conversations about fan-driven revenue and the monetary value of a Facebook presence.

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Storefronts and Ads (2010)

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As Facebook became a hub for product sharing, brands started seeing the potential in using it to make money directly from the platform. Facebook commerce was particularly seen as a way to develop a source of additional revenue, but the value wasn’t just in the click-to-conversion. Product popularity was boosted by sharing among networks, and brands began to learn which products were hot among various audience sets.

This year, Facebook unveiled the ads premium model, where marketers will be able to take page posts and turn them into ads. These ads can be targeted to anyone. The combination of ads plus social commerce is a natural way for a brand to bolster certain products. This revolutionary step was the perfect lead into Timeline.

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Facebook Timeline (2012)

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So what does the switch to Facebook Timeline for brands mean now? It means telling brand stories and sharing engaging content takes center stage. Everything from the cover photo to milestones is a part of a brand’s ability to add to its online persona. Instead of disparate posts, Timeline is designed to allow a brand to truly narrate a story, over time.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, -Oxford-

More About: contributor, Facebook, features, Social Media

Virtual business card company CardFlick is giving its products a new look with the introduction of Instacards, a web-based feature that now allows you to create virtual business cards using your Facebook and Instagram photos.

Cards created using the service can be shared — or “flicked” — to others who are using the app, as well as emailed to new or existing contacts. CardFlick has been downloaded more than 80,000 times, and according to founder Ketan Anjaria, the average Instacard user shares those cards eight times a week versus the roughly two shares a traditional card built on the app sees.

“Design separates the best,” Anjaria told Mashable, “When you meet people, your first impression is everything.”

CardFlick is part of a growing number of virtual business card apps. In November, LinkedIn announced CardMunch, an app that allows you to take a picture of a traditional paper business card you receive and then save the content of the card as a contact in your phone. The app also integrates information from a person’s LinkedIn profile into the experience, so you can instantly see education and work experiences you might have in common with the person.

SEE ALSO: Is It Time To Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards?

If you’re excited about the prospect of putting your Facebook pictures on cards but aren’t ready to go virtual, the company Moo also started offering paper business cards this year designed to mimick your Facebook Timeline. There are also quite a few other unique traditional business card companies out there that can help you create memorable paper business cards.

Do you think virtual business cards on on their way to replacing their paper counterparts? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

More About: apps, business card, Facebook, instagram

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The Lytro camera, which launched this past Wednesday, takes photos that the user can refocus after the fact. It’s a cool trick — and you can experience it via the photo below — but it’s really just scratching the surface of what the technology behind the camera can do. Soon users will be able to create 3D effects and even, with upgraded equipment, shoot slow-motion wraparound video like the kind seen in the Matrix movies.

The Lytro creates its “living pictures” by capturing the entire light field, not just the color and intensity of light but also the direction of individual rays. The technology behind putting light-field capture into a small camera was about a decade in the making, based on research done by the company’s CEO, Ren Ng, as a graduate student at Stanford.

“Through a series of serendipitous moments,” Lytro vice president of marketing Kira Wampler explains, “Ren taught himself how to build the camera because he was so driven by this desire to take this room full of cameras and miniaturize it in such a way that real people could take advantage of taking pictures with the light field.”

Now that it’s released its first camera, Lytro has a long list of features and enhancements that it intends to pursue. Early adopters of the Lytro camera needn’t worry too much either — since the files the camera produces store all the light-field information of a scene, anything Lytro releases to take advantage of that data can be used on old pics.

First on the agenda: 3D. Lytro has already demonstrated how it’s relatively easy to use the light field to create a 3D effect on a photo. Moreover, you’ll be able to click and drag the photo to change the angle of the 3D perspective. The effect will be limited to what the camera can see, however, equivalent to moving your head an few inches in each direction.

A Lytro video camera is farther out, but it has the potential for an even more impressive effect. The light field, after all, is fundamentally the same idea used in the Matrix films to create the wraparound slow-motion effects often referred to as “bullet time.” By using more than one camera, possibly linked via wireless, Lytro users could recreate those effects on their own.

“It’s not that far away,” says Wampler. “If you had a camera over here and a camera over there — that know each other — then you can do bullet time.”

SEE ALSO: 13 Lytro Photos That Will Make You Look Twice

Besides different ways of using the light field, Lytro also says it’s going to add editing features in its desktop software, letting you do things like touch up exposure or crop photos. Pro-level features are also in the works, like being able to focus at a point in space even if there’s no object there in the photo.

“Editing will be very cool,” says Wampler. “One of the reasons we haven’t unleashed it yet is that we want it to be functionality that really takes advantage of the multidimensionality of the picture. For us, we have multiple layers. For example we could make the foreground black and white and the background sepia.”

Perhaps most importantly, the company says it will eventually make its proprietary file format — the .lfp format — available to any photo service that wants to adopt it. For example, Facebook could integrate it so instead of just sharing the photo, you could use it as your profile pic.

“It is a matter of when not if,” says Wampler. “Native adoption of the light field file format with other editing, sharing and organizing tools is a priority for us.”

What would you like to see Lytro work on next? Have your say in the comments.

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BONUS: The Lytro Camera

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Unboxing the Lytro

The Lytro packaging is thankfully sparse and simple, with very little unnecessary plastic.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: 3D, Facebook, light-field camera, Lytro, Matrix, Photoshop

One new Facebook music app is not allowed to use the word “listen” and the creator isn’t happy. Colin Costello, the disgruntled app creator of MusicsTalk.com, was told his app should use “play” to be an approved Facebook app.

Facebook music app developers who list “play” instead of “listen” have a better chance of getting their app onto the social media site.

To use “listen” in an app, Facebook says the developer must have a relationship with the rights owners, All Facebook was told in an email. Using the word “play,” requires no rights relationship between rights owner and app developer.

Facebook, it seems, is only allowing major partners to use the word “listen.” Some music apps, such as Rdio and Spotify — Facebook’s most popular music listening apps — can use the word.

Facebook’s Listen With app, which lets users DJ a playlist for friends, is also approved to “listen.”

“I wonder how many (other) actions are being reserved for their partners… If it’s a rights issue then why are developers allowed to use “play” without them checking to see if the appropriate relationships are in place with the rights owners? You’d think if the developer didn’t have the correct rights in place, Facebook would reject their action whether it was “listen,” “play” or “whatever,” Costello told All Facebook.

Watch the video to learn more about Facebook’s app and “listen” policy. Do you think its current policy is fair? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

More About: Facebook, spotify

Word to the wise: If you’re a juror in a trial, don’t friend the defendant on Facebook, or worse, brag about being kicked off the jury committee for said friend request.

Jacob Jock, a 29-year-old man living in Sarasota, Florida, was sentenced to three days in jail on Thursday for criminal contempt of court by Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan. The misdemeanor charge stemmed from a message he posted on his Facebook page after being dismissed from jury duty for sending a friend request to the defendant: “Score … I got dismissed!! apparently they frown upon sending a friend request to the defendant … haha.”

The incident began in December when Jock sent a friend request to Violetta Milerman, the defendant in an auto negligence case. The defendant informed her attorney about the request and Jock was removed from the jury. It wasn’t until Jock posted the message on his Facebook page that he was hauled into court.

Donnellan reprimanded Jock for his actions, reported the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, concluding a two-hour contempt-of-court hearing by saying, “I cannot think of a more insidious threat to the erosion of democracy than citizens who do not care.”

After the three-day jail sentence was announced, Jones was taken away in handcuffs as his girlfriend cried, but she has not commented on the matter.

Jock says he meant to click on “mutual friends” because he thought he may have known the defendant but accidentally requested her as a friend.

Keeping jurors away from social media may prove to be difficult for judges presiding over trials where juries are not sequestered. This isn’t the first case in which Facebook interfered with a trial. In August 2011, a very similar incident occurred when 22-year-old juror Jonathan Hudson of Texas sent a friend request to the female defendant.

Hudson was removed from the jury and faced four charges of contempt of court. Just a month earlier, a juror and defendant in the U.K. were convicted of contempt of court after mutually friending each other on Facebook. The Guardian said it was the first case involving contempt of court and the web.

What impact do you think social media will have on trials in the future? Tell us in the comments.

More About: Facebook, friend request

Zynga doesn’t just want to create and market games that people play in their down time. It wants that down time to be front and center.

In the company’s first call with investors, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said he wants to use his company’s influence to elevate the importance society puts on playing games. The measure of Zynga’s future success, he said, would depend more on its ability to do that than anything else.

“We really want to see ‘Play’ become a mainstream behavior in the West for everyone,” Pincus said. “We’d like to see Play reach the level of Search, Shop and Share. Our growth will be driven by the world making play part of their day rather than the next monetization mechanic.”

Nonetheless, Zynga has a couple of those monetization mechanics running quite well, seeing large growth with its advertising and user-payment revenue streams. Its fourth-quarter earnings saw a couple of big-name advertisers — Best Buy and McDonald’s — get on board with the company, and its user base (monthy unique users) grew from 111 million to 158 million.

Zynga COO John Schappert said that growth has a lot to do with how the company develops and markets its products.

“We develop games as live services, more like TV series than one-off movies,” said Schappert, clearly alluding to the typical launches and lifetimes of console games. Schappert noted that Zynga Poker, launched four years ago, continues to deliver excellent revenue for the company, with growing user base.

SEE ALSO: Facebook: Zynga Generates 12% of Our Revenue and We Need Them

Although the company’s growth is healthy, Zynga posted a net loss of $435 million for the last quarter. The company chalks that up to investing heavily in infrastructure and development of future titles, many of which haven’t launched yet. While the company spent $727 million total in R&D in 2011, the last quarter accounted for $445 million of that.

Zynga also spent a lot of time in 2011 working on its back-end infrastructure. The company now hosts 80% of its users in its Z Cloud, a proprietary cloud service that links users and holds game software — up from 20% at the beginning of 2011. As it works over 2012 to bring all of its users on board, some infrastructure costs will go down.

Among its 2011 titles, Zynga execs admitted that Mafia Wars 2 was a disappointment for the company, but that CastleVille, the latest title in the “Ville” franchise, was a surprise hit. Shappert noted that cross-promotion in other Zynga titles was a key ingredient in CastleVille‘s success.

As for what future titles are in the works, all Schappert would say was that Zynga “would like to be in every major category of Play,” and that they company was “excited” about what it had in the pipeline.

More About: Facebook, Gaming, social gaming, Zynga

Users of Facebook‘s apps — for Android, iPad and iPhone — may begin seeing ads as soon as early March, as the company looks to gain an addition revenue source before it goes public.

Sources close to the matter say Facebook has already discussed proposals with advertising agencies, according to the Financial Times. Facebook began running sponsored stories in December 2011. Featured stories will appear in the mobile news feed — similar to Twitter’s promoted tweets — mixed in with posts from your friends.

In Facebook’s paperwork for its Initial Public Offering, filed Feb. 1, the company pointed to mobile as a potential revenue source — and warned that the lack of mobile revenue was one of the things that could harm it. Nearly half of Facebook’s 845 million users access the site via mobile device.

One source told FT Facebook would incentivize advertisers to link within Facebook, rather than directing users off-site.

Facebook will hold an event for marketers in New York Feb. 29, so we can expect announcements of new ways they can use the social network. Facebook is yet to unveil Timeline brand pages, although that move is anticipated in coming weeks as Facebook rolls out Timeline for all users.

Will ads on Facebook mobile deter you from using the service? Is a smartphone screen too small for promoted stories? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Additional Facebook IPO Coverage

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• Facebook Files for $5 Billion IPO
• Facebook IPO Reveals How It Made $3.71 Billion in 2011
• 10 Giant Things Less Valuable Than Facebook
• Zuckerberg to Potential Shareholders: Facebook Is on a Social Mission
• Facebook IPO Filing Flings Open the Social Network Kimono
• Facebook: Zynga Generates 12% of Our Revenue and We Need Them
• Sheryl Sandberg Was Facebook’s Best-Paid Employee in 2011

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter

More About: Facebook, mobile ads

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News of Facebook‘s IPO swamped the Internet earlier this week, when the company’s 213-page S-1 document went up on the SEC’s website, promptly crashing it.

In addition to confirming previous reports that the filing was imminent, the document contained numerous interesting facts that many have long been wondering, such as the company’s revenue, how much Mark Zuckerberg makes, and who the company’s highest-paid employees are.

There were also several key company insights disclosed, such as the factors that Facebook considers to be risks.

Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg himself wrote a letter to potential shareholders, in which he said that Facebook was created for a “social mission – to make the world more open and connected.”

It’s a fascinating look at Facebook, but also a massive document full of legalese and complicated facts. We’ve done our best to break down the most important figures and bits of information, but now you can test yourself: how well do you know the Facebook IPO? Take our quiz below and let us know in the comments what questions you have.

More About: Facebook, facebook ipo, mark zuckerberg, Social Media

Facebook, if nothing else, is on a social mission, wrote Mark Zuckerberg in a personal letter filed within the company’s preliminary prospectus for Initial Public Offering.

Zuckerberg’s four-page message to potential investors provides a glimpse into what the 27-year-old CEO believes are Facebook’s priorities moving forward. The letter details the mission and values of the company.

For many users, Facebook is simply a space to socialize with friends and raise digital farms. But recreational utility is far from the limits Zuckerberg — and many others — see for the social network, which unites more than 800 million users worldwide.

Facebook is a space for exchanging ideas, providing a check on authority and pushing boundaries. To create the website that facilitates such grandiose objectives, Zuckerberg wants investors to know he encourages his employees to constantly take risks, work quickly and focus on potential impact.

Zuckerberg writes that, through the power of sharing content, Facebook has the potential to increase understanding of other by people across the planet.

We parceled through Zuckerberg’s letter and pulled out 10 highlights, which we think best explain the company’s core values. What do you think of Zuckerberg’s direction? Where do you see Facebook going, now that it’s public? Share your reactions in the comments.

Uniting People

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Additional Facebook IPO Coverage

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• Facebook Files for $5 Billion IPO
• Facebook IPO Reveals How It Made $3.71 Billion in 2011
• 10 Giant Things Less Valuable Than Facebook
• Zuckerberg to Potential Shareholders: Facebook Is on a Social Mission
• Facebook IPO Filing Flings Open the Social Network Kimono
• Facebook: Zynga Generates 12% of Our Revenue and We Need Them
• Sheryl Sandberg Was Facebook’s Best-Paid Employee in 2011
• Facebook: Here Are the 35 Things That Could Kill Our Company
• Facebook IPO: The Illustrated View
• Mark Zuckerberg Spent $700,000 Flying on Private Planes Last Year
• Facebook IPO: Reactions from the Social Web (and Zuckerberg)
• Will the IPO Change Facebook Forever?
• Facebook IPO: No, It’s Not Groundhog Day for the Bubble
• Facebook’s IPO: Reading Between the Lines
• The IPO Won’t Change Facebook. Online Ads Will

Image courtesy of wwwes; Flickr.

More About: Facebook, facebook ipo, mark zuckerberg

Ah, to live the luxurious life. Facebook announced on Wednesday via its filing for an initial public offering (IPO) how the company fared in 2011, and not surprisingly, its employees racked up (and spent) big money last year.

The Facebook IPO provided details about the base salary of the team, including founder Mark Zuckerberg pulling in a salary of $483,333, plus a $220,500 bonus and “other compensation” worth $783,529.

The filing noted that he spent nearly $700,000 for costs related to private plane use “chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program and on which family and friends flew during 2011.” That includes passenger fees, fuel, crew and catering costs. Another $90,850 of that amount was for “costs related to estate and financial planning.”

Executives were under fire several years ago amid the bank bailout crisis for spending top dollar on chartering private planes. But some high-paid executives — including Steve Jobs — still made some room for traveling in luxury. In fact, flying private was one of the few luxuries the Apple founder afforded himself.

SEE ALSO: Facebook IPO Filing Flings Open the Social Network Kimono

But Zuckerberg wasn’t the highest paid Facebook employee during 2011. In fact, COO Sheryl Sandberg — who earned a base salary of $300,000 — raked in $30.87 million last year.

However, if Facebook manages to raise this capital, it will be on a shortlist of the biggest tech IPOs of all time, and Zuckerberg’s net worth will skyrocket since he owns 28.4% of the company. In fact, Zuckerberg’s salary will fall to $1 annually starting Jan. 1, 2013.

Facebook — which earned $1 billion on sales of $3.7 billion in 2011 — now has 845 million active users on the site, up from the estimated 800 million using the site back in September. The company also noted that 250 million photos are uploaded daily and 2.7 billion likes and comments are made each day. Overall, there are a whopping 100 billion friendships on the site.

The full S-1 filing is available here.

Thumbnail courtesy of wwwes.

• Facebook Files for $5 Billion IPO
• Facebook IPO Reveals How It Made $3.71 Billion in 2011
• 10 Giant Things Less Valuable Than Facebook
• Zuckerberg to Potential Shareholders: Facebook Is on a Social Mission
• Facebook: Zynga Generates 12% of Our Revenue and We Need Them
• Sheryl Sandberg Was Facebook’s Best-Paid Employee in 2011

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BONUS: Facebook’s Road to IPO

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1. The Economy of Qatar

The country of Qatar's GDP adds up to about $98 billion.

Image courtesy of Flickr, thinkingjosh

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More About: Facebook, facebook ipo