Reports have emerged that Facebook will announce a major redesign of its profile pages, as well as introduce a number of new features this week.
The social networking giant is expected to unveil the new developments at the f8 developer conference, on Thursday.
According to Mashable, sources close to Facebook have revealed the profile redesign will form part of the launch of Facebook's music and media platform.
The media platform has been widely expected for some time, with details of partnerships between Facebook and sites such as Spotify and Rhapsody emerging last month. Rumours of a Facebook app store have also been doing the rounds.
Facebook is remaining under lockdown in preparation for the launch, and is yet to comment.
New buttons?
TechCrunch, however, reports that a source has revealed that new buttons will be announced on Thursday, introducing more depth to the concept of the “Like” button.
These buttons are rumoured to be labelled “Read”, “Listened” and “Watched”. Social commerce buttons such as “Want” are also said to be in the works.
Reports say the new buttons are in line with the tagline for the f8 conference, which is said to be “Read, Watch, Listen” - this is, however, yet to be confirmed.
Facebook has been testing what is called “broad category interest targeting” this year on its advertising platform. Inside Facebook speculates that the new buttons could feed into this feature - allowing advertisers to target specific interest groups easily, making them 'monetisable'.
“A user wouldn't have to formally 'Like' the page of a book for Facebook to know they're interested in reading, because they often click 'Read' on newsfeed posts,” says Inside Facebook.
Last month, Facebook also confused analysts by acquiring e-book publisher Push Pop Press.
In a statement posted on the Push Pop Press Web site by co-founders, Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, it said: “Facebook isn't planning to start publishing digital books; the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories.”
These “richer” ways of sharing are expected to be linked to Facebook's intentions to expand its entertainment offerings.
Over the last few weeks, Facebook has unveiled a number of already considerable changes and upgrades. These have included the overhaul of its privacy settings, the updating of Friends Lists, the introduction of a “Subscribe” button and the hints at the addition of Twitter functionality.
Resisting change
However, it will remain to be seen how users will receive further changes. When Facebook made the major changes to it user interface in 2008, the move was met with a lot of resistance from users. Some users even went so far as creating petitions and groups to demand Facebook to revert back to its original layout.
One Facebook Group, “We hate the new Facebook, so stop changing it”, managed to gather over 1.5 million supporters.
At the time, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the redesign, saying 30 million of the 40 million who had tested it in beta had embraced it.
“Any change can be a big deal to our users because this is how they connect with their family and friends. So when you move things around, it can be perceived as being not a positive thing even when it's a positive change.”
Another redesign was implemented at the end of last year - again to a chorus of complaints. Comments on the blog included: “Please stop - you're pointlessly out of control” and “You really screwed up this time, this is the worst ever”.
The latest posts on the Facebook blog reflect the same pattern. In response to the introduction of the “Subscribe” button, some users also bemoaned the constant changes to the user interface.
One user commented: “You should not have tried to fix what was not broken! You mess things up when you do that. People liked Facebook the way it was!”
“Dear FB... please learn from the mistakes of your friend Netflix and STOP making your site so complicated.”
Another user said: “I hate these changes. Why did you link chat with messages? They are two different things. So unnecessary.”
Innovate/imitate
In the past, while some changes have ruffled feathers, they haven't exactly driven users away or dented Facebook's user numbers, and the site has continued to grow - now surpassing the 750 million active user mark.
Many of Facebook's new updates have, however, been seen as reactions to the buzz that initially surrounded the launch of Google+ and its differentiating features. Shortly after Google+ went live, Facebook responded by adding Skype video chat integration and a group chat feature. The privacy settings also mimicked the functionality of Google+ Circles.
As Facebook has continued to innovate, Google+ appears to have begun stagnating, as user activity has declined sharply since its release. Even Google CEO Larry Page has not posted any content on his profile in over a month.
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