Ekaterina Nazarova: "Facebook Is Already Working On A System For Transmitting Information" By The Power Of Thought "

2023 Author: Amber Richards | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 00:24

Marie Claire: Facebook bought popular photography app Instagram for $ 1 billion. It was 2012. A deal for such a fantastic amount seemed logical, since photo sharing is an essential part of Facebook's DNA. Today is May 2018. Imagine: in front of you is a person who has not heard of either Facebook or Instagram. What social network would you recommend to him?

Ekaterina Nazarova: As of today, Facebook has united more than two billion people. Instagram - 800 million worldwide. If, nevertheless, I meet such a person who is not familiar with our platforms, the first step is to find out what he expects from his presence on the social network. Facebook, for example, will provide him with communication with people from different countries. This is an important advantage.

Any social network provides such communication. What's so surprising about that?

Of course, there are many ways to stay connected today, but the need for meaningful and valuable communication is greater than ever. In May 2018, for many, such opportunities seem obvious, but it was Facebook that made it possible for the first time not to lose touch with family and friends around the world. I know how important this is from my family.

Interesting story. Will you tell?

My grandmother and her sister at some point in their lives ended up in different cities and did not know each other's addresses, so they got lost.

Only years later, thanks to the then popular program "Wait for me", they managed to find each other. But what if they were registered with Facebook?

Ok, I get it, so I'm going to FB to chat. On Instagram, apparently for inspiration

Trend on visual inspiration. And on Instagram, self-expression does not require working with text, for many it is a comfort zone.

I found interesting statistics: I took my first selfie in 2011, my friend liked me. The first photo of the cat was posted on the social network a month later. Has earned 20 likes. And you?

A cat is cooler than a selfie!:) You puzzled me. I took the first selfie, I think, in 2012. It probably wasn't even called a "selfie" back then. He only got two likes. And it's awful:) By the way, in 2013 I collected 40-50 likes for selfies:)

Ekaterina, I am wondering how people do successful business on Facebook pages? What are the criteria for determining a successful business page?

Today there are 70 million active business pages on the platform. It's easy to get one. And here's the next piece of advice: make sure you respond quickly to customers in the messenger. Now more than 2 billion messages are sent between companies and people every month. Prompt feedback is an advantage. And, of course, don't ignore the statistics, this section is available for business pages - you can see how and with which posts people interact better, which posts of yours are overlooked. Hence, knowing this, you make an informed decision about what content works and bet on it.

In 2016, Facebook added five emoticons to the interface - seemingly far from business emotions: “super”, “ha-ha”, “wow!”, “Sympathize” and “outrageous”. I rarely use them, but I've noticed that posts similar in subject matter to those to which I react emotionally appear more often in my feed. Even more often than those that I mark with the classic like. It turns out that a business in social networks should not be shy about sentimentality? A serious organization, for example a bank, on its Facebook business page can be recommended to periodically "post cats"?

We found that if a person puts in a "ha ha" or other response, they are truly interested and involved. For us, this is a more significant signal that he will want to see such content even more than if he just liked it. Therefore, when we try to determine how important a particular content is to a person, we attach a little more importance to reactions than likes. It doesn't matter what kind of reaction we are talking about. All of them will be "weighted" in the same way, but still slightly higher than the like.

If I understand correctly, recently the priority in the tape has been given to live broadcasts, they are more actively responded to. Classic stories lose to live broadcasts. It turns out that business pages should not underestimate this point too?

Yes, people spend three times as much time watching live as compared to regular video. You can connect to a live video instantly - you will receive a notification if someone from your friends list starts broadcasting (the live format is more interesting to watch during the broadcast, not after). That is, it is very convenient to interact with live broadcast.

Now that more and more people are watching live streams, we are looking at live video as a new type of content and are trying to figure out how to rank it in the news feed. The first step was a small update: now, at the time of broadcast, your video appears in the feed more often and higher.

How do you advise advertisers to act to keep users engaged?

It is high time for brands to rely on mobile first strategies. We highly recommend creating videos directly for mobile devices - because that's where people view content. The second tip is to invest in visuals, make the picture live, it wins.

Who do you like on Facebook yourself? Whose page do you think is perfect?

You will be surprised (I was surprised myself) - I love @sodapischevaya, the baking soda page. Pay attention to how competently they act, not fighting for the frequency of posts, but fighting for quality. And they are incredibly relevant! A fun page with witty content.

Ekaterina looked. Almost 5 thousand subscribers. There are recipes for cakes, and how to clean the sink with soda, and how to treat iguana skin with baking soda, and photographs from the trip of sodium carbonate Na2CO3 in Budapest. Baking soda, guys, you are FIRE

Yes!

In my opinion, Facebook, unlike Instagram, does not work for my promotion. Posts are not seen by all people from the friends list. Likes have become several times less, it hits the pride

We recently updated the news feed algorithm: now the posts written by your friends and family are on your top.

I don't mind, but it's still annoying. It turns out that the choice is made for you. I would like to ask: on what basis?

We have studied for a long time what is important for people on our platform, and found out - like nothing else, interaction directly with their inner circle is important for them. When it comes to the number of likes, there is no universal recipe. Reactions and comments are received by the content that your friends like, and it is you who know these people best. Experience has shown that people tend to value sincerity and quality rather than quantity.

Still, who and how determines what content will appear on my page?

We use a ranking engine so that people can see the most relevant content at the top every time they visit Facebook. Ranking has several components, including showing available stories, showing posts based on "signals", that is, available data about a person's interests, which he gives himself through likes, shares, comments, and so on. Simply put, don't be afraid to like what interests you. The more actively you do this, the more often the feed will give out posts that are valuable to you.

I read that people on average spend about three hours a day on the phone, but at the same time it seems to them that they only spent an hour and a half with it. On average, a person checks their smartphone up to 2600 times a day. Scrolls up to 100 meters of content. The question is, how involved are we in the content?

Attention has become our most scarce resource. The person is constantly distracted. Messages from your friends compete with BuzzFeed videos, Lady Gaga posts, other brands and other companies.

The ability to hold attention decreases, and the struggle for this attention increases. In 2000, for example, we could hold attention for 12 seconds, by 2014 this figure dropped to 8 seconds (almost the same for a goldfish!). Gen Z's attention span is only 2.8 seconds.

I am even afraid to specify the figure, how much information humanity produces with a phone in its hands

We can compare. From the beginning of the information age to 2003, humanity has created 5 billion gigabytes of information - books, films, music, emails, PowerPoint presentations, photographs and more. Today, thanks to easy access to data and the growth of digital devices, we create the same amount of content every ten minutes (!).

Ekaterina, a question about a painful one. Yesterday I talked with a friend about a new car. In the morning in the tape I found several posts about a car of the same brand at once. There is an opinion that Facebook listens to us through the phone, remembers keywords and then forms our preferences feed

It is not true. Facebook does not have access to the microphone of your phone, especially in order to obtain information for transmission to advertisers or the formation of a news feed. Facebook does not make its decision about relevant ads based on what is said out loud. The only time Facebook has access to the microphone is if the person gives the app permission to do so.

Increasingly, I hear talk that Facebook is working on technology that in the near future will allow typing messages with the help of thoughts. It's true?

We announced at the F8 Developer Conference last year that we will be investing in a number of innovations over the next 10 years. One of the projects is the creation of a system for transmitting information "by the power of thought" The technology is revolutionary. It is being handled by a team of developers and researchers at Facebook - Building 8. The project is still at an early stage, I am watching with interest.

You joined the Facebook team in Warsaw in 2017. Easily decided to move to another country?

Moving is always difficult. But I try to optimize all processes both at work and at home. In Warsaw, I rented an apartment next to a kindergarten - it's easier for my daughter and me. I order cleaning or use a robot vacuum cleaner, it saves time. For sports I go to the gym in the office building. I ride a bike to the office - it is faster and allows me to move. I work remotely for some days.

By the way, Europe starts the working day much earlier. It's comfortable?

Highly. In Poland, beauty salons open at eight in the morning, some shops - at six. The working day ends at about five in the evening, that is, people have time for family and leisure. This schedule suits me.

Facebook is a global world company, it is prestigious to work there. What principles of corporate culture do you think are atypical for Russian business?

There is a movement on Facebook called Fuel, which means "charge", "refuel". This is about the fact that, first of all, you should think about what brings you satisfaction, then the efficiency will be at its best, because you are charged with what you love. And also Fuel about leaving office work. We even have posters - It's no fun when your head is someplace else. Coming home leaving your head at work is bad for both your family and your business.

5 personal rules of Ekaterina Nazarova

1. Take the time to figure out what kind of work brings pleasure - without this, personal time will not be so fulfilling and enjoyable.

2. It is not important to be the first, it is important to be the best - Facebook was not the first social network, but hardly anyone will remember the names of its predecessors.

3. Make plans for the year and check what you have achieved - even if it concerns the little things or the old dream of a trip to a new country.

4. Ask yourself, "What would I do if I weren't afraid?" And go for it.

5. Stay kind - it's free and safe for everyone!

And it's all about her