Facebook news is going to be talked about more – literally – thanks to a new Skype/Facebook integration. Recently announced, Skype plans to incorporate Facebook user’s newsfeeds into its SMS and internet chat windows, essentially amplifying Facebook word of mouth.
The significance for brands? While brands will need to earn their Facebook newsfeed mentions, this new Skype integration represents a powerful new opportunity for marketers to reach their Facebook audience in a new setting and be top-of-mind during user conversations.
Skype 5.0 updates include a dashboard redesign with a Facebook tab insertion, linking to personal Facebook accounts and providing a new kind of “Facebook Phonebook” in addition to sharing individual Facebook news feeds.
While comments on Facebook fan page walls have always been important for brands, they’re even more so now that they’ve started to be incorporated in other online platforms. While this update has flown rather low on the social media radar, it signals a continued effort on the part of Facebook to further expand beyond its original platform. If the Facebook “Like” widget for web was a first step, their upcoming Skype partnership is a natural progression, serving to not only spread the Facebook word, but to also differentiate Facebook from Twitter and other social media platforms.
Smart marketers will continue to brainstorm new ways to earn a Facebook newsfeed mention, knowing that it’s going to be amplified on Skype, and, possibly on various other platforms in the very near future (Hulu? The New York Times? Outer Space?). The true value of word-of-mouth has never been greater.
For more information, please visit Mashable.com.
Jeri Krasnoff contributed to this post.
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