This post was updated at 12:30 p.m. PDT with more detailed information and quotes.
PALO ALTO, Calif.--Facebook plans to unveil a redesign of profile pages in coming weeks to help members cut down on the clutter, executives said here at a press event Wednesday.
Executives also said they'll introduce a beta version this week that will allow developers to test the new pages before it rolls them out to members in June.
The redesign, a preview of which was released Tuesday night, slots member information under five new tabs: personal news feeds; profile information; photos; applications; and a customizable page.
As part of the redesign, Facebook is dramatically playing up the role of its News Feed, which will be the anchor, or first tab, of the new member home page. This shift is meant to make it easier for people to see dynamically changing information from friends and applications first, according to Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's vice president of product marketing.
"We see this big trend," Palihapitiya said. "People are publishing feeds all the time, and the point is, people are increasingly telling a narrative, and we want to make that easier for our users to do. And we want people to consume that narrative more easily."
The company will unveil design changes at the risk of angering application developers that rely on Facebook for distribution and member usage. Designers of less popular widgets, for example, could feel somewhat marginalized by Facebook's placement of external applications on a dedicated profile tab.
Company executives, however, said the design overhaul will ultimately give developers more reason to engage with members. "We think there's more opportunity for distribution, but (also) for more meaningful application," Facebook product manager Mark Slee said.
Palihapitiya added that some developers could suffer in the more dynamic environment of News Feeds on member home pages. "Applications that are much more static in nature will not be as successful as they used to be."
Here is an overview of the changes:
The news feed will take the role of the member home page, with one stream of information that people can reformat into three different sizes. From the main page, people can also update information on new Facebook applications, post a wall message, or upload photos from one point next to the news feed.
The reason for that change, Palihapitiya said, is the company's desire to make the home page cleaner and simpler, and allow people to see dynamically changing information first.
Developers can also get front-page play through the news feeds. "Developers can integrate into the feed through the publisher box, so I could draw some graffiti or send a SuperPoke," said Facebook product manager Ruchi Sanghvi.
Facebook moves the static information on members to its second tab, or the information tab. That page will contain detailed data about the person's address, personal history, and preferences. Executives said developers can get creative with new applications that help members tell a story about who they are.
Next is a tab for photos, which are commanding a lot of attention from Facebook users, according to Palihapitiya. So far, he said, members have uploaded 6 billion photos to the site, or 14 million on a cumulative daily basis. "Photos are just one example of an application that could blow up for us," Palihapitiya said.
The profile box tab, or where applications will reside, lets people see a record of the widget they downloaded.
The last tab gives people a choice to customize a page, much like a new feature on the iPhone. People can add a new tab to highlight an application like Scrabulous that they play often. Executives said this is "a huge new opportunity for developers" that could increase advertising revenue.
That said, developers will need to try it out of themselves.
"We are going to give developers a beta period in which they will be able to step into the sandbox and tweak their application," product manager Slee said, "so that they're ready for when this thing gets rolled out in coming weeks."
This post has been updated to include the Facebook app creator's statement on the issue.
Ouch, here's a zinger: contrary to reports, travel site TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. The news was originally reported on Inside Facebook on Thursday night.
A statement from a TripAdvisor representative read, "This is untrue. Beyond that, we do not have any comment."
The company isn't saying any more, obviously. You could really dig into the nuances of the statement, implying it to mean that either the entire rumor of the purchase is untrue, or just the price, or even just some of the details. However, we're going to assume that we should take this at face value and consider the entire acquisition to be an incorrect rumor.
UPDATE (1:53 p.m. PDT): Craig Ulliott, creator of the Where I've Been app, has confirmed that TripAdvisor has not acquired his creation. In a statement, he explained the situation: "There have been some rumors in the market that we have sold our business. These rumors are not true. Our future development plans, combined with our robust community of users, current growth rates, and the attractiveness of the travel vertical, have led to a number of strategic discussions with potential partners/acquirers, but we have not agreed to any deals and we are committed to building Where I've Been into a sustainable and profitable standalone business."
But, Ulliott added, we shouldn't wholly discount the possibility of an acquisition: "We are, however, exploring all avenues to maximize the value and usefulness of our product for our user base and we expect to announce new product features/enhancements," he explained, "from both internal development and through strategic business partnerships, in the weeks and months ahead."
Update 9:37 a.m. PDT: It turns out TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. Here's our follow-up story.
Who knew that Facebook Platform applications might one day be million-dollar acquisition targets?
Inside Facebook is reporting that Where I've Been, a third-party application developed with the Facebook Platform APIs, has been acquired by online travel company TripAdvisor for somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million. Inside Facebook blogger Justin Smith did not cite any sources; we have sent requests to both Smith and TripAdvisor for comment.
Where I've Been was created by Craig Ulliott, a Philadelphia-based developer, and counts 2.3 million users. Through a clickable map interface, users can color-code countries and U.S. states that they've visited, lived in, or want to visit, and display the whole chart on their profiles.
This isn't the first Facebook app acquisition, as photo widget creator Slide purchased the 'Favorite Peeps' application a few months ago for $60,000 and travel site SideStep bought the 'Extended Info' app as well, but the TripAdvisor buy (if it is indeed true) is likely the first multimillion-dollar one.
Developers, developers, developers! The crowd at the NYC Facebook meetup.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)Developers interested in working with Facebook Platform, the new third-party widget initiative from the fast-growing social networking site, gathered in several locations on Wednesday evening to hold inaugural Developer Meetups. The New York get-together, hosted by local entrepreneur Amit Gupta, was attended by somewhere between 80 and 90 people--mostly either developers who wanted to learn how they can use Facebook's offerings, or start-up entrepreneurs who had caught the "every Web 2.0 company needs a Facebook Platform app" bug.
Attendees knew that the event would feature a videoconference with Facebook's director of platform, Dave Morin, who was calling in from the San Francisco meetup. What they didn't know is that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg happened to be in New York for a family commitment and decided to drop by. The 23-year-old CEO was promptly bombarded with questions from the developers and enthusiasts in attendance, the majority of whom seemed to be of the opinion that Facebook Platform is a pretty big deal for the Web. (There were a few naysayers, all of whom took the perspective that small, limited applications embedded in Facebook profiles ultimately aren't that useful. Most of the other attendees were quick to point out exceptions.)
Speaking to the audience, Zuckerberg said that his company knew it was running the risk of ticking off its user base by opening the doors to developers. "That was obviously a really big risk," he said. "One thing that we've spent a lot of time on is just keeping the site clean"--it's famous, after all, for its simple blue-and-white interface.
"At the end of the day it comes down to efficiency for us," Zuckerberg added. "I just think that in the long run, there will be a set of really good applications" contributed to the site by outside developers, which will ultimately add to the user experience rather than detract from its efficiency. "It's slightly discontinuous, but I think it's probably worth it to get the diversity of applications."
And from the reactions in the crowd, as well as the statistics (a third of Facebook members have already installed Facebook Platform applications), it looks like people are willing to accept that discontinuity. One audience member pointed out that at Facebook's current growth rate--50 million projected by the end of 2007, and 100 million projected somewhere in mid-2008--it's approaching the population of a sizeable country, or at least, potentially, the face of "Web 3.0." After hesitating momentarily and looking rather surprised, Zuckerberg answered, "We've tried to create a new platform. I don't know if it's Web 3 or anything like that."
The last question came from an audience member who wanted to know when "version 2" of Facebook Platform would come out. Zuckerberg hinted that it might not be unveiled through a high-profile announcement like the original developer platform's launch several weeks ago.
"It'll be rolling," he said.
- prev
- 1
- next
