Yesterday Facebook posted another major announcement to its blog. The long tested redesign of Timeline is beginning to roll out. The new look of Timeline will give users a place for all the things they care about.
As you can see, the Facebook clean-up continues. The rich media look that they recently featured in the preview of the News Feed redesign carries over into the cleaner two column look of Timeline. The about and interests of users will be far more prominently featured to the left of the Timeline posts. This area of the Timeline will offer users a great deal of flexibility to show off the things they care about the most. Be ready to see bibliophiles showing off the books they’ve read while film buffs feature the movies they’ve watched and look forward to seeing.
The impact that this change has for Facebook marketers is 3-fold.
- Graph Search will have greater depth and breadth of information to display.
- Advertising will benefit from more complete user identities.
- Community Managers will find more information about the people they connect with.
First of all, as the changes finally start rolling out, there will be the usual outcry from the average users about how much they dislike the fact that Facebook is changing AGAIN. It always happens. But, the vitriol always causes a portion of their friends to take the time to log into the full desktop version to see what all of the fuss is about. That is where the next batch of data collection will begin. As soon as a user lands on their redesigned space they will be prompted to update and customize. BINGO! Fresh info.
Immediately, Graph Search benefits from all of the fresh updates. Search will be better able to tell users where their friends have been, what they like, and other stuff that could lead them to your marketing presence in Facebook. Make certain that your business is ready to be optimized and searchable.
The influx of fresh user data will give savvy advertisers even better targeting buckets to mine for optimum ROI. Just think how much better your geographic targeting will be when massive numbers of Facebook users update their current locations.
Finally, for those really super smart community managers, this will be a boon to better understanding the people they interact with on behalf of a brand. Although you can count on many users to take the time to play with new features, few will delve deep into their privacy settings. Most of the information that will come out of the redesign will continue to be publicly visible to any other Facebook user logged into the network, including page administrators. It won’t be difficult at all to click the link to your most active community members and find out more about the music, locations, and activities that they enjoy the most, and then use that information to improve your page content and engagement.
What are your thoughts and concerns about all of the changes coming to Facebook this year?
Image Credit: Facebook
