The Facebook App has a mix of social channels: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Wow... such social. I’m on a squad that hunts for stories, trends and conversations happening across culture and uses these signals as inspiration to create shareable social gold. They call it: “Reactive Cultural Content” — I call it: “non-stop relevant internet stuff.”
We don’t do big, complex campaigns. It’s closer to a digital publication, where we post one-offs every week, with vastly different subject matters and formats. In 2020 I shipped over 60 posts. Here’s the greatest hits...
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Love Australia
Australia suffered devastating wildfires in early 2020. It was really bad, but the way people responed was nothing short of amazing.
We wanted to encourage support, and drive awareness for all the ways to get involved, so we worked with Sydney based artist Elin Matilda to craft a stirring call to action.
This process was 4 days total, and was a prime example of how our brand could approach a tender subject with humanity and warmth.
It was one of our highest engaging posts of 2020, with 500k+ reactions.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
We wanted to encourage support, and drive awareness for all the ways to get involved, so we worked with Sydney based artist Elin Matilda to craft a stirring call to action.
This process was 4 days total, and was a prime example of how our brand could approach a tender subject with humanity and warmth.
It was one of our highest engaging posts of 2020, with 500k+ reactions.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
PS: This illustration made it into the Society of Illustrators 63rd Annual. Way to go Elin!
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Sign Time
Our team fell in love with this video of Mrs. T’s Kindergarten class in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana all learning Signed English and American Sign Language (ASL) to create a more inclusive environment for their classmate who is deaf.
We wanted to express this story in a new engaging way, so we had the teacher to film a few things with her phone (giving an authentic, native vibe), and we whipped it into a sweet sign tutorial.
It ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED the metrics with more than 3x the engagement goals.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
We wanted to express this story in a new engaging way, so we had the teacher to film a few things with her phone (giving an authentic, native vibe), and we whipped it into a sweet sign tutorial.
It ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED the metrics with more than 3x the engagement goals.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
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Leap Day
Facebook is basically THE spot for birthdays, but people born on February 29th (Leap Day) often miss out on the party.
To make up for missing 3 out of every 4 birthdays, we hosted a celebration for the "leaplings" of the world featuring real members of the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies Facebook Group. We even flew down to Manhattan Beach to throw a party for Janet, a very special gal turning 22 (88 in normal birthdays).
We pulled this project off in three days, from concept to delivery.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
Check out the Facebook App post here.
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#ThanksHealthHeroes
The Facebook App product team built a tool to package up the things people post with the #ThanksHealthHeroes hashtag and share it back to Facebook Groups made up of health care professionals on the frontlines. Our job was to help launch it, and get the community engaged.
It's an unprecedented, serious and delicate moment. We knew the tone had to be uplifting, and yet our signature "Joy" vibe needed to dial back and be respectful of the real sacrifices being made every day. We also depended 100% on UGC, which was incredibly hard to nail down because, you guessed it, healthcare workers and hospitals are very busy right now, and because of important HIPAA laws.
It's an unprecedented, serious and delicate moment. We knew the tone had to be uplifting, and yet our signature "Joy" vibe needed to dial back and be respectful of the real sacrifices being made every day. We also depended 100% on UGC, which was incredibly hard to nail down because, you guessed it, healthcare workers and hospitals are very busy right now, and because of important HIPAA laws.
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National Read a Book Day 360°
It all started when a South Bronx Middle School gave their students free books by authors of color. This story inspired us to celebrate the shared love of reading, and amplify the importance of underrepresented voices and authors of color. National Read a Book Day (September 6th) was the perfect time to bring these themes to our social channels.
We partnered with Taiwanese-American artist Doris Liou to craft a world of reading, filled with a beautifully diverse population, and whimsical detail in immersive 360°. Our posts also shared reading lists featuring authors of color, making it easy to discover books, both classic and new.
It was important to provide a dynamic experience across our platforms, despite product differences. For Facebook we used a fully interactive 360° image post (try it on your phone for the best experience!). For Instagram we turned the art into a looping Panoramic multi-image post. Both FB and IG Stories featured a sample of the experience and close ups of a few key details.
It went very well. The post saw the most engagement of any 360° post we’ve ever done — 2,082% higher than the previous attempt. Dang.
Check out the Facebook App post here and Instagram post here.
We partnered with Taiwanese-American artist Doris Liou to craft a world of reading, filled with a beautifully diverse population, and whimsical detail in immersive 360°. Our posts also shared reading lists featuring authors of color, making it easy to discover books, both classic and new.
It was important to provide a dynamic experience across our platforms, despite product differences. For Facebook we used a fully interactive 360° image post (try it on your phone for the best experience!). For Instagram we turned the art into a looping Panoramic multi-image post. Both FB and IG Stories featured a sample of the experience and close ups of a few key details.
It went very well. The post saw the most engagement of any 360° post we’ve ever done — 2,082% higher than the previous attempt. Dang.
Check out the Facebook App post here and Instagram post here.
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Group Spotlight
We like to show off rad Facebook Groups that enrich the everyday experience for people. Here’s two recent examples showcasing how specific and valuable these groups can be.
The cabin fever of Covid Lockdown created some amazing new behavior with “Porch Fairies” delivering a sort of reverse trick-or-treat — folks sneak up and give strangers baskets full of goodies, just to brighten someones day. We tapped into a few Porch Fairy groups to help us tell this glitterific story.
One teacher in El Paso, Tx started a group durring lockdown to teach kids how to cook and create community. During the holidays we asked them to prepare cookies for Santa. It turned out to be a joyful, impatient, perfect mess.
Check out the Facebook App post here and here.
The cabin fever of Covid Lockdown created some amazing new behavior with “Porch Fairies” delivering a sort of reverse trick-or-treat — folks sneak up and give strangers baskets full of goodies, just to brighten someones day. We tapped into a few Porch Fairy groups to help us tell this glitterific story.
One teacher in El Paso, Tx started a group durring lockdown to teach kids how to cook and create community. During the holidays we asked them to prepare cookies for Santa. It turned out to be a joyful, impatient, perfect mess.
Check out the Facebook App post here and here.
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Internet Jollies / Memes
Nothing says “the internet” like meme culture. It’s all about addition, remixing, and just having a laugh. The goal is always to tap into a timely cultural moment and get the community really engaged, so we like to ask questions that will start a spirited debate, or simply pair a funny image with a bit of copy and make the whole thing pixelated.
Pro-tip: Dog memes work like a charm.
Check out some of the Facebook App meme post here, here and here.
Pro-tip: Dog memes work like a charm.
Check out some of the Facebook App meme post here, here and here.
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When Product Meets Culture
Sometimes we work with the Facebook App product team to encourage people to do the right thing through the general funkiness of life in 2020.
In early July, the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization asked us to hit masks hard, and encourage folks to get with the program. Within 3 days we crafted a super simple, perfect looping video using avatars that added to the peer pressure of mask use.
For the 2020 US election we had a goal of getting as many folks to register and vote. Typically folks would get a cute “I voted” sticker IRL, but this year the stickers social cred was in jeopardy as many States used mail-in-ballots. Like the masks film we wanted to apply a little pressure - getting people to show off their civic duty for early voting with a digital “I voted” sticker avatar, and encourage everyone to vote.
Check out the Facebook App posts here and here.
In early July, the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization asked us to hit masks hard, and encourage folks to get with the program. Within 3 days we crafted a super simple, perfect looping video using avatars that added to the peer pressure of mask use.
For the 2020 US election we had a goal of getting as many folks to register and vote. Typically folks would get a cute “I voted” sticker IRL, but this year the stickers social cred was in jeopardy as many States used mail-in-ballots. Like the masks film we wanted to apply a little pressure - getting people to show off their civic duty for early voting with a digital “I voted” sticker avatar, and encourage everyone to vote.
Check out the Facebook App posts here and here.
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With:
Creative: Sue Anderson, Jan Jaworski, Andrea Mileskiewicz, Nick Cohen, Elizabeth Bassett, Chanler Bledsoe, John Benedict, Diana Taylor Fujii, Melanie M. Matlock
Production: Mallory Gordon, Molly Fleet
Program Managment: Courtney Hori, Rachel Greenlee
Partners:
Trend Research: Sparks and Honey
Group / Talent Sourcing: Salt and Lime
Music: Marmoset, Teenage Diplomat, APM
Group / Talent Sourcing: Salt and Lime
Music: Marmoset, Teenage Diplomat, APM
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Some more work ︎