Why Facebook's new profile changes matter
The redesigned look of Britney Spears' fan page on Facebook.
(Credit: Facebook)I'm not going to lie: Wednesday's announcement from Facebook wasn't a huge one. The social network unveiled a moderately redesigned home page that puts the news feed even more front-and-center, and has tweaked the "fan pages" that it encourages brands to create to tap into Facebook's 175-million-strong membership.
The "streaming" nature of the revamped news feed is an obvious answer to Web users' seemingly endless thirst for instant news and opinions--I'm looking at you, Twitter. That's a pretty understandable step. So are the easier filtering controls, which make a lot of sense as Facebook members chalk up higher friends-list counts. The update that merits a bit more exploration is Facebook's decision to make its fan pages resemble, both visually and functionally, standard Facebook profiles.
Fan pages, until this point, have been a bit isolated from the rest of the site, with a disparate design and fewer ways to tap into Facebook's notorious viral-buzz machine. Now they'll have more prominence in news feeds, appearing alongside friends-list updates. That's important: Many brands are still wary of their involvement in social-media properties like Facebook, because results are still based largely on anecdotal evidence. There obviously isn't yet a way for Facebook to prove that making brand pages look more like member profiles can boost a company's profit margin, but it's a start.
The redesigned fan pages are also going to be more palatable to public figures, celebrities, and other individuals who, for one reason or another, want their presence on Facebook to be one part social and one part promotional. Among the launch partners for the new Facebook Pages are Olympic champion Michael Phelps and actor-turned-entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher, for example. It effectively provides a way for them to network with more fans while skirting the 5,000-profile limit on a friends list proper.
They'll probably like it. Indeed, in the audience of Facebook's presentation, excited uber-blogger Robert Scoble raised the question of when he'd be able to take the 5,000 friend requests that he can't approve (because he's famously hit the friends-list limit) and turn them into fans. (Patience, Scoble, patience.)
More speculatively, the revamped news feed in conjunction with more news-feed-friendly brand pages makes it possible for the site's home page to display a whole lot more than just status messages and photo albums. This is another step toward Facebook wanting to be the ultimate personal home page: if the brand pages work out the way they're supposed to, my news feed could show me not only my friends' St. Patrick's Day party photos but also headlines from news outlets I read, concert dates from my favorite bands, and ski condition reports from my destinations of choice. Theoretically, it can already do that, but the redesign will make it an easier sell to on-the-fence brands.
With The New York Times and CNN among Facebook's flagship partners for the new fan pages, expect news consumption to be front and center very soon. The issue down the road: when it comes to an everything-in-one-place "stream," how much will be too much?
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
Read the response from Facebook business users here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=54590719821
It is sad to see that a failed attempt at Twitter results in Facebook trying to become - Twitter.
In my mind there is no better way to promote Twitter and drive more users their way, than for Facebook to try and become what Facebook is not - and it is NOT Twitter.
Aloha
It looks like the new page is made for fan pages of figures, which according to the article, want to have their page closer to a public profile.
But I think organizations and companies fits better with the old Pages. It shows more content by the company, without getting mixed up with the wall post from followers. It even shows the summary of company profile right in front.
The BIG money will come when the commercials start appearing in your feed. As along as they are not too obtrusive and don't appear too regularly, Facebook users will accept the change and get sued to it to the point where they'll forget what it was like before. It's potentially a win win. Excellent target advertising that benefits both the company and the user. Other commenters - Facebook is smart, underestimate them at your own peril.
Also we're assuming here that Facebook will limit commericals in the newsfeed to brands the user has CHOSEN to follow.
Rememebr - Brands aren't necessarily bad things. A brand is an assurance of quality. They can be evil and are always portrayed that way, but they have useful purposes for the consumer. It's a 2 way street.
It makes a hell of a lot more sense for Fan pages to look more like Profile pages. And I think "how much will be too much" will be when the user gets annoyed and un-fans whoever they're following; the choice is always ours.
Personally, I still treat Facebook as a separate category from "news." My friends are mostly my actual, real life friends, and the updates I receive are used to keep in touch with what's going on in their lives. But it is a decent platform for celebrities/popular figures to use and market themselves, for sure.
jeeze its a site if you are that upset leave, i remember when the changed the look everyone whine on their status bar and were tryna find loop holes to get to the old one, jeeze means you spend too much time on it, besides things change, everything changes deal with it
but i like it cool, gives more reason not to join twitter beyond the fact no one i know is on it and facebook does everything it does and more
We need to find another network one that is fun like Face book used to be
- by KimberlyRoad March 17, 2009 10:14 AM PDT
- OH PLEASE!!!! If you or your site were "NEWS WORTHY" - you would look at the feedback from FB's users, through the Facebook blog (both URL's found below ... at the end of this comment) and see just how horrible this new release was and is - and how very much FB does NOT care about their user's wishes, likes, comments OR FEEDBACK. In fact, in both blogs, they state "At Facebook, we think it's important to listen to the people who are using the site, since you are our biggest fans, experts and critics" - which is not only a lie, but an in your face, outright confliction with the truth. There have been THOUSANDS of negative comments/feedback items posted, all of which they update daily and delete the ones from the prior day - and NOT ONCE have they responded to their user's questions, comments, feelings, upset, confusion or dismay. They haven't acknowledged one thing, and for that ... they should publically bow their head in shame.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(15 Comments)FB Feeback Blog
1. http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=57407012130 and
2. http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=59195087130