Facebook's Open Graph allows third-party apps and websites to integrate their content and actions into a user's Facebook activity. By adding metadata to their webpages, third-parties can trigger the automatic sharing of actions like liking a recipe on a recipe website or checking into a location. This deep integration benefits both Facebook by expanding the social graph, and third-parties by driving increased traffic and engagement through viral sharing and aggregation of actions on Timelines. Open Graph aims to make sharing online actions as seamless as possible while still allowing third-party brands and messaging.

1. Facebook Open Graph
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2. "Our goal is not to build a platform;
it’s to be across all of them."
- Mark Zuckerberg
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3. What Is Open Graph?

4. What is Open Graph?
At Facebook's core is the Social Graph: People and the
connections they have to everything they care about.
With Open Graph, arbitrary actions and objects created by
third-party apps become a part of the user’s social graph,
integrating that app deeply into the Facebook experience.

5. How Does Open Graph Work?

6. Let’s say you had a recipe website...
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7. Let’s say you had a recipe website...
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8. Let’s say you had a recipe website...
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9. Let’s say you had a recipe website...
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10. Let’s say you had a recipe website...
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11. Open Graph Before
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12. Open Graph Before
Liked Object
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13. Open Graph After
Took Photo
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14. Open Graph After
Read Book
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15. Open Graph After
Spotted Dish
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16. Physical Objects Can Trigger Actions
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17. Physical Objects Can Trigger Actions
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18. Retain Your Own Branding

19. Retain Your Own Branding

20. Retain Your Own Branding

21. Timeline Aggregation
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22. Timeline Aggregation
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23. App View
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24. Benefits of Open Graph

25. Benefits of Open Graph
Frictionless Sharing
Users only need to approve the app once, and then every
additional action is automatically shared.
Control Of Branding
Facebook allows apps to use their own branding, and let users
speak the language they define.
Deep Timeline Integration
Application data is treated equally with a user’s other data, giving
Open Graph apps huge reach within the Facebook system.

26. Results

27. Results
Pinterest: 60% increase in visits
Artfinder: 60% increase in time spent
Fab.com: 50% increase in traffic
Foodspotting: 3X increase in activities shared

28. Results
USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter
generated an additional 200,000 views
from 2,000,000 organic views.
For every 100 pieces of content that
were shared through the app,
120 users checked out the app.
Four weeks after the app launched,
97 percent of its traffic, or more than
5 million referrals, came from Timeline.
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29. But...

30. Facebook Still Holds The Keys
800 120
600 90
400 60
200 30
0 0
5/7 5/14 5/21 5/28 5/7 5/14 5/21 5/28
Washington Post DAU (1000s) The Guardian DAU (1000s)

31. What Now?

32. Focus On Core Principles of Social Design
Identity
Help users express themselves and gain
personal value by using your application.
Community
Make it easy for users to connect with
the people they know and trust.
Conversation
Allow users to share actions and
engage with each other.

33. Best Practices for Permissions
1. Do not ask for permissions until proving some value.
2. Use images and a clear call to action to give users an idea of
what they’ll gain by granting permissions.
3. Do not ask for more permissions than necessary to provide the
intended experience.
4. Always offer an alternative experience for users who do not
authorize the app.
5. Use the “persistent ask” or “intermittent ask” methods.
6. Thank users for authorizing the application and be clear about
how their activity is being shared throughout the experience.

34. Sample User Flow
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35. Thank You!
CoryOBrien.com @CoryOBrien