Until recently, social media platforms have needed to build and remain inside their walled gardens to avoid sharing their competitive intelligence.
However, Facebook?s recent announcement that it would collaborate with third parties to verify its viewing metrics signifies the inevitable and long-awaited validation phase of social media.
Facebook is poised to reap the benefits of opening insights up to third-party verifiers because it will be tapping into what I like to call ?believable data.? The social network will have a far more insightful understanding of how brands can activate on its platform. With this move, Facebook is enabling brands to better activate and drive products and services through its channels.
Compared with traditional broadcast and print media, social media is still very much in its infancy, but it?s growing up quickly–poised to become the most significant marketing channel for brands that want to engage in a meaningful, measurable way. And it couldn?t come at a more critical time. We?ve already witnessed National Football League fans consuming games and ancillary content in unprecedented numbers via mobile devices and social platforms, often at the expense of traditional live broadcasts.
Through the first quarter of the season, the NFL?s television ratings were down 11 percent from last year. However, according to MVPindex, the league?s overall social engagement during this same time period was up 20 percent from 2015. It?s not surprising, the...