Timeline is the newest significant change in Facebook, a social media network known for making enhancements to its service that result in an almost endless mixed criticism and compliments from users. Timeline also has been both praised and panned in the internet world.
Timeline was first introduced last year. A new kind of profile that allow people to highlight the photos, posts and events to tell a timed-base story. Facebook users are still adjusting to the Timeline feature. Any brand and business pages that was not converted to Facebook Timeline was automatically transformed on March 30th, 2012.
Cover Photo
A large banner image prominently displays at the top of a Timeline profile. There are some requirements and restrictions for the images: They must not include price or purchase information, contact information, calls to action or even references to Facebook site features such as “Like” or “Share.” The covers photo also cannot be misleading, deceptive, or infringe on other copyrights.
With the cover photo feature, brand can be customized at the top of a Facebook page like never before. Prominently display a new product. Show a picture of the business service in action. Occupying it with the business brand colors with a compelling image that attract visitors and fans. Within the restrictions listed above, there are vast opportunities for filling this newly available space.
Profile Picture
While the Cover Photo display is rectangular in shape, the profile picture is changing to a square shape. The acceptable size range for them is 32×32 pixels to 180×180 to pixels, which is significantly smaller than the 4MB photos allowed previously, but the cover photo size more than makes up for this change.
With the way they are arranged, the profile photo can be nicely coordinated to compliment the cover photo. The cover photo occupies the top, while the profile photo is an inset located on the left side.
Navigation and Applications
Directly below these two features is a navigation bar and section for apps. On the left side directly below the profile picture, is the section for your profile or page that contains location, contact and other information. To the right of this section one can choose other data to display, such as photos, events, Likes or custom applications.
Photos are automatically displayed in this bar and cannot be removed. In addition to the usual Facebook features of photos, events and Likes, applications can also be displayed in this area. This can include weekly ads, charitable apps, geo-location apps and more.
Insights
One of the features on the Navigation Bar is “Likes,” which displays more than just the people who are Fans of the page. With the old layout, users were able to get a glimpse at how many people liked the page and how many were talking about it. Now they can see more, such as insights into what geographic areas most fans reside, the most popular age groups, and what week was the most popular for activity.
Businesses can visit the page of competitors, view its analytic insights, and use the information gleaned to make the most of their own Facebook social media marketing plan.
The Timeline
The Timeline is the main feature for which all these changes receives its name. Status updates, Likes, shares and other posts are now displayed in a visual aggregation on the Timeline. The Timeline will extend all the way to the first day a brand page was established. Milestones in a brand’s history can also be added as well to extend the Timeline, all the way to when a business was founded.
Unlike the old Pages, Admins can highlight specific posts by starring them or pinning them to be more prominently displayed. Images also appear much larger with the new update. Furthermore, new apps are being created every day for use with Timeline to enhance its usefulness, with more than 3,000 available to users already.
Timeline and all of the new features that surround it is one of the biggest new changes Facebook has ever undertaken. Since it began rolling out to users at the end of last year, there have been many conversations on the topic – more than a few probably bordering on arguments. Some people and brands really like the new Timeline, while others are concerned that it will negatively affect the way users interact with their Pages. One recently released study shows that Timeline can drastically increase fan engagement an average of 50 percent and as much as 160 percent.