Sorry, you're probably not famous enough to use Facebook's VIP app
Facebook could soon be
providing celebrities with an exclusive mobile app to interact with
fans on the social network. Photograph: Kennedy Photography /
Alamy/Alamy
20m people in the UK are using a smartphone or tablet to access Facebook, according to the social network. Now it's working on making it easier for celebrities to follow suit.
Facebook is testing new mobile features for its most famous users to check updates and chat to fans, with what All Things Digital is describing as a "VIP app" that aims to get stars more engaged with its service.
"The idea: If a star pushed out a status update to fans that caused a rather large amount of chatter — like, say, Kobe Bryant's late-night torrent of scattered thoughts from a few months ago — the new app would make it easier to see the swirling commentary from fans, and mix it up with them."
Facebook hasn't confirmed the exact details, but told journalist Mike Isaac that "we are currently testing some mobile features designed to help public figures interact with their fans", and that "a small group of partners" is currently involved.
The tests are part of a wider drive from Facebook to get individual celebrities more involved with fan chatter on the social network, as opposed to just their managers and/or social media teams, who can already use the Facebook Pages mobile app to post and check analytics from their smartphones.
It follows the social network's launch in May 2013 of "verified" pages for celebrities and brands, using a similar blue-tick icon to the one Twitter embeds on its notable users' profiles to distinguish high-profile accounts from fakes.
Meanwhile, in March 2013, Facebook introduced the ability for page owners to reply directly to comments left by their fans, and then have these conversation threads bubble up to the top of their posts.
Both those features hint at Facebook's likely strategy with any new "VIP" app: encouraging more celebrities to interact with their fans on Facebook, rather than merely broadcasting updates at them.
This may in turn ensure their updates are seen by more fans. Facebook has been criticised in 2013 by some page owners who've seen the number of views and shares of their posts drop sharply over the last year.
In early August, Facebook promised more transparency about how it manages its news feed, explaining that every time someone visits Facebook "there are on average 1,500 potential stories from friends, people they follow and Pages for them to see", with Facebook's news feed algorithm currently prioritising around 300 of them every day.
The company also announced an update to that algorithm that will see "organic stories that people did not scroll down far enough to see" reappear higher up their news feed "if the stories are still getting lots of likes and comments".
The appeal of any app or new mobile features that make it easier for celebrities to pile into their page comments and keep the conversation going should thus be clear.
Facebook is testing new mobile features for its most famous users to check updates and chat to fans, with what All Things Digital is describing as a "VIP app" that aims to get stars more engaged with its service.
"The idea: If a star pushed out a status update to fans that caused a rather large amount of chatter — like, say, Kobe Bryant's late-night torrent of scattered thoughts from a few months ago — the new app would make it easier to see the swirling commentary from fans, and mix it up with them."
Facebook hasn't confirmed the exact details, but told journalist Mike Isaac that "we are currently testing some mobile features designed to help public figures interact with their fans", and that "a small group of partners" is currently involved.
The tests are part of a wider drive from Facebook to get individual celebrities more involved with fan chatter on the social network, as opposed to just their managers and/or social media teams, who can already use the Facebook Pages mobile app to post and check analytics from their smartphones.
It follows the social network's launch in May 2013 of "verified" pages for celebrities and brands, using a similar blue-tick icon to the one Twitter embeds on its notable users' profiles to distinguish high-profile accounts from fakes.
Meanwhile, in March 2013, Facebook introduced the ability for page owners to reply directly to comments left by their fans, and then have these conversation threads bubble up to the top of their posts.
Both those features hint at Facebook's likely strategy with any new "VIP" app: encouraging more celebrities to interact with their fans on Facebook, rather than merely broadcasting updates at them.
This may in turn ensure their updates are seen by more fans. Facebook has been criticised in 2013 by some page owners who've seen the number of views and shares of their posts drop sharply over the last year.
In early August, Facebook promised more transparency about how it manages its news feed, explaining that every time someone visits Facebook "there are on average 1,500 potential stories from friends, people they follow and Pages for them to see", with Facebook's news feed algorithm currently prioritising around 300 of them every day.
The company also announced an update to that algorithm that will see "organic stories that people did not scroll down far enough to see" reappear higher up their news feed "if the stories are still getting lots of likes and comments".
The appeal of any app or new mobile features that make it easier for celebrities to pile into their page comments and keep the conversation going should thus be clear.