The New Facebook: Are You Ready?

Facebook users are a buzz and it’s not because of the latest status update by Lady Gaga. Change is coming to the Facebook page that is going to impact every profile on the platform– including your business fan page.

So what are these changes and what do they mean for your social media marketing? In an annual F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced a laundry list of changes, the biggest being the creation of a complete timeline of all Facebook activity.

Replacing the classic profile will be a timeline of the user’s life, both on and off Facebook. Every photo, status update, application, and friend connection can be seen on the timeline, all categorized by year. Users can also go a step further with their timeline and add in information and photos before their beginning on Facebook such as high school and college graduation or even baby pictures. The idea behind this timeline is keeping users on a page longer as well as keeping shared content visible for everyone rather than just having it disappear after it falls from the newsfeed.

The one thing that won’t be a part of this aggregate timeline is the “liking” of specific businesses, brands, media, etc. These updates will continue to show up on the newsfeed (also called the ticker), but they will not be a part of the permanent activity record.

Even though the “like” button may not be as emphasized, Facebook plans to create a whole list of gestures to use in addition to a “like”. Users will soon be able to use any verb for updates such as “want” or “appreciate”.

So what does this mean for your business fan page? Facebook is now taking away some of the weight of the “like” button which means that businesses are going to need to work harder to appeal to the masses. However, Facebook Gestures could open up a whole new form of marketing and visibility as users could “want” a certain product or “love” a certain service.

Now is the perfect time to get creative with postings and your marketing on Facebook. Have fun in figuring out new ways to find a spot on the newsfeed and grab the attention of current and potential fans. For some tips and ideas for Facebook posts, click here.