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Facebook rolled out Timeline for brand Pages today, and Mashable is proud to update ours on day one.

We’ve closely chronicled reactions to the switch to Timeline from personal profiles in recent weeks. While many are disappointed with Facebook’s new look, the change to Timeline has been eye-opening and emotional for others.

We must admit, our experience lines up with the latter.

While exploring our Timeline, we rediscovered Mashable has been connecting with readers on Facebook since November 12, 2007. In that time, our fan page has done everything from giving our readers a place for sharing ideas and helping them secure URLs to celebrating company birthdays and making marriage proposals. Our fan base has grown from 2,000 in our first year to our current 821,000 in the past three years. Now we’re excited to form our digital scrapbook in real time — right along with you.

We’ll post a variety of updates from our Timeline: Mashable articles, videos and analysis as well as photos from events and around the office (including the adorable puppies, of course). As evidenced above, there’s a lot you can learn from Mashable‘s Facebook posts throughout the years — and we’ll continue to update with milestones as our Timeline develops. So, go ahead and take a look.

Our first cover photo represents what we’re really all about: you. It’s a picture of our real-life Facebook wall, a huge mural of avatars from all our fans who opted to be included in the project. We wanted to showcase our awesome community. Without you, Mashable wouldn’t be what it is today.

In the coming weeks, we’ll rotate our cover photo to represent what’s trending in tech and social media news. We hope it’ll be a easy and appealing way for you to know what stories to watch.

What do you think of our new Timeline so far? We’re always open to suggestions, so please let us know what kinds of posts or cover photos you’d like to see from us in the comments below. We look forward to connecting with you via Facebook Timeline!

Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/2At4P2_39YU/

Lionsgate announced a campaign Wednesday for fans of The Hunger Games to unlock free advanced screenings of the upcoming film by tweeting specific hashtags related to their nearby cities.

To generate buzz for the upcoming film, the studio launched the campaign 24 days before the film’s March 23 release. Mirroring the 24 “tributes” that fight to the death in the story, Lionsgate will give away tickets to 24 advanced screenings. Starting Thursday, the top four cities with the most tweets will be revealed each day, and fans will then be able to enter to win tickets to those locations, the company said.

The film is adapted from the successful young adult trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. It depicts an annual event where one boy and one girl from the fictional post-apocalyptic nation of Panem and its 12 districts are selected to fight to the death in a televised battle. The story follows young protagonist Katniss (played by Jennifer Lawrence).

To find out which hashtag is related to certain cities — such as Philadelphia (#HungerGames24PHI), Boston (#HungerGamesBOS), Salt Lake City (#HungerGamesSLC) and San Francisco (#HungerGamesSF) — visit screens.thehungergamesmovie.com.

People not located near a city with an advanced screening may be able to meet and greet the cast at their local mall during the National Mall Tour beginning in March.

Although this is the latest marketing initiative from The Hunger Games, the franchise has been covering its social media bases for months. It recently released a high-fashion site called Capitol Couture, dedicated to Panem’s capitol city.

Meanwhile, Twitter account @TheCapitolPN has been tweeting updates about the characters and the plot’s annual Hunger Games ceremonies and event. It also references themed merchandise for sale, such as the line of Hunger Games nail polishes. It’s been tweeting links to its various Facebook pages — each of the 12 districts featured in The Hunger Games has its own page, in addition to the main Facebook page for the film. The most influential sharer on a District page can become the “mayor,” with access to more news and prizes.

Lionsgate has also been posting movie trailers, posters and behind-the-scenes content to build anticipation for the film.

In addition, Barnes Noble announced this week that it is also giving fans in select cities the opportunity to see the film before its official theatrical debut. On March 10, the first customers to purchase any Nook device such as the Nook Tablet, Color and Simple Touch will receive two tickets to an advanced screening on March 21.

Are you impressed with The Hunger Games campaign? Are you looking forward to the film? Let us know in the comments.

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Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/hVDJLQ4KUMI/

• Ads that appear in News Feeds
• Ads that run on the right-hand side of your homepage
• Ads within the News Feed on your mobile device
• Ads that appear when you log out
• Offers



But, unofficially, only the log-out ads and Offers are really new. The News Feed ads had been out since early January, the right-hand page ads have run since last year and the mobile ads had been reported on accurately by Bloomberg. Offers, which is actually free to advertiser, lets brands share discounts and promotions to their fans within Facebook.

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Wait a minute. I’ve been seeing those right-hand ads forever. What’s new about them?


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Most of the ads you’ve been seeing in the right-hand section of the homepage are what Facebook calls “Marketplace” ads, which are usually direct-response. The Premium ads in that space will originate from a brand Page and won’t be your typical ad. Often they’ll consist of a status update or a new video upload rather than a standard banner.

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So I won’t see the ad unless I “like” the brand or my friend does?


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Not necessarily. You’re more likely to see one of the ads if that’s the case, but you might see one even if you or your friends aren’t fans of any brand Pages.

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Is that also true of the News Feed ads?


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No, you’d only see one of those if you or your friend interacted with a brand Page. But if you didn’t follow any brands, but a Facebook friend did, you might see it in your News Feed if your friend “liked” it.

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So advertisers are paying for those News Feed ads?


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Not always. Sometimes they will run in the News Feed organically, just like any other status update. At other times, they will be paid for, but you’ll still only see the ad if you or your friend interacted with the brand.

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Will I still see those Marketplace ads?


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Yes.

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How are advertisers paying for the Premium ads?


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Not by the click-through. While that’s still the model for Marketplace ads, Premium ads are based on impressions and reach, sort of like TV ads. In fact, Facebook partnered with Nielsen last year to bring “gross rating points” to Facebook that de-emphasize click-throughs.

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Why?


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Click-through rates for Facebook ads are pretty low. Facebook has also argued that CTRs are a poor and even irrelevant measure of an ad’s performance. You can’t click through a TV ad, for instance, but it still might persuade you to buy something.

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Without CTRs, how do advertisers know their ads worked?


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Facebook is using mixed-media modeling (a.k.a. “marketing mix modeling”) with some clients, like Procter Gamble, to demonstrate an ad campaign’s efficacy. The company is working with advertisers on other ways to show a Facebook campaign moved the needle on sales or awareness — whatever the goal might be.

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What is Reach Generator?


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Reach Generator is a new tool designed to let brands reach all their fans. The average post by a brand (or a person) only reaches 16% of such fans for various reasons, like the number of times you log on and the number of people and brands in your network. Reach Generator lets advertisers reach the other 86% by rerunning status updates as ads aimed at those fans.

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Why is Facebook putting so much emphasis on brand Pages?


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The company believes brands should be indistinguishable from your Facebook friends. That is, if they post something interesting, it should get pickup in your feed, but if they post something boring, it should not. By offering greater engagement and reach for brands with well-run Facebook brand Pages, Facebook hopes to make it the cornerstone of any marketer’s outreach and ensure that brands offer engaging content. In other words, a rising tide lifts all boats.

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What could derail this from happening?


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Lots of things. Users might get sick of seeing so much content from brands and decide to withdraw their Like. Google+ or Twitter might prove to be a better destination for brands. That status update-based ads might prove ineffective in the long run. Advertisers might decide that click-throughs actually were a good measure of ad performance. Ultimately, consumers will have the final say.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ymgerman

Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/pwr1TE6HnPo/