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You may have seen some changes on your Facebook Playground...
Some are excited, others are angry that Facebook's moving their cheese just as they get comfortable.
I've found most are just trying to keep up, and anxiously await the change.
Social networks like Google+ are even releasing new features to stay enticing as Facebook prepares to make announcements of their platform improvements at their f8 Conference later today.
So what's everyone flipping out about?
8 Funky Facebook Flips Before f8 2011
1. Subscribe
The first change everyone experienced was the "subscribe" feature. Previously, in order for people to see updates, a 2-way approval was required. With the new subscribe feature, everyone magically becomes a publisher in the social environment (if they so choose).
This is another way to syndicate content and decide who sees what. Or what you see from others. Note: the "Subscribe" button at the upper right of profiles.
Taking a look at Facebook's information pages, and knowing some of their previous struggles, this seems like a way to do some housekeeping on their end, but also nudge some folks onto Pages and creating additional marketing opportunities. Lets wait and see.
For now, listen to the "big fight" between Robert Scoble and his wife -- A great example of two real people - one very public, the other not so much.
2. Facebook Navigation Bar - Front & Center
Pretty easy - The blue Facebook navigation strip stays on-screen even when scrolling. Nice.
Care to pipe in on why you like this feature?
3. Friend Lists
The ability to group your contacts was available before. Now, Facebook makes this more convenient and it helps you use the Subscribe feature to publish content to your profile.
4. New Newsfeed
See top news and most interesting stories as they pertain to you. Same stuff, re-organized. Better?
5. Ticker
At the upper right of your Newsfeed (Facebook Home) is a groovy list of your friends most recent actions.
Hover over each for a nice pop-up square to see more details. Like another layer. Get Top Stories, Recent Stories, and the most personally relevant.
Here's a video that gives some helpful visual for 3-5:
6. Birthdays & Pokes
No, you don't get a poke for your birthday. Facebook just moved these features to just below the groovy new ticker on your Home/News page.
Me, not so happy the Birthdays are less accessible. But pretty happy the silly Pokes is more hidden.
What do you think?
[caption id="attachment_2306" align="alignright" width="300" caption="See who your top brand ambassadors are!"]
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7. Social Sharing Insights
This one was earlier to the party. Facebook Page Admins should be grabbing noise makers and confetti and doing back flips!
Have you ever wondered who was sharing your posts, and where the information was going? Just click the "share" link as noted in the picture example.
Now you know who your brand ambassadors are!! :)
8. They Upped Your Limit - by 10 times!
Ever want to express yourself in a post, but ran out of space? Now you have up to 5000 characters to post to your heart's content!
I'd say this pretty much confirms prediction of the death of Notes.
Shall we wager a bet?
9. WSJ Social
Forbes featured the story about WSJ Social, "For a world where Facebook is the new Internet."
They're doing just what we all should be doing - Meeting our audience where they are! It's a simple interface that highlights top stories and allows you to invite your friends.
Get the WSJ Social app for Facebook here.
f8 Conference
Facebook's f8 Conference is today. The Keynote begins at 1:00pm EST and can be viewed via Livestream.
There, we're expected to hear announcements of changes that will redefine social media.
Some think it will involve music. Some think we'll see an entire re-design. Others think it's just a continuation of the war with Google+.
What do YOU think?
What are some of your predictions of what we'll see in the new Facebook?
Please tell me in the comment box below... :)
36 Replies
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I love the Facebook new inventions. For example I definitely am going to use Close friends list. It’s much more convenient as well as Ticker its also very helpful function. You can sort your news and that saves my time!
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Alex, Glad you are optimistic with Facebook developments! The friends lists are becoming more and more a handy tool. Wonderful you’ve been able to use the functions to save time! 🙂 Thank you for reading, and for your comment, ~Keri
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Hi Keri, I’m mostly worried about small businesses who are trying to communicate with potential customers. Don’t you see these changes as leaning toward less visibility for business posts? It seems like they will be filtered out easier than before. Thanks, Laura
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@lauragwagner:disqus , I’m a bit worried about small business owners too, having taken a closer look. While there are some opportunities to gain greater visibility, it appears it will eventually come to those that spend money to develop apps or take part in marketing spend. That is usually big business. At the moment, though, I have seen information that indicates for a short time, there may be more exposure for small businesses that have a strategy in place! So, sleep not — ride the wave while it’s here!! My advice would be for small business owners to get onto Google+ as a Plan B, and ramp up their strategy to include that so that all roads provide some mileage. (I have a done a recent post about Google+).
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Forgot – Google+ – I agree – I just haven’t had the time to get up to speed with it. Still on my list! Thanks again.
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Thanks so much Keri! I was just talking to someone about a custom FB page and out of my mouth came, ‘even if less people see small business owners’ posts, it’s better than no one seeing them’. So I guess we’ll stick with the program. Now is not the time to abandon ship. I have some clients using their custom page as their website. So they may not have many ‘fans’ but they are sending potential clients to their FB custom page rather than a website. It works too!
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Wow! What a great overview! I learned some new things in this post, Keri! And you reminded me to go activate my subscribe feature too. I like the idea of people being able to subscribe to my updates even though we’re not Facebook friends. I also checked the boxes to allow anyone to comment on my updates and to allow anyone to request friendships. I wonder if this will actually mean more spam or not. =P Thanks, Keri!! =)
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@SamanthaBangayan:disqus , Wow – You’re so savvy – I’m thrilled to have provided some tidbit of new info! 🙂 The subscribe feature does give a bit of the celebrity factor, eh? Lets watch the trends and effects together. I did not get the impression this would lead to more spam. (knocking on wood) Great seeing you here, Samantha!! ~Keri
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Excellent and timely post, Keri. Everyone was flipping out, but far as I can tell (which isn’t too far, given my limited knowledge of FB), most of the changes were for the better. I’m happy Dorien knows her stuff and stays in touch with other experts like yourself, so we can make the best use of FB and other social media for our businesses! Paul
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@b5673c6758e8ce3596f67fbfd2998884:disqus , Thank you for your feedback. It does seem that people are not so happy when someone moves their cheese. Facebook reallllllly moved the cheese with this one! Dorien will surely keep your businesses going in the right direction. And, I’m confident most will come to like the new FB features. Great to see you here, ~Keri
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I used to have a list created for specific people and every time I would post status, I would have to click to select my custom list, hide others from the list, then enter. Now all I have to do within that list is post my status then hit enter. DONE. Love the efficiency of that. Thanks for putting this together Keri. Great article!
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Jocelyn, Happy to know there is some helpful information above! The smart lists and subscribe features will make things more convenient over time, I think. Glad you’re already enjoying some efficiency. 🙂 Nice to see you here, ~Keri
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I’m loving the changes and especially loving the Timeline! Love your short and sweet wrap-up! Some are so long, I fall asleep trying to read them. LOL
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@lisamariemary:disqus , Thank you for your feedback! There is a lot to talk about related with the new Facebook. Glad I didn’t put you to sleep. I’m having a great time with the Timeline, and can’t wait to try out some of the new media options! If you’re inclined, we should friend-up on Facebook and compare notes. Thanks again, ~Keri
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Hey Keri… I’m totally loving the changes now. They really out did themselves this time. The timeline layout is very cool, and I love the ability to customize the cover photo. Nice recap of the changes. Will definitely be sharing this out!
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@davergallant:disqus , Nice to see you here! I’m really loving the changes too – That cover photo is extra-groovy-cool!! Thanks for your compliment, and for sharing as you will. Have fun on Facebook, ~Keri
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Keri, Great breakdown of the changes! Facebook is really on a roll. I have been playing around with some of my client’s walls and I like most of the changes. I don’t like the ticker to the side though–but I am sure I will in time. Just right now, too much to pay attention to. I love knowing who is sharing what I post…and I will be posting this on my wall, so lets see what happens! 🙂
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@tigerlilyholistic:disqus , Yes, they are on a roll! What we saw at f8… Facebook changed their platform AND social media forever! What we’ll see in the months to come will be verrrry cool. I’m right now trying to decipher a few things about social media marketing and what this means for small business and non-profit spends. So, look forward to a follow-up post in the next day or so. Indeed a lot to pay attention to. Please feel free to reach out with any questions! 🙂 ~Keri
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Keri, Another great post. Like you, I see the wisdom in the changes FB is making…and, yes, I like the fact that the FB navigation bar stays put. There is just something comforting about the fact that I don’t have to scroll to log out, make changes to my privacy options, etc. 🙂 Anyway, thanks for the insightful post. I may even spend a little more time on FB as a result of these changes, actually. It means I can focus on what is most important to me…and not the latest break-up story from the girl down the street. (I hope that doesn’t sound too heartless)
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Hi there, Thank you for sharing your thoughts! The new Timeline is conducive to being more comfortable in the environment and staying a spell. Especially with the new music features! It is simply bewildering that you would not want to focus your time on those terrible break-up stories… (kidding) The new “subscribe” feature takes care of that one. Facebook just became highly customizable, and interestingly social, that’s for sure! Nice to see you here, ~Keri
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Hi Keri, Great wrap up of some of the Facebook changes. I hear more are coming 9/22. I can hardly wait to hear the complaints, I mean, feedback! I’m still confused about the function of subscribing to someone’s info but I hope to see the benefit soon. Whoa on the change in how many characters you can now post. I thought it was 500. 5000 is larger than most articles! Oh boy . . . Thanks for the great run down! Sherrie
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@twitter-14570912:disqus , Thank you for your comment! The subscribe feature – I think it will become more clear as we move into having access to the new features. Mainly, it’s just like your blog RSS — but the details from those you follow by subscribing will show up in your news feed in the way you prefer. It’s customizing what you receive from everyone. And how you send your info. 5000 — Isn’t that a huge number!? Great to see you… ~Keri
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The fact that everyone is flipping out is a testament to how much FB is integrated into our lives. On the one hand, I really hate to see that. Really? We are all going bonkers because FB is changing some technical things? What will they roll out? Who knows. At this point, the noise is getting so loud, that if it’s music, I just might have to turn it off! LOL
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@facebook-1323703418:disqus , Love your comment! I think once we’ve seen the new feature releases and had a chance to play around with them, we’ll be very happy. But, as all cheese must move, there will be growing pains. I’m not so sure I’ll get excited about some of the things possible for social share, but others I am reallllly looking forward to! Lets see how it all plays out! ~Keri
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Keri, I liked your ‘Cliff Notes’ version of what each of the new features can do. As always, you provide great information. I enjoy reading your posts as well as enjoy sharing with my online friends. 🙂
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@knikkolette:disqus , Thanks for stopping by — great to see you! I too enjoy your posts, and am enthused that we have connected and share many friends. Lets see what this Facebook scares up tomorrow… ~Keri
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Thanks Keri for the scoop on the Facebook update! The new subscribe feature now means that we can effectively broadcast to people who are not our friends. In other words, we don’t have to make friends with people in order for them to subscribe and follow you. Now, we can be jerks, have our cake, and we can eat it too! Just like one of my buddies like to say. This is so Marky Zuckerberg. Now we can finally answer Mark’s question in the movie. Yes, Mark, you are a Grade A a$$%&*!. And you want the world to be just like you. [grin]
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Stan, Yes, it does appear we now get to have our cake and eat it too! I think there will be some advantages, but I do think we’ll see more to go along with the Subscribe feature. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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Thanks for the article and the video. Being somewhat technologically-challenged, I need all the help I can get, and both your article and the video helped clarify the changes for me. Thanks again!
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@sandra305:disqus , So glad to provide something helpful for you! Today will tell just how much of a learning curve we’ll all experience!! But I think we’ll be okay. I do plan a follow-up post, so please feel free to stop back with questions. Let see how it goes… Thanks for stopping by, and for your comment, ~Keri
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Hi Keri, I just shared to my Fan Page; one share done. Nice post today, right before the announcement. Everybody was flipping out yesterday. Quite crazy! My predication is that whatever they come out with, it will be fun, great, creative and ultimately, once everybody gets used to it, user friendly. Facebook want more account holders, not less. They really are not going to make us take a step back, just forward with a side-step here and there, like a little dance 🙂 Maybe music sharing, I don’t know. It will be for the best and won’t it be fun to learn it all?
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@e871fa4b21051a710396d9cd1d9f6bfb:disqus , Thank you for your comment here! (I’m a little behind today….you’re winning the web hopper marathon!!) 🙂 I think we’ll see something to do with music. And gaming. And more apps for site we like a lot, but can maneuver within Facebook. Like the WSJ. So…. lets see. There’s probably even more. Thanks also for sharing, ~Keri Who is hoping to pump out a post on the actual f8 too…
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