Tag Archive for 'Social Media'

FI: Facebook Intelligence - Part Deux

Published
by
Ian Smith
on March 6, 2008
in Author-Ian Smith and Competitive & Internet Intelligence
. 1 Comment

One of the elements of Facebook that I preferred over Myspace was that fact that it was a “closed community”. It was impossible for anyone to “Google” your name and be able to see if you had a Facebook page.

Well last night, I discovered this is no longer the case for some users.

Google has begun the indexation of Facebook pages. Of course, users were asked first for their permission to index and thus it does open up a wealth of information regarding individuals who use the social networking platform.

The best approach to find Facebook content via Google is not to simply plug in name or keyword(s) and hope for the best. Try adding the keyword, “Facebook” to your initial query. Chances are that you will get a page of results containing hits to the individual’s page, the appearance of the individual’s name on friends’ pages, applications that the individual has subscribed to, etc.

The implications on the field of competitive intelligence can be big. With the wealth of information that individuals place on Facebook, internet researchers have yet another source to collect details to put together profiles of individuals.

FI: Facebook Intelligence

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 25, 2008
in Author-Ian Smith and Competitive & Internet Intelligence
. 0 Comments

I couldn’t wait to blog on this subject. It gives me a good reason to log onto my Facebook account during working hours.

In case you are not familiar with Facebook, Facebook is a social network site where you can link up with old friends and meet new friends, post photos and videos and create groups just to name a few features.

Businesses have hopped on the Facebook bandwagon to promote their products and services online. As a result, Facebook has become a valuable source of information that is not available on the general web and it is important to know where to find information on the platform. Here are a few tips to consider:

i) Facebook Group Directory - Facebook has a directory of business related groups. Within each group, individuals can have discussion, post photos and videos. Individuals can browse thousands of group to collect information provided that you can join without any problems.

ii) General search - Entering a company name in the general search box will provide you with a list of hits where the company name appears on pages on the platform. For example if you enter “Company XYZ”, you will get a list of people who is or used to work at Company XYZ on the basis that the individual has mentioned the company’s name in his/her profile. (Please Note: I have notice the general search has a bug. On occasion, the tool fails to retrieve some information that is obvious on the platform. Try it on the list of your friends.)

iii) Browsing Networks - Networks are virtual hubs that individuals can belong to. It allows others to friends easily. Networks are created along the lines of regions around the world, colleges and universities, workplaces (companies) and high schools. For competitive intelligence purposes, a list of company networks is interesting to look at.