Facebook Provides Recommendations With New Page Browser Tool
This morning, Facebook officially launched Page Browser, a new tool that seeks to help its users discover and “like” new pages on the site using data from one’s previous likes, and that of users in their immediate social network.
Facebook’s like pages, previously termed “fan pages”, comprise of pages on the site representing artists, movies, and brands — some officially managed, some not. Over time, they’ve become a popular way of expressing interest and showing support for one’s tastes, and conversely, for page managers to keep fans and interested users updated.
Upon opening the tool, tabs of categories are shown at the top, ranging from “Musicians” to “Brands,” and within each category are thumbnails of page recommendations. When a thumbnail is clicked upon, that page is automatically “liked” by the user. On the right hand-side is a useful box titled “Friends similar to you”, which shows a ranked list of friends with whom users share the most mutual likes.
Liked pages appear in the “Likes” section of a user’s profile, and are broadcasted to friends’ News Feeds, thus having a viral mechanism of spreading throughout the social network.
For Facebook, the launch of the discovery tool represents another way of increasing user engagement and activity on the site. Also, it helps in building a more accurate representation of a user’s interests, undoubtedly useful when it comes to targeting users through advertising.
The tool was accessible by a small number of users on the site earlier in the month, but has now been rolled out to all its users, although it is not officially being promoted on the site (the only way to access it is by going directly to the link.)
Tags: fans, Like pages, likes, Page Browser, Pages, recommendation engine, recommendations
Companies: Facebook
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