I’m extremely happy and relieved to say that “I’m on Facebook — Now What???” is off to the press, and the eBook is now available for purchase on the HappyAbout.info site.  It has been a long time coming, but we’re finished!  “I’m on Facebook — Now What???” is now officially one of the first books of its type available for sale, anywhere.  Jason and I are pretty proud of that, and hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed writing it.  If you’ve pre-ordered an eCopy, you have probably already received it, or will receive it in the next day.  Purchase your copy here!

We love reviews!  If you have a short review, we’ll post a link to Amazon.com for the book as soon as it is up, and you can post your reviews there.  The more reviews we have there I am told increases our visibility on Amazon, so feel free to write one up, but save it for when I post it here.  Also, you may start blogging about the book now!  Our publisher has a terrific affiliate program, so if you’d like to make a little money off of your review in your blog, you can do so here.  Also, don’t forget to add yourself as a fan to the Facebook Page, and subscribe to our blog at FacebookAdvice.com!  Thanks again to Jason for his hard work and example in writing the book - he has been an excellent co-author to work with.  Also, thanks to Lorenzen and Scoble for their great contributions to the Foreward and Afterward!

Wait, there’s more…

I’ve had so much fun writing this book, that I’ve decided to write another one.  Today, I just signed a contract with O’Reilly to write what will be probably the first published manual on Facebook FBML.  It will be a “small animals” book, which means it won’t quite be a full sized book, but it’s not quite a Pocket Reference either.  It will most likely be called, “FBML Essentials”.  So, if you’re a developer, anxious to develop Facebook applications, stay tuned!  I will probably be putting together a separate site for that book too, similar to what we have done for facebookadvice.com.  Please, feel free to share below your frustrations with Facebook development - I’d love to hear the most common complaints and perhaps resolve those in the book!

O’Reilly is also helping me get to Graphing Social Patterns West (no one has invited me to speak though, sorry - I am open for speaking engagements while I’m out there though!) March 3-4.  If I get any other appointments I might leave earlier in the week, so feel free to book me for your user group meetings, radio, TV, podcasts, or whatever while I’m out in the L.A./San Diego area (that is my home away from home, as my grandparents live there)!

On FacebookAdvice.com (the official blog for the book, “I’m On Facebook — Now What???”), I go over how you can use Facebook Notes tagging to get the attention of those with larger networks in Facebook. This is my first time using video, so be light on me! I see a lot of potential for using video in this manner, so expect more! Click here to read more on FacebookAdvice.com.

I just noticed, while browsing the I’m On Facebook — Now What??? Facebook Page that Facebook has now made their URLs search engine friendly. So now, instead of:

http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=6816644117

It is now:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-On-Facebook—Now-What/6816644117

This appears to apply only to public-facing Facebook Pages, and not User Profiles or Application About Pages (which are also supposed to be public). Thinking back on this, I don’t know why it took them so long - this is a very easy server configuration that makes a very large difference in search engine ranking. Will they do the same with other public facing pages in Facebook?

Jason and I are excited to announce that HappyAbout has launched their Pre-order page for “I’m On Facebook — Now What???”. You can order it here:

http://happyabout.info/facebook.php

The Paperback edition will sell for $19.95, but all those who order now get a 15% discount, making the book just $16.96. The eBook can be pre-ordered for $11.95. We are anxious to get this out to print quickly as one of the First books of its type on Facebook, so order quickly!

In addition to that, today we received our Afterword from Robert Scoble. Robert’s experiences with recently having his account closed (and re-opened) on Facebook are perfect timing for why this book was written. We are excited to have his contribution! Thank you Robert, for the hard work and time, even in the process of having your account closed by Facebook, CES, being so sick over the last few days, and switching jobs, that you have put into the Afterword.

Robert’s Afterword completes Lee Lorenzen’s Foreward for the book that we have already received. Lee, founder of Adonomics and Appaholic, and well known expert on the subject, is known for predicting that Facebook will be worth $100 billion, and thus far his prediction is very much on track! Thank you again Lee and Robert for such great additions to the book!

Again, order your books today!

UPDATE: Are you a blogger? HappyAbout, our publisher, has a great affiliate program! Sign up here for a commission when you blog about the book!

I’ve been working on a little side project lately, that I think will solve a lot of the headaches caused by lack of certain features in the Social Landscape. In the spirit of the book Jason and I are writing, my company, SocialOptimize.com is announcing the beta launch of SocialToo.com. What is it? It is intended to be a companion to the Social Web - the features you can’t find in the social landscape you will find here. Will it replace your Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or Plaxo account? Probably not, but it will make your experience in those Social Networks much better and compliment that experience.

Over the coming weeks (I have a strong release early, release often policy), you’ll see new features launched on the site that will make your Social experience better. The site is still very basic, but as a taste of what’s to come, for all those that sign up now we’ll enable auto following of all those that follow you on Twitter. Within the next week we’ll add the ability to blacklist those that follow you (so it doesn’t follow them). Soon after that we’ll add statistics, better bulk operations on your followers and following, and many more features. Soon we’ll start to incorporate Facebook data, linking your Twitter account with your Facebook account. After that, maybe Plaxo, or MySpace, or LinkedIn. These are all ideas of where we’re going with this.

So, I encourage all to register to find out what’s to come. Again, all those that register with their Twitter username and password will be automatically given auto-follow capabilities on their Twitter account! Keep following here and I’ll update as we progress.

There’s a storm a brewin’ in the Bay Area today, and it’s not just those rain clouds coming their way! For those following the Twitter Storm, and Scoble’s blog, Scoble was banned from Facebook today due to some testing he was doing with an unreleased version of Plaxo Pulse. While Scoble is understandably upset, I think he is unfairly putting the blame on Facebook.

In the book, we quote a point in the Terms of Service which says that you “[can’t] use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Service or the Site;” It would appear that Scoble might be better off blaming those at Plaxo that he trusted to have read that before giving him a script that explicitely violates the agreement. I think Scoble’s blame of Facebook is somewhat unfair. I hope Plaxo has apologized profusely to Scoble!

Here’s what I think Facebook should do in the future, now that another publicity nightmare is ensuing:

1. Of course, they should reinstate Scoble’s account - maybe a slap on the hand with an explanation for the rule if you still can’t allow that practice, but Scoble’s account should have never been disabled in the first place!
2. Whitelist Scoble, and any other A-list blogger from all your disable scripts! - Do this now! Scoble is not the first, and I guarantee won’t be the last if you keep doing this!
3. Work with Plaxo on an acceptable solution to the problem Scoble is trying to address - this could be an excellent opportunity to calm the waters, work with the two parties, and solve an issue of one of your biggest users and supporters
4. Disable the 5,000 limit for all those whitelisted above - Twitter has exceptions to their API and request limits, why can’t Facebook? All those generating serious traffic to Facebook should be treated as royalty IMO. Scoble deserves much better treatment.

What I think will come of all of this is I think something will finally be done to address some of the biggest issues facing Facebook today. I think finally some sort of Export method will be allowed for contacts (with privacy limits, I’m sure!). I also think the 5,000 friend limit will finally be lifted for Scoble, and the traffic on his site will more than double over today and as the situation unfolds.

My Co-Author, Jason Alba, is having a bad day today. I’m sure I haven’t helped, as we both have had somewhat heated discussions over the design of the cover of our book among other things (we think we’ve got a good idea for it though!). Not just that, but now I’m going to disagree on the points he made in his blog today.

While I’m of course very much for social networks (please, invite me to more!), while I’ve also probably sent Jason several large attachments as we’ve discussed our book back and forth (did I mention we now have a Facebook Page - become a fan!), while I’m sometimes a jerk, and I’m definitely a genius :-P, I understand his points in those items. What I don’t agree about however is that Facebook mail can cause people to pay less attention to you.

You see, I’ve actually used Facebook mail to my advantage several times. There are several of my Facebook friends, and even non-friends (remember, I only add people that a) are truly interested in me, or b) I have personally interacted with - this ensures my network stays strong) who I know receive thousands of e-mails per day. I also know people are generally hesitant to use Facebook mail due to its current limitations.

Because of this, using Facebook mail actually had the reverse effect one would think it would. My mail got attention from those users - some times they asked me to e-mail them personally after my initial contact, but now they knew who I was and had established a personal communication with me. Not just that but they had my picture and profile information to find out more of who I was. I now stood out in their mind, and to me, that’s valuable.

While Jason may not want to be contacted via Facebook, I suggest you try it some time to another person you need to get in touch with. I guarantee, while they may not contact you right away, they will be more likely to read and pay attention to your Facebook mail than they would a regular e-mail from you. After your first contact - sure, go ahead and send them normal e-mail!

Now, as to the issue on Cc: vs. To: that Jason mentions, Gmail takes care of that for me! Everyone is a To: in Gmail’s terms, so that’s all I have to see. Now, if Facebook could just have a Cc: and forwarding/reply system.

In the spirit of an older post of mine, in this rather humorous ad by Apple, they continue to prove they aren’t innovative by copying the name of the book my co-author, Jason and I are writing (and Jason’s previous, “I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???” book featured recently in Money Magazine):

My co-author, Jason Alba pointed out this hilarious acapella number by the group, “Straight No Chaser”. Check it out - they are quite talented, and it should get quite a laugh out of you!:

Dave Bascom, of SEO.com, and also a good friend of mine, recently reminded me through a blog post of his about Danny Sullivan’s Whiteboard Daily Search Cast where he criticized Facebook ads as a “revolution”. Danny goes on to say that because search ads are being “requested” by the user, search engine advertising is much more of a revolution than that of Facebook advertising.

I respectfully disagree with Danny here. I think Danny is getting his terms confused. While SEO is the process of me getting what I have requested, search engine advertising is not that case. Advertisers on search engines do not know who I am and therefore cannot detect the best ads to send my way. Because of this, it is extremely easy for advertisers to get what I am truly looking for wrong, and especially hard to convince me that I should buy their product. Advertisers only know what I’m searching for - not who I am, not who my friends are, and therefore what search engines can deliver is extremely basic. Search Engine advertisers (note I’m not saying SEO here) are still pushing ads to me, many of which are not what I want to receive.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a search engine’s biggest competitor in the ad space. Facebook, in essence, has on top of the existing internet, created a personal internet for others to use, associate with friends, purchase from retailers, do business, you name it. People remain on Facebook (and other social networks) because it is where their friends and family are. Facebook knows these relationships, these interactions, and all about who you are and what you are looking for. Therefore, all Facebook needs to do is give a basis for businesses to do business on top of their “personal internet”, and now all users have to do is search within Facebook and they can get way better search results than a normal search engine could ever give you. Facebook has done this with their platform. They’ve done this with their “Facebook Pages”, and they’ve also done this through Beacon.

Now, add to that the ability for advertisers to convince your friends to tell you about your product. Danny, it’s not about getting into “the conversation”. Facebook isn’t just a “conversation” - I use Twitter for that. Facebook is a lifestyle - it’s a way of living. It’s not about someone, even a friend entering the conversation and saying, “hey - do you want a new iPod?” It’s about me and my friends talking about what we’re getting for Christmas, and one of my friends knows I’m looking for an iPod, and tells me about a cool deal on iPods he discovered. Facebook is not an interruption - it’s a natural evolvement of life. Well-placed ads in Facebook are those that Friends tell other friends about. They’re about me seeing what my friends are doing, and realizing - hey, my friend just shopped at Fandango (hi Phil!), maybe I should shop there too!

I am going to be blogging here really soon about a term I call Social Network Optimization (there’s also a chapter in my book), or SNO. While SEO is all about defining your place in a linked relationship between websites, SNO adds a layer to that by defining your place in a linked relationship between real people. You’ll start seeing more and more SNO as social networking becomes more and more used. Is SEO dead? I don’t think so - a good company will need to find ways to utilize both techniques to place themselves optimally on the web. SEO could eventually evolve more and more into SNO, but SEO I think will always be around in some form.

SNO and Facebook ads are the new revolution. Viral and Permissions marketing is here to stay my friends - Danny, I’m sorry, but I think you’re wrong on this one.