Cerebra

Facebook unveiled the much-anticipated “Timeline” for Pages yesterday, the biggest change since February 2011. Let’s take a look at the new changes and what it means for Facebook subscribers:

Timeline

As the name suggests, Pages will now be able to add milestones, which are similar to life events on personal profiles. It provides more opportunities for brands to post historical content, while providing a new experience.

Cover photos

The first change you will notice is the cover photo. Like the timeline for personal profiles, a landscape image at the top of the Page becomes the focal point. Facebook has dictated that the cover photo may not contain the following:

1. Contact information
2. Product or service pricing
3. Any call-to-action requests

These limitations are in place to avoid cover photos turning into banner ads. With this in mind, the cover photo seems to be a design-based change, allowing for more effective branding, and an additional way to show your brand’s personality.

Admin features

These have been upgraded, providing Page owners a more comprehensive tool for effectively running and monitoring a Page. A few small upgrades, such as name change requests, the “build audience” feature and “reach expander” have been added. However, insights will remain relatively similar, considering the other changes.

Tabs

Tabs are still available on Pages. However, these are now located under the cover photo, instead of their previous position on the left. Larger thumbnails allow for better design, and a user-friendlier page. Unfortunately, the new design has done away with landing tabs. Only select tabs will be visible before the fold – brands have to plan their tab use accordingly. There are rumours that Facebook is looking at removing tabs – guess only time will tell.

Facebook Timeline opens up a world of new opportunities for Pages, taking another step towards them becoming more like websites. This is a call to rethink Facebook and how brands can use it. Time to get creative!

The update will be standard from 31 March 2012. But you can make the switch earlier for your page right