Now, why would you want to do this? First and foremost, its extremely eye catching when viewing the timeline. Here’s an example of what it looks like.

Because it really stands out, visitors are more inclined to “like” your page or engage with you if they like your presentation.

Secondly, when clicked, the user will view the photo series in the “lightbox” view. This is exactly like a presentation and the description and user comments are shown oon the right. At this stage, the visitor is likely to comment, like or share any or all of the photos.

Again, this will broadcast your page and brand on your visitors profile page. You can also display hyperlinks in the description if you want to drive traffic to you other web properties.

Its also a great way to showcase your expertise on a particular subject. Doing it in a cool an innovative way will also boost credibility and reputation.

So here’s how to set this up for your Facebook page:

Step 1: Create a Presentation on Keynote or Powerpoint

Keynote and Powerpoint both have some very stylish themes to create graphic intensive presentations.

The key here is to keep it simple and ensure that your presentation topic is relevant to your market. Make sure each slide has ONE main point and ONE sub-point. Use lots of images to illustrate these points.

Step 2: Export the Photos as Images

Once you’re done creating your presentation in Keynote (or Powerpoint), export the presentation as images. Here’s a short note about the sizes. If you want the full image to be shown on the cover, then your images should be 840px wide by 400 px tall.

I like to stick to the default 1024 x 768 screen resolution in Keynote because I’m just too lazy to edit these in Photoshop. However, I turn that into an advantage because I leave the most important content on the part of the image that is visible. When they user clicks on the image and sees the image in the lightbox, the bottom of the image is revealed and I place instructions there to  click to scroll through the photos.

Step 3: Upload the Images to Facebook in a New Album

The exported slides are automatically numbered by Keynote in sequence. So just upload them to a new album.

Make sure that you upload them chronologically. It can be either the last slide first or the first slide first. This is because Facebook gives you the option to sort either way as long as they are in order.

Also, check the upload the images in “high quality” option so that the full detail in each slide is revealed.

Step 4: Edit the Descriptions of Each Album

Once, you photos are uploaded, its time to edit the album. The title and description is very important because this summary is what your visitors will see and also what your visitors friends will see when the album is shared.

In this step, you will also tell Facebook which album to use as the cover -make sure the correct one is chosen.

Finally, you can also add a description to each photo. This will appear as slide notes when the user is viewing them. The great thing here is that you are free to use hyperlinks so that you can link to your other web properties from the description.

Step 5: Feature the Album on Your Timeline

Lastly, once your edits are done, you should click on the start icon on the top right of the album and choose to highlight this album. Your cover photo will now take over the full width of your timeline and the other slides are displayed as thumbnails beneath it.

Now you’re all set! Good job!

If you want to see what this looks like live – visit my Facebook Timeline here. By the way, don’t forget to “like” my page to get more marketing tips and strategies.

At this present time, Facebook page owners can opt to upgrade their pages immediately or wait until 30 March 2012 when all Facebook pages (ready or not) will be automatically converted to the new format.

As marketers and business owners – here’s several key issues to look our for to get your page ready for this change.

1. Bye Bye Landing Page Tabs

One of my favorite features of Facebook Pages was the ability to add a customized landing page tab. With this flexible page, you could offer special incentives for visitors to “like” your page and get a small reward (usually some content).

With the new change, you can no longer set the landing page tab as the first page your visitors see. All visitors to your page will now see your cover image and latest entry in your page Timeline.

You can still modify apps like Static HTML to show fan and non-fan pages to create an incentive for people to join your page. However, for visitors to see your offer, they will have to voluntarily click on the app and that is quite unlikely for the majority of your visitors.

2. Importance of the Cover Photo

The most prominent feature on each page now is the cover photo. This is a 851 pixel wide and 315 pixel height image is your only chance to make a strong impact to visitors of your page.

However, there are some serious restrictions on what you can place in this area. Here’s the official requirements from Facebook:

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Here’s how some top brands are using the cover photos.

This is a bit more difficult for small businesses and individuals who are not global household brands. My recommendation is to place an attractive image that represents your business and add a subtle quote or slogan about what you or your business does.

3. Application Links

Although you can have up to 12 Apps in the info section below your cover photo, only 4 will be seen without the user having to click the “show more” arrow button. There’s still some room to use these areas to display innovative pages or features. For example, aside from photos, notes and events, you can choose to display your blog posts, top products, or an ethical bribe here. You can still add custom HTML pages for fans and non-fans.

In the example below, the LiveStrong page chose to have the photo app, a link to a page to share the message, a link to a page to share a story and their blog in the Apps section of the page.

4. Featuring Items on the Timeline With Milestones and “Pin to Top”

Without landing pages and prominent links to custom tabs, the choice of communicating important messages is left to the Timeline. There are 3 ways to make important content stand out.

First, you can choose the “Highlight” feature for your post. This makes your post take up the full width of the Timeline. However, as new posts are added by you or your fans, the content will move down the Timeline over time and get hidden.

That’s brings us to the second option – “Pin to Top”. You can click the “Edit” button for the post and then select the “Pin to Top” option. This moves that particular post right up to the top of the Timeline (just below the information box). It also flags the content with an orange bookmark icon on the top right of the post. However, this post will only take up either the left or right side of the Timeline even if you had previously chosen to “highlight” this post.

You can only have 1 pinned post at a time. Also, the pinned post will only stay up for a maximum of 7 days.

Finally, you can post “Milestone” items in your Timeline. You need to specify a date for the event, a title and a description. Additionally, the post is permanently features in full width and allows you to add a prominent image. This is great for if you want to outline an illustrious history of your company or brand.

5. New Admin Panel – Interact with Fans and Access Insights

The new admin panel places all the interactive elements of your page in one convenient place. You can see the latest activities in the Notifications panel and you can also see the latest fans who liked your page.

I particularly like the Messages option that allows direct communication with your fans.

Finally, you can access the Insights section to get very detailed demographic information about the people who like your page.

Conclusion

Like it or hate it, the bottom line is that these changes are coming. And you should not ignore using Facebook pages as a major component of your online marketing strategy.

I hope the pointers above helps you to better prepare your pages. If you’d like to take a look at mine, its here. I hope you take the time to drop by and like the my Facebook page.

How to Embed YouTube Videos

Firstly, here are the 5 simple steps to get the embed code for your YouTube video:

Note: The  iFrame type embed codes supports playback on Flash and HTML5 video. This means it will work on computers AND mobile devices. It will load either the AS3 player (Flash) or the HTML5 player depending on whether the viewer’s browser supports it.

The old embed code (if you choose it) is the AS3 player and will only work on computers and mobile devices that support Flash. I therefore do NOT recommend using the OLD embed code unless you are not concerned about the video not being playable on mobile Internet devices. I will now show you how to customize some common parameters for your video.

How to Customize Embed Code Parameters

For the newer IFrame embed codes, you would just add the parameter at the end of the Youtube URL. Start with the “?” to indicate that parameters will be added then use the “&” symbol to define each parameter.

For the old embed code, you will add the parameters to the end of the Youtube video URL after the “?version=3″ and using the “&” symbol to define the parameters.

Let’s look at some examples now to see how this works…

How to Enable Autoplay

In step 5 above, you are given the video embed code that uses an IFrame to embed the video. The code should look as follows:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/V3oJR5IAMxM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Now all you need to do to enable autoplay is to add the parameter “&autoplay=1″ to the end of the video URL in the embed code:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/V3oJR5IAMxM&autoplay=1” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

The same modification to the Old Embed Code (AS3) will be as follows:

<object width=”560″ height=”315″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/V3oJR5IAMxM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/V3oJR5IAMxM?version=3&autoplay=1&amp;hl=en_US” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”560″ height=”315″ allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true”></embed></object>

When you paste this code into any webpage or blog post, the video will now autoplay.

How to Start the Video at a Set Time

If you want to start the video 10 seconds into the video instead of right at the beginning, then you just add the parameter “&start=10″ to the end of the video URL in the embed code. The integer “10″ represents 10 seconds:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/V3oJR5IAMxM?&start=10” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

The same modification to the AS3 embed code would look like this:

<object width=”560″ height=”315″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/V3oJR5IAMxM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/V3oJR5IAMxM?version=3&start=10&amp;hl=en_US” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”560″ height=”315″ allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true”></embed></object>

When you paste this code into any webpage or blog post, the video will now begin playing 10 seconds into the video when the viewer clicks the play button.

Now let’s look at an example that combines a few parameters at once.

How to Autoplay the Video and Loop the Playback Video Over and Over

Its important to note that the “loop” parameter needs to work together with the “playlist” parameter. This means that we are looping a playlist that has only one video. So the embed code will look like this:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/V3oJR5IAMxM?rel=0&autoplay=1&loop=1&playlist=V3oJR5IAMxM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

The same modification in the AS3 embed code would look like this:

When you paste this code into any webpage or blog post, the video will now begin playing automatically and will loop over and over again (which is quite anoying really).

Now that you understand how to modify the various embed codes,  you can knock yourself out with all of the available parameters.

All Other Embed Code Parameters

There are many other parameters that can be used following the same principles outlined above. However, not all the parameters are universally compatible with the AS3 or HTML5 players. If a parameter is not compatible with the embedded player, it will just be ignored.

As good practice, I recommend using the only the newer IFrame embed codes and choosing parameters that are compatible with BOTH AS3 and HTML5 players.

The full list of configurable parameters and compatibility are as follows:

autohide (AS3 & HTML5)
Values: 0, 1, and 2 (default). This parameter indicates whether the video controls will automatically hide after a video begins playing. The default behavior is for the video progress bar to fade out while the player controls (play button, volume control, etc.) remain visible.

• If this parameter is set to 0, the video progress bar and the video player controls will be visible throughout the video.
• If this parameter is set to 1, then the video progress bar and the player controls will slide out of view a couple of seconds after the video starts playing. They will only reappear if the user moves her mouse over the video player or presses a key on her keyboard.

autoplay (AS3 & HTML 5)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Sets whether or not the initial video will autoplay when the player loads.

cc_load_policy (AS3 Only)

Values: 1. Default is based on user preference. Setting to 1 will cause closed captions to be shown by default, even if the user has turned captions off.

color (AS3 Only)
This parameter specifies the color that will be used in the player’s video progress bar to highlight the amount of the video that the viewer has already seen. Valid parameter values are red and white, and, by default, the player will use the color red in the video progress bar. See the YouTube API blog for more information about color options.

Note: This parameter is supported in the AS3 embedded player and in IFrame embeds that load the AS3 player. (IFrame embeds could also load the HTML5 player.) However, using the color parameter will disable the modestbranding option in the embedded player.

controls (AS3 & HTML5)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. This parameter indicates whether the video player controls will display. If this parameter is set to 0, then the player controls will not display, causing the player to look like the chromeless player.

disablekb (AS3 Only)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 will disable the player keyboard controls. Keyboard controls are as follows:
Spacebar: Play / Pause
Arrow Left: Jump back 10% in the current video
Arrow Right: Jump ahead 10% in the current video
Arrow Up: Volume up
Arrow Down: Volume Down

enablejsapi (AS3 & HTML 5)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting this to 1 will enable the Javascript API. For more information on the Javascript API and how to use it, see the JavaScript API documentation.

fs (AS3 Only)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables the fullscreen button in the embedded player and does not affect the chromeless player. The fullscreen option will not work if you load the YouTube player into another SWF. Note that you must include some extra arguments to your embed code for this to work. The bold text in the following example is required to enable fullscreen functionality:

<object width=”425″ height=”344″>
<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?fs=1″</param>
<param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param>
<param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”></param>
<embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/u1zgFlCw8Aw?fs=1″
type=”application/x-shockwave-flash”
allowfullscreen=”true”
allowscriptaccess=”always”
width=”425″ height=”344″>
</embed>
</object>

hd (Not Required)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. Setting to 1 enables HD playback by default. This has no effect on the Chromeless Player. This also has no effect if an HD version of the video is not available. If you enable this option, keep in mind that users with a slower connection may have an sub-optimal experience unless they turn off HD. You should ensure your player is large enough to display the video in its native resolution.

Note: The AS3 player will automatically play the version of the video that is appropriate for your player’s size. If an HD version of a video is available in the AS3 player and that is the appropriate version for your player, then that is the version that will play.

iv_load_policy (AS3 Only)
Values: 1 or 3. Default is 1. Setting to 1 will cause video annotations to be shown by default, whereas setting to 3 will cause video annotation to not be shown by default.

loop (AS3 & HTML5)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 0. In the case of a single video player, a setting of 1 will cause the player to play the initial video again and again. In the case of a playlist player (or custom player), the player will play the entire playlist and then start again at the first video.

Note: This parameter has limited support in the AS3 player and in IFrame embeds, which could load either the AS3 or HTML5 player. Currently, the loop parameter only works in the AS3 player when used in conjunction with the playlist parameter. To loop a single video, set the loop parameter value to 1 and set the playlist parameter value to the same video ID already specified in the Player API URL:

http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3&loop=1&playlist=VIDEO_ID

modestbranding (AS3 Only)

This parameter lets you use a YouTube player that does not show a YouTube logo. Set the parameter value to 1 to prevent the YouTube logo from displaying in the control bar. Note that a small YouTube text label will still display in the upper-right corner of a paused video when the user’s mouse pointer hovers over the player.

Note: This parameter is supported in the AS3 embedded player and in IFrame embeds that load the AS3 player. (IFrame embeds could also load the HTML5 player.)

origin (AS3 & HTML5)
This parameter provides an extra security measure for the IFrame API and is only supported for IFrame embeds. If you are using the IFrame API, which means you are setting the enablejsapi parameter value to 1, you should always specify your domain as the origin parameter value.

playerapiid (AS3 Only)
Value can be any alphanumeric string. This setting is used in conjunction with the JavaScript API. See the JavaScript API documentation for details.

playlist (AS3 & HTML5)
Value is a comma-separated list of video IDs to play. If you specify a value, the first video that plays will be the VIDEO_ID specified in the URL path, and the videos specified in the playlist parameter will play thereafter.

rel (AS3 Only)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. Sets whether the player should load related videos once playback of the initial video starts. Related videos are displayed in the “genie menu” when the menu button is pressed. The player search functionality will be disabled if rel is set to 0.

showinfo (AS3 Only)
Values: 0 or 1. Default is 1. Setting to 0 causes the player to not display information like the video title and uploader before the video starts playing.

start (AS3 & HTML5)

Values: A positive integer. This parameter causes the player to begin playing the video at the given number of seconds from the start of the video. Note that similar to the seekTo function, the player will look for the closest keyframe to the time you specify. This means sometimes the play head may seek to just before the requested time, usually no more than ~2 seconds.

theme (AS3 & HTML5)
This parameter indicates whether the embedded player will display player controls (like a ‘play’ button or volume control) within a dark or light control bar. Valid parameter values are dark and light, and, by default, the player will display player controls using the dark theme. See the YouTube API blog for more information about the dark and light themes.

It tells the story of the company from its almost accidental beginnings to where it is now with over 800 million users and also explores what may be for the future of the company.

I also like the way that is explores the story from very diverse points of views. In other words, you get to hear directly from Mark Zuckerberg but also from users, VCs, his dorm buddy, advertising companies and even a lady who does Facebook marketing as a consulting business for other businesses.

All in all, it s great piece to give you a inside look into Facebook. After all, when Facebook goes public on its planned IPO next year, there will be a lot more changes that will impact us either directly as one of the 800 million users or indirectly.

On Sept 29, Facebook will release a new interface for your profile page called “timeline”. As the name suggests, this will display your entire life as a timeline. It will show updates, checkins, photos, videos and almost everything you have posted on Facebook all the way to your…well, birth!

Here’s a video to show what it’s all about:

Why Facebook Timeline?

First Facebook succeeded in letting you connect with friends…lots of them. Next, they allowed you to like objects like sites, news stories, pictures, videos and so on. Now Facebook is adding a new dimension where you can add any “verb” to anything on the web!

This allows many web 2.0 apps that a lot of people are using to become more “social”. Here’s an intro to the “new” social apps on Facebook:

Finally, if you want to get familiar with your timeline before the official launch, I made a quick video to show you how to get it right now:

Here’s what my timeline looks like at the moment. I do think this is a great feature because:

1. The design is clean and quite stylish (like a personal blog)
2. It allows you full control over of what is published
3. It allows you full control over who gets to see what you publish
4. There are new tools to share significant life events
5. Many apps that I use like Nike+ apps and music or movie apps can be integrated directly and passively

Anyway, check it out for yourself and see if you like it. :)

Facebook is awesome. Its hard to deny that. I use it (like most people) to connect with friends and family near and far. But I also use it for my business connections and for networking. Its a good idea to keep these two groups separate. Here’s a blog post I wrote some time back about why to keep your personal and business Facebook activity separate.

So if you’re going to create a fan page, how do you make a Facebook Page that your fans will like (literally)? Here are 5 essential “best-practice” tips I can offer to you to make a Facebook fan page that actually works:

Tip #1: The Facebook Page Profile Picture

• Include a profile picture that gives your visitors information about what you are about. Tell your visitors what they will get by connecting with your page.
• The largest size possible for a profile picture is 200 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall. So make full use of that space.
• You could also use a QR Code in your profile picture so your fans can add you to their contact list easily. Here’s a blog post about how to make use of QR codes.
• Finally, you can crop your larger profile picture so that the thumbnail that appears in your status updates appears like a normal head shot. This option automatically appears after you upload a new profile picture. But if you need to access it, just go to “edit page” then click on the “profile picture” option then click on “Edit Thumbnai”

Tip #2: The Facebook Landing Page (Static HTML Version)

• By default, you landing page is your fan page wall. But in the “Manage Permissions” section, you can select a page to use as a welcome page for your visitors. You can use this page to tell them why they should join your page.

• You could also add free apps like: Static HTML: iframe tabs app to your page. With this app, you can show non-fans a different page and send them to another HTML page after they click on the like button. This tool allows you to create incentives like give away free reports, or have your fans sign up to an autoresponder newsletter.

• For my own fan page – I kept it simple by creating a cheeky graphic asking “are you awesome?” and if you click on the “like” button, the next graphic shows “Yes, you are awesome!” page. You can check out my fan page here: http://facebook.com/brianwong.tv

Tip #3: Use Facebook as Your Fan Page (Instead of Your Profile Page)

• When you log in as the admin of your page, you can click on the option on the right sidebar to use Facebook as your fan page. This allows you to tag photos, leave wall posts, likes and other Facebook actions on other pages that lead back to your page.
• So use this option to tag photos you have with other people who already have a lot of friends or famous people with a lot of fans. You can also interact by adding valuable content on wall posts or useful links and videos on other Facebook pages. This will show a little bit about what you are about, and lead traffic back to your fan page.
• Don’t worry – you can switch back and forth between using FB as your fan page and as your own personal profile anytime and as often as you wish.

Tip #4: Use the Facebook Page Photo Wall to You Advantage

• Facebook displays your 5 most recent photos on the front page of your fan page. Instead of randomly allowing Facebook to select the photos, you could upload and select photos that best reflect what your page is about. You do this by putting your mouse over the top right of any photo you want removed and click on the “x” to remove it. Repeat this until you are left with just the photos that you want to display. If you make a mistake, then go to “edit page” and click on the “profile picture” option. Below it, you will see an option to “unhide” all those photos you removed earlier.
• How to use the photo wall? For example, you could include product images, photos of your facilities and any other photos that would tell your fans what your page is about. On the description of each of those photos, you should add a link or marketing information.
• You could also create separate fan pages for each of your key products and tag them from your main page.

Tip #5: Make Use of the Left Sidebar Elements

• On the left sidebar of your page, you can add a short paragraph to describe what your fan page is about. Don’t leave that blank.
• Also you could add apps that link to your other social media sites like YouTube, Twitter of your blog if you have one (you should have one).
• You could add other useful apps like slideshare app that allows you to include your presentation slides from Slideshare.net for example.
• In any case, the goal here is to show that your fan page is content rich so your visitor will be happy to become a fan.

Tip #6: Grab Your Preferred Facebook Page Name

• I know I said 5 tips but I left out the most important one – grab a nickname for your page URL.
• Facebook requires your page to have at least 25 fans before you can do this.
• So as soon as you reach 25 fans (get your buddies to fan it) – go to http://facebook.com/username and select a name for your page.

Infographic by computer school.org

Take a look at this great infographic created by Pingdom:

With the growth of social networking, I am finding it increasingly difficult to separate business connections and personal connections. As social networking continues to grow, I’m sure many of you are facing (or has already faced) the same dilemma.

Initially, I used to get many “friend” requests from old friends and lost contacts. However, as I’ve been increasing my online presence through blogging and “Twittering”, I’ve been seeing more and more friend requests from people I don’t know personally.

For the record – I think this is a GREAT thing as I really like connecting with new people. I’ve created great friendships and found great business partners with people I have never met physically. But at the same time, I’m now finding it difficult to see the feeds and updates of my “real” friends as opposed to my virtual friends on Facebook.

You see, I used to add all Facebook friend requests (except for the obvious spammers) but I would use the “Limited Profile” feature for people that I have not met in person. But now, as I am approaching 1,000 friends on Facebook, this method is no longer feasible.

This has led me to the “Great UnFriend” exercise for 2010. I need to set some guidelines for who I add as a friend and how to manage other virtual connections. I also need to remove contacts that were previously added that do not meet these guidelines.

I apologize if this affects you. Its nothing personal, I still want to connect with you but in way that is more practical. I’m sure many people can relate to this exercise as quite a necessity.

Here’s what I’ve come up with…

Connect Rules for Facebook and LinkedIn – I will only add people with whom:

1. I have met personally
2. I have communicated with on Skype or email
3. I have been introduced to or is recommended by an existing friend

For all other requests, we can still connect:

1. On Twitter – http://twitter.com/brianwong
2. On Facebook Public Page – http://facebook.brianwong.com
3. On my Blog by subscribing and commenting at http://brianwong.com/blog

Do you have rules and guidelines for who you add as friends on Facebook?

Technorati Tags: facebook, linkedin, twitter, unfriend