Facebook has unveiled a complete overhaul of its Profile page, and what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “the heart of your Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up”.
Zuckerberg also showcased new media features that include music, movies, TV shows, news and various other social apps - all designed to increase the amount of time users spend on the social network.
The new profile design, called Timeline, is essentially a virtual scrapbook, visually chronicling a user's life. Zuckerberg introduced the new Profile by walking through the evolution of Facebook since 2004.
“Think of the Profile as what you'd share with someone in the first conversation you have. If the original profile was the first five minutes of your conversation, and the stream was the next 15, then what I want to show you today, is the rest,” said Zuckerberg.
On the Facebook blog, product manager Samuel Lessin says of the old profile format: “Since the focus is on the most recent things you posted, more important stuff slips off the page. The photos of your graduation get replaced by updates about what you had for breakfast.”
“We are so much more than just what we did recently,” said Zuckerberg at the launch.
Chronicle your life
The new-look profile will feature a “cover” photo spanning the width of the page. Below the cover are posts, photos and life events all in chronological order.
“You have complete control over your Timeline,” Zuckerberg said, adding that users can choose both what appears on their Timeline, as well as who can see it, such as everyone, or just friends.
Not dissimilar to the way in which users used to be able to add applications to their profile pages, the new social apps can also plug directly into the Timeline.
“Most deep conversations that you get into cover all different parts of your life and all kinds of different things. In the way social networking works today, that's just not very easy to do,” said Zuckerberg.
By contrast, the tagline for Timeline is: “The story of your life. All your stories, all your apps, in a new way to express who you are.”
Music and media
Through partnerships with the likes of Spotify and Netflix, users will be able to listen to music and watch movies and series - all from within Facebook. News publications such as Yahoo News, The Daily Mail and many others have also been added, allowing for the social consumption of news content.
Apart from Timeline and social apps, Facebook users will also now not only be able to “like” something, but will be able to [verb] any [noun].
With the launch of Facebook Gestures, Facebook's partners and developers will be able to define new actions and turn any verb into a new button. For example, users can now say they are “reading” a certain book, or “watching” a particular series.
The new gestures are expected to create an explosion of sharing, so Facebook has implemented a measure to stop the News Feed from being clogged up with useless information.
As Zuckerberg explained, this is essentially the function of the “Ticker”, which was added earlier this week and acts as a real-time list of activities. All so-called “lightweight” information and updates will appear in the Ticker, while status updates, photos and changes in relationship status will feature in the News Feed.
Well executed
Strategy Worx MD Steven Ambrose says that, while there is no real problem in the actual chronicling of one's life, the issue will come from the security surrounding this information.
“Essentially, Facebook is being upfront about a situation that already exists; blogging was the first attempt at this and now Facebook is simplifying and assisting in people chronicling their lives online,” notes Ambrose. “The main issue will be identity theft and security of personal information.
“The new structure and security settings are well executed and essentially transparent unless you want to make changes. In many respects, the usage will continue as before and more people will use the platform to communicate.”
During yesterday's presentation, Zuckerberg announced that last week the network reached the benchmark of half a billion visitors to the site in a single day. This peak in activity was reached despite the current storm of complaints surrounding the updates that Facebook has rolled out recently - all of which pale in comparison to the latest overhaul.
If history is anything to go by, the typical resistance to change on Facebook has never resulted in a decline in the network's user numbers.
Usual complaints
Opinions seem to be split on the new updates and on the Facebook blog, a considerable number of users are complaining before the Timeline has even been made available to them.
One user wrote: “Just go back to regular Facebook. We don't need all of this change, seriously. It was great the way it was.”
Another said: “Worst change ever made on Facebook.”
Others were more positive, saying: “This is super cool. People need to stop being babies about change.”
Twitter has also been filled with reactions to the updates. One user said: “In a nutshell, what all these f8 announcements mean is that Facebook wants you to LIVE in Facebook.com.”
Changing environment
Ambrose says the new Facebook updates are in many respects a response to the increased competition in the social networking space.
“Google+ is the first platform with the depth and support to compete with Facebook, and its emergence has spurred Facebook to replicate and mimic certain features and also innovate once again.
“Social networking is a fluid changing environment which will continue to grow as the Internet grows in value and pervasiveness in all our lives.”
The Timeline upgrade is currently only officially available to developers, although a preview can be seen on Facebook. The new profile is expected to be rolled out to all users within the next few weeks.
Share