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Create a Video of your Facebook Page Timeline

You might have seen this video on our Facebook Page recently. (If you’ve not seen it, watch it now, it’s pretty impressive!)

When I posted the video I promised to show you how you can quickly and easily make one for your own Facebook Page for FREE! So here are your step by step instructions. But first…

Why create a Timeline video?

Photos and videos get the largest interaction of any Facebook post type so this super cool video is bound to create some likes, comments and shares.

These videos are a great promotional tool and tell your company’s story. If your company is very visual or you share lots of photos anyway, creating this quick video is a great way to showcase them.

Step 1

Go to Timeline Movie Maker app and click the ‘Make video of my Page’s timeline’. Please note that you can only create videos for Pages which you are an Administrator of. (You can also create one of your personal Facebook timeline if you want to wow your friends! To do that, click the green button).

Step 2

Click on the blue ‘Log in with Facebook’ button.

You have to give permission to the app to view your Facebook Page information. Don’t worry, it’s nothing scary, it’s just so the app can create the video for you based on the information you have already put on Facebook Page. Click the blue ‘Allow’ button.

Step 3

Next, choose which Page you want to create your video for and click the blue ‘Make Movie’ button.

Step 4

You will see that your Facebook Timeline video automatically starts being created.

Once this process is finished your video will start to play automatically and you can marvel at how clever you are!

Step 5

Do you want to make some tweaks to your video? The clever app makes it really easy for you to do that. Using the options shown below you can change the music that accompanies your video using the radio buttons.

Scroll down the page and you can even individually select which information and images are shown. Just click the part of the video you want to change and select the image you want to use instead. When you’ve made your changes, remember to click the green ‘save changes’ button.

Step 6

Once you’re happy with the amazing video you have created, click on the ‘share’ button.

Write some text to accompany your post and click on the blue ‘Share’ button which will post your video on your Facebook Page.

Step 7

Sit back and wait for all the likes, comments and shares! (And maybe ask the boss for a pay rise because you’re so super talented!)

So, now you know how, will you be creating a video of your Facebook timeline? Tell us in the comments and even come back here when you’ve created your video to tell us about it and we might promote it on our Facebook Page for you as well!

Best Practise Implementation of New EU Cookie Legislation

On the 26th of May this year the new European Cookie law came into effect that governed the information a website could hold and store about a particular user through the use of a website cookies. This has seen businesses and organisations alike scrabbling to both understand what this law actually means and to actually implement changes to their respective websites in order to become compliant.

Don’t know what a cookie is? Read this concise guide: http://bbc.in/KbMcOd

Some people simply see this as red tape introduced by people who don’t fully understand its implications or how the web works. Others of course see this as a welcomed move that champions individual privacy.

Businesses are concerned that the methods being employed to communicate the new requirements are intrusive, likely to cause user FUD (fears, uncertainties and doubts) and are ultimately going to harm levels of business conducted through their respective websites.

Here is what the ICO requires:

As we see that small businesses already frequently don’t fully exhibit all legal information necessary to be compliant with the law or simply ignore some requirements i.e. displaying company logo, registered company name, trading name, company number, vat number, place of registration, registered address and contact information, privacy policy and terms and conditions; are they really going to care about this new law?

It will be interesting to see how this new law is enforced and who against… the ICO have already stated they would be initially focusing on the UKs top 50 websites.

What are the possible choices a user or visitor can take when a website pops The Cookie Question?

• They can click YES, accepting any cookies a website may wish to store and continue to use the website as they might normally.
• They click NO, (denying the use of cookies) continue to use the website with limited functionality and the site in question not being able to gather statistics or observations on its’ customers behaviour.
• The person visiting the website becomes confused and doubtful and leaves the website altogether not ever actually realising what they were being asked to choose between.
• The person visiting the website ignores anything of irrelevance and continues to use the website as he/she might do anyway accepting the implied consent option, which the ICO has recently clarified is acceptable. Remember you have to make this condition clear as part of the message on your website.

In the below example, I make reference the BBC who appear to be leading the way in terms of having solid example and implementation that works. Of course even the best organisations will be trailing, testing and refining this process.

The BBC

My Observations:

• The first 3 centimetres of screen space (96 pixels) is taken up by their implementation of the cookie notice. It’s very apparent it’s there, however it doesn’t cause any serious annoyance.
• This notice is there from the beginning. It doesn’t use any sort of adverse pop up effect or animation drawing unnecessary levels of attention.
• It blends with their brand identity colours making it more seamless.
• It doesn’t overlay the screen, meaning it doesn’t create an outright barrier to using the website.
• It allows for implied consent meaning the person using the website doesn’t actually have to do anything in order to carry on doing what they arrived at your website to do.
• It also allows for explicit consent through clicking a link
• Rather than giving visitors the option to not set cookies, it informs people that they can change their individual browser settings in order to not accept cookies onto their computer. The action needed to do this is a bit of a “faff” at best and means people are likely to continue to experience using the BBC website as the BBC teams have intended.

The BBC spends a vast sum of money on managing, updating and maintaining their suite of websites and I ultimately think this is great example of how not to damage user experience, because let’s face it this notice adds little value to the unique nature of the website and what it is there to offer.

One of the more forgiving sides of this legislation is that website owners can now use implied consent, i.e. if you continue to use the website then it is assumed that by not taking any action that you accept any cookies the site may wish to store on your computer. In the BBC example, the moment you click onto another page, this notice disappears and you will then be using any of cookies that the website wishes to store on your computer.

With these observations in mind here are my best practises to complying with the new cookie law whilst limiting the negative consequences of rushing through an ill thought out method or implementation of informing visitors that yes, you use cookies.

Best Practise Recommendations for complying with the EU Cookie Law:

• Avoid quick, jumpy or in your face animations. Movement instantly catches our eye and will detract away from your main message or what you want people to see first.
• Don’t present your notice as an overlaid screen or barrier that the user must overcome in order to carry on using your website.
• Don’t use a traditional pop-up window. These annoy people greatly and will damage your brand experience based on the associated past misuse and abuse of this technique.
• Do blend the colours and styling with that of your website. Be aware of the connotations implied by use of certain colours, red for example would be a particularly ineffective colour to use to highlight your cookie message.
• Create a page that advises people on, what cookies are, what information you collect and how you actually use them. If you can alleviate potential concerns, people are unlikely to care. This would traditionally form part of your privacy policy, however you might wish to explicitly label this as “Cookie Policy” in order to show you’re aware and being seen to move towards compliance as per the ICOs wishes.
• Use soft, clear and reassuring wording to limit the negative FUD fallout of telling visitors about a piece of geek-tech they are unlikely to understand anyway. Tailor the message to your target audience and the people of your website. Remember it doesn’t have to sound like legal jargon if this isn’t appropriate to your brand.

Should I put a warning on my website about the use of cookies? There is no right or wrong answer.

We can only advise you that you make the best choice based on what you believe to be most important for your business. There are negatives and positives attached to both choices, however you must weigh these up as the real world implications are different.

You want to be seen to be complying, but you’re on a budget and don’t want to fork out the development costs of implementing one of these slightly more complex examples until you’ve seen or learned about more real world cases? Add a section to your terms and conditions, privacy policy or create a separate “cookie policy” page that explains the points outlined earlier.

Here are what others have been doing:

Nottingham University

Leicester University

Marks & Spencer

Having been doing a fair bit of reading around the Cookie issue recently, this was one of my favourite responses:

“Sat next to my wife yesterday evening I asked her if she understood the cookie message displayed on the BBC site. She said no and didn’t actually care either. I have a sneaking suspicion she speaks more than half the UK population.”

— Rob Stephenson

Further Reading:
Cookie Compliance Solutions via Econsultancy
Allow Cookies or Delete Cookies?