Ninety-three percent of marketers we surveyed are actively using Facebook meant for their venture. And almost everything with the aim of Facebook does to its everyday of products can cover a skillful contact on marketers.

From releasing stories across Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Messenger, to vacant all-in on live capture on tape, Facebook’s artifact decisions affect billions of intimates globally.

Imagine how it could feel like to know in the region of Facebook’s forthcoming developments and open to prepare how you can make use of them — perhaps even or else many other marketers.

Your secret sauce is Facebook’s F8 union!

Here’s everything you need to know in the region of it, from vital sessions to watch to predictions meant for F8 2017.

We’ll be sharing and chatting in the region of the exciting news live on social media meant for both days of the conferences — Live cheeping, live capture on tape sessions, Instagram Stories, and more. We’d love meant for you to be a fan of along and share your judgment, ideas, and excitement with us!

F8 Conference 2017
What is F8?
While F8 is established as the “Facebook Developer Conference”, near are many understanding announcements and sessions meant for social media marketers. During F8, Facebook talks not lone in the region of Facebook itself, but in addition its everyday of applications and services — Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Oculus, Workplace, Audience Network, and Internet.Org.

Here are round about of the things you can look ahead to:

Announcements of major changes to Facebook and its everyday of products
Launches and interactive demos of original skin texture
Sessions on top practices with Facebook experts
Opportunities to suffer one-on-one with Facebook team members
Venue: McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, CA

Dates: Tuesday and Wednesday, April 18 and 19, 2017

If you were unable to find a ticket to the union, you can attend single of its international viewing measures in your area or watch it live online.

Fun statement: The nickname “F8” came from an notable part of Facebook culture — its eight-hour hackathons.

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Notable updates from Facebook since the survive F8
Each time, marketers and publishers look ahead to F8 to hear in the region of the announcements and launches with the aim of would help character their social media marketing strategy meant for the following time.

Last year’s F8 union signaled the introduction of a hugely exciting 12 months meant for the Menlo Park-based company. At the union itself, Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Live API, Instant Articles, and Messenger Bots. There was in addition a live demonstration of Social Virtual Reality, Facebook’s VR equipment to help intimates tie and share near — something probably worth keeping an eye on meant for social media marketers.

Since the survive F8, Facebook has continued to dispatch a run of amazing updates to Facebook and its everyday of products to help marketers contact their audience and consumers discover quality content.

Here’s a tilt of the nearly everyone exciting updates with the aim of cover wedged many social media marketers’ (and our) attention:

Instagram algorithmic timeline
Stories: Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, WhatsApp Stories, and Messenger Day
Instagram Live
Instagram Stories ads
Facebook Live from desktop
Vertical Facebook videos on mobile
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Key sessions to keep an eye on
F8 Conference 2017 Schedule
This year’s F8 will play a part more than 50 sessions — keynotes, breakout sessions, and demos. To help you progress to the nearly everyone of your point in time, we went through the schedule and pulled out the sessions with the aim of we think you might be interested in.

The 2 opening keynotes: 10 AM on both days
One of the sessions we’re nearly everyone excited in the region of — each time — is smudge Zuckerberg’s keynote, which will likely take place on April 18, 10 AM PST.

Smudge Zuckerberg habitually function this opening speak to to illustrate his farsightedness meant for Facebook and pithily share forthcoming developments. Last time, he went through Facebook’s 10-year roadmap and the ways Facebook’s technologies will tie intimates around the humankind and confer each person a voice.

There will be one more opening keynote on the back up calendar day, probably by one more executive on the Facebook team. Last time, it was by Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer who talked in the region of their technologies such as feigned acumen and virtual truth.

Tuesday, April 18
Growth Marketing: Best Practices meant for Getting and Keeping an Audience (12:30 PM PST)
Boost Your Business With Messenger (12:30 PM PST)
What’s New with News Feed (1 PM PST)
The Future of Video on Facebook (2 PM PST)
Creating Social Presence in VR (3 PM PST)
Innovative Storytelling and Media Experiences (3 PM PST)
Powering cellular phone Commerce on Facebook (3:30 PM PST)
Early Lessons in Social VR from Oculus Rooms (4 PM PST)
Discover New Facebook Advertising Tools (4:30 PM PST)
Cellular phone App Ads: Thinking Beyond the Install (5 PM PST)
Wednesday, April 19
Crafting Compelling Narratives in VR (12:30 PM PST)
Visually Connecting People and Businesses (through Instagram) (1 PM PST)
Marketing APIs: Advertising Automation, meant for All (2 PM PST)
Top F8 sessions meant for marketers
Quick-tip: Facebook has formed an sanctioned F8 mobile app which you can function to create your adapted itinerary meant for the union, find notifications of measures you cover saved, and watch the sessions on demand.

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10 Predictions meant for F8 2017
Facebook 10-Year Roadmap
We’re excited to progress to round about predictions meant for this year’s F8. We opinion Facebook’s 10-year roadmap might confer us round about hints as to come again? Might be forthcoming up this time.

Here’re round about of our guesses (and we’d love to hear from you, too!):

1. Other capture on tape skin texture and tools
The same as seen in Facebook’s 10-year roadmap, capture on tape is a vital area with the aim of Facebook wants to succeed on. Smudge Zuckerberg steadfastly believes with the aim of capture on tape will suit the key content format vacant ahead. With its original capture on tape tab, live and 360 videos, Facebook is continuing to boost capture on tape content on its platform. Just survive month, Facebook opened up Live 360 videos to all Profiles and Pages.

Facebook is focusing on shorter-form capture on tape content meant for at this point and diplomacy to seed a extensive range of capture on tape content. I imagine Facebook would be partnering (or even paying) capture on tape creators — immense or small — to build up sufficient premium content.

Facebook might in addition launch more capture on tape skin texture and tools, such as better automatic captioning and video-editing tools, to help brands and folks create better videos through Facebook.

Facebook Video Tab
(Video from Facebook Newsroom)

2. Other skin texture meant for Facebook Groups
Groups is one more vital area in Facebook’s 10-year roadmap. Featuring in his fresh Facebook notice, smudge Zuckerberg placed a slice of importance on building a overall group of people and budding the social infrastructure (i.E. Facebook Groups) meant for it.

He mentioned with the aim of Facebook diplomacy to build more tools to make powerful group of people leaders to organize and get by their groups, really like Facebook has finished with Pages. With the boost to enhance Facebook Groups, we might look into more original skin texture meant for Facebook Groups such as analytics through this F8.

Just recently, Facebook has on track rolling dazed a immense keep informed to Facebook Groups. You will soon be able to link your Facebook Pages to Facebook Groups, allowing you to build a group of people around your Page and cooperate with intimates in Groups as your Page.

Update: If you would like to tap into this trend, we wrote a escort on creating a Facebook Group and building a group of people in it.

Connect Facebook Page to Facebook Group
(Image from Matt Navarra and Michael Brandvold)

3. Do more with Messenger
Facebook Messenger has undergone many changes this forgotten time. It is rebuff longer really a text-based messaging app. Now you can doodle and add stickers to your photos or else conveyance them, progress to capture on tape and audio calls, comedy games with your contacts, and even communication businesses (and bots).

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Looking by the side of round about of the other immense messaging apps such as WeChat and Line, Facebook might go on with to succeed on skin texture to help businesses tie with their customers and customers progress to transactions with businesses.

For exemplar, really this month, Facebook launched suggestions from M, its Messenger AI assistant. If you and your contacts are chatting in Messenger in the region of vacant somewhere, M would offer an option of getting a Lyft or Uber ride. It may well be likely with the aim of Facebook would initiate up its API to allow businesses to build services on top of M, allowing users to execute even more with Messenger.

4. Bots meant for Messenger set chats
According to TechCrunch’s sources, Facebook will be announcing a original course group of bots meant for Messenger. These bots will likely be “information bots” than “chat bots”; they will help to provide timely in sequence than to cover back-and-forth conversations with users.

Here are two examples by TechCrunch Editor-At-Large, Josh Constine:

For exemplar, a Messenger set of football fans may well add a sports bot to their thread, someplace it may well recount grade changes, immense show business and other news from the game. An e-commerce set bot may well keep a set of coworkers informed in the region of the status of their have lunch method, hire them know with the aim of the order is being prepared and as soon as it arrives.
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Facebook will likely be opening up the API meant for the set bots to allow developers to create more set bots. This might help to accelerate the adoption of Messenger bots and push businesses to explore it as a the makings marketing or customer service channel.

5. AR, 3D masks, and special things on Messenger
To keep users engaged on Messenger, Facebook might go on with to develop fun messaging technologies, especially with augmented truth (AR).

Just like Snapchat Geofilters, branded masks, frames, and special things on Messenger may well initiate up a original advertising channel meant for businesses to contact their audiences in a fun and non-intrusive way.

Messenger 3D Masks and Special Effects
(GIF from Facebook Newsroom)

Facebook has in addition been taxing ads on Messenger residence screen in Australia and Thailand. If the tests cover been doing well, Facebook might share more in the region of Messenger ads through F8.

6. Secondary News Feed
Have you seen a rocket icon in your Facebook app? You might really be single of the fortunate hardly any to try dazed a secondary Facebook News Feed!

Facebook is reported to be taxing a secondary News Feed with posts from intimates and Pages with the aim of you don’t be a fan of (yet). Perhaps Facebook has seen successes with Instagram’s Explore tab and is eager to bring it into Facebook.

A Facebook representative told TechCrunch,

We are taxing a complementary feed of standard articles, videos, and photos, customized meant for every person based on content with the aim of might be fascinating to them. We’ve heard from intimates with the aim of they poverty an uncomplicated way to explore original content they haven’t connected with yet.
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I was fortunate to be part of the test meant for a while. Here’s a screenshot of the secondary News Feed:

Facebook Secondary News Feed
While it seems like Facebook is still in the before time phases of this test, we might hear in the region of this other feed through this year’s F8.

7. Sponsored posts in Search
Last time, smudge Zuckerberg revealed with the aim of Facebook proverb 2 billion searches apiece calendar day. That is a more than 30 percent strengthen from the 1.5 billion searches apiece calendar day a time before. (For context, Search Engine Land estimates with the aim of Google does by the side of smallest amount 5.5 billion searches apiece calendar day in 2016.)

Using Facebook Search (i.E. Its search bar), you can achieve photos, posts, videos, relations, contacts, Pages, and Groups. You can in addition achieve resident businesses through its expert services search engine. If Facebook wants to monetize their Search play a part, they may well bring in advertising through sponsored posts, akin to folks on News Feed.

With search being so vast on Facebook, we might hear a point or two in the region of it this F8.

8. Instagram analytics on desktop
Okay, this might be more of a individual yearn for than a prediction!

Many skillful venture skin texture were introduced on Instagram completed the forgotten time. Features like venture profiles and Instagram Insights cover tolerable businesses to better tie with their audience on Instagram and to gauge their Instagram marketing performance. I’m guessing with the aim of Facebook might cover been working on an improved version of Instagram analytics to help businesses better understand their Instagram labors.

Brands are at this point able to get by dependable aspects of Instagram (e.G. Create Instagram ads and get by Instagram comments) through Facebook. With Instagram being more integrated with Facebook, it might be likely with the aim of Facebook would eventually integrate Instagram analytics into Facebook Page Insights.

Connect Instagram to Facebook Page
9. Updates on Social VR
Just survive month, Facebook launched a dyed-in-the-wool app virtual truth app, Facebook 360. According to the news announcement, near are already more than 25 million 360 photos and more than single million 360 videos posted on Facebook. This app will confer its users a more immersive experience as soon as viewing the content.

This is in line with Facebook’s farsightedness to help intimates tie and share through VR technologies. I believe we will hear more updates in the region of Facebook’s Social VR through the F8 union and maybe examples of businesses which cover been using it to engage their audience.

Facebook 360
(Image from Facebook Newsroom)

10. Consumer hardware
Building 8, Facebook’s secretive hardware division, was reported to be budding four hardware products — which probably include drones, brain-scanning equipment, augmented truth, and next-generation cameras. Business Insider reported with the aim of Facebook might expose round about of folks products through this year’s F8.

On Facebook’s career sheet, Building 8 is looking meant for a GTM Retail Program Manager “who will cover the accountability of creating disruptive ground up shopping experiences of Facebook consumer hardware”. So Facebook might be looking to launch a hardly any hardware products and start promotion them in retail food soon. Personally, I’m excited to look into the hardware products with the aim of they are building!

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What are your predictions meant for F8 2017?
Writing this blog advertise has gotten me even more excited in the region of F8 2017! With all the exciting sessions scheduled, I believe you will discover a slice to help you with your Facebook marketing.

I’d love to hear from you, too. What exciting, fun news execute you think Facebook would share by the side of the forthcoming F8 union? Do you cover no matter which on your yearn for tilt?

We’re pleasing with the aim of our F8 2016 recap survive time was very well-received. This time, we’re in addition looking ahead to summarizing the top highlights of F8 2017 and sharing round about of our ideas with you all when the union. If you’re interested in evaluation in the region of how marketers can tap against Facebook’s hottest developments, execute keep an eye dazed meant for our recap at this point or on Twitter. Thank you!