Things never stay the same for long on Facebook. The ten-year-old social media service started rolling out a new look of its timeline for Pages at the beginning of June. This might be unnerving for some users, but as so often, being flexible and adjusting quickly will be the only way to deal with this kind of updates.
What changed for followers of Pages that connect businesses, artists, musicians, public figures or other organization with the Facebook community? Here is a quick overview:
- Simpler timeline: The previously two-column timeline is now streamlined into only one column on the right, similar to the news feed of Profiles. All posts are shown on the right hand side.
- Top navigation: The top navigation menu at the bottom of the header picture shows several tabs including Timeline and About. Tabs can be reordered, deleted, and more tabs such as apps for video or events can be added at this spot. The summary and preview section for About, as well as the numerical display of followers and fans moved into a new column section on the left.
- Left-column menu: Sections for Likes (now called People), About, Post to Page comments, Liked by this Page, Photos, Notes and Apps are now all aligned and located in a column on the left, next to the timeline feed. Sections can be moved up and down, except the boxes for People and About which are fixed to the top of the left column.
- Managing the Page: Page admins can access settings, insights, activity and help from an area above the header picture. Admins who would like to extend their page reach, can access the tools to advertise and “build audience” in this section.
- The Most Important Things: An area to the right of the header shows a summary of the week’s activities including page likes, post reach, and unread notifications and messages.
- Post to Pages: Post to Pages made by its followers can not be shared on the Pages news feed any longer. Previously, it was possible to click on “allow on Page” or “share” to publish these posts directly on the timeline.
- Offer, Event, +: A new button called “Offer, Event, +” has been added to the status update area. From here it is possible to add events, page milestones or offers, another new tool to advertise on a Page.
While I think that the new one-column timeline layout is easier to read and follow, I also have the impression that Facebook is focusing more and more on having Page users pay to build or increase their audience. The Build Audience tab in the admin section and the Offer button in the status areas show the importance of paid advertising the social media giants is pushing for.
Read here about the company’s announcement in regards to the update of its layout for Pages.