Hot off its announcement of a revamped News Feed, Facebook made known that its Timeline feature would also receive a much-needed facelift, giving members even more control over the look of their profiles. In a blog post on the social media giant’s Developer Blog, Jeff Huang writes that the company’s new Timeline comes with improved controls for users and streamlined tools for setting up Open Graph.
According to the post, status updates and life events will appear in the right-hand column of Timeline. Other important snippets of information will show up on the left. More, members can integrate applications onto their profiles, giving them unique sections in the left column to showcase their Instagram photos, favorite books from Goodreads and guilty-pleasure songs from Spotify. Members simply choose to include this social media content within their profiles to expose social connections to personal interests.
People can add an app as a stand-alone section on their Timelines and About Pages. This gives users more opportunities to showcase their interests to family and friends. For example, Instagram’s design highlights photos that users “Like.” The update translates into more targeting insights for marketers.
The custom collections allow users to express who they are through their Facebooks with more flexibility. By incorporating applications into Timeline, members can highlight their preferred interests, like that they’re avid music lovers or new-media enthusiasts. Clearly, this update also has benefits for social media marketing professionals.
With social listening a standard practice for savvy businesses, understanding what motivates audiences to interact with brands or convert online can drive revenue streams, and the interests people include on their accounts can provide marketers with clearer insights. Recently, Brafton spoke with Sprinklr’s Vice President of Marketing, Jeremy Epstein, about social listening. Epstein noted that social media analytics show marketers buyers’ true motivations. When a social user indicates that he’s interested in a lifestyle, it’s unlikely he’ll change his mind often. This makes social media reporting an essential practice, and Facebook’s new app integration process allows brands to keep abreast of consumers’ long-term interests.
