Everybody hates it when facebook changes, get ready for these big ones!
Facebook Timeline
Its the biggest change to facebook since its release back in 2006. A complete design overhaul that makes a visual history of everything you’ve ever done, all the way to when you were born.
The new profiles also include a map feature that lets you see where you’ve been, thanks to Facebook Places. It maps out your travel. You can even mark your place of birth. But perhaps the most striking feature is the cover photo, which displays a giant image at the top of the new profile page.
So the timeline is due to release to the public any day now ( Meanwhile If you just cant wait – You can enable it through the developer page. It’s pretty easy, took me about 5 mins. But no one else will be able to see your ‘new look’ page unless they also have downloaded the app at this stage.)
If you would like to do this (Click here for instructions)
I had to give it a try, and the result is below – At first glance I could not help thinking that this layout reminded me of an old social media site I used to use – My space. And it showed so much information so differently, It will take a bit of getting use to. The photos are displayed larger and ‘places’ showed where I had been on a map recently. I also noticed options to share very personal events from the past, mmm.. I don’t think anyone really cares, nor do I to share that I broke my little toe once.
F8 Conference – Mark Zuckerburg explains the Timeline
New Status Box Adds Life Events
Below Timeline’s top section, you will see a new status box, where you can share photos, updates, and links just as you do on your current Facebook page. There are also five new icons that let you add specific life events to your profile. The icons represent: Work and education; family and relationships; living (buying a home, vehicle, etc); health and wellness; and milestones and experiences (awards, driver’s licenses, etc). The list of things you can add to your profile is pretty exhaustive: It includes jobs, schooling, engagement and marriages, new children and pets, deaths of loved ones, buying a new house or car, getting a new roommate, breaking a bone, undergoing surgery, overcoming illness, learning a language, getting your driver’s license, receiving an award, or traveling to a new destination. Um….. Well If you like to over share your complete life in detail then you might like this feature
Changes to the “Like” Button
In the new facebook updates, you don’t have to just Like something — now you can [verb] any [noun]
The social network has launched its ‘Gestures’ which means that Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button. Soon you will be seeing “Watched,” “Listened” and “Read” buttons. Even the long awaited “dislike” button will be available for us to use. It means that we are not just endorsing pages or products, but sharing our personal actions. In turn, as many observers have pointed out, this is likely to lead to an explosion of over sharing — and far more information on your friends’ activities showing up in your news feed than you probably cared to know.
Social Aps
All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker
Status updates, photos from a wedding or a vacation, changes in relationship status: these are the kinds of things you want to see from your friends when you look at your news feed. Who killed whom in Mafia Wars? Who planted what in FarmVille? Not so much. So that kind of trivial detail has been banished to the Ticker, a real-time list of things your friends are posting now that scrolls down the side of your screen.