Facebook's New Tools Won't Help Marketers

Facebook’s new video calling and group chat features won’t open up new opportunities for brands to connect with “likes” or fans, the social site informed ClickZ News.

When asked if brands can use the new channels, a company spokesperson said in an email: “Marketers can’t video call people who like their Pages and can’t group chat with fans. Also…Facebook ads can’t be targeted to private information such as chat and messages.”

In terms of group chat, Facebook differentiates itself from Google+, possibly to the chagrin of marketers. Brands like Ford have already begun employing the one-week-old platform to chat with up to 10 consumers.

Facebook partnered with Microsoft-owned Skype to create the video calling feature, which became available today. Early this afternoon, the companies announced the development at Facebook’s Palo Alto, CA headquarters, where Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said video calling and group chat “were basically web features for now,” suggesting the functions would eventually be available for mobile users.

Zuckerberg (pictured) also shed some light on how Facebook sees the future of digital. During the next five years, he said, “Every app is going to be social.”

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg confirmed recent reports that his site had surpassed 750 million monthly active users. “We didn’t report it [ourselves] because that’s not the important metric anymore,” he said, while pointing to engagement statistics as his company’s new Holy Grail.