Timeline for facebook business pages

[Giddy Goat]

Wise words Martha - but (without wanting to sound like a broken record) that's why Pinterest appeals to me so much - it's so user/visitor friendly. I hope my personality comes over a little in a few of the descriptions but of course it's not socially interactive in the same way as FB and Twitter.

They may look to make it more complex down the line but I'd be surprised as it is essentially about pinboards, which are finite in terms of their structure, if not in their length!

[Nemo]

I've always had that jumping problem, since before Timeline. It's a pain, I agree. I imagine they'll fix it at some point.

I think with facebook (and all social media), you have to have a slightly fatalistic approach. It will change. It always will. Things will move around, picture aspect ratios will shift, tabs will move etc etc as the priorities and needs of those using it (and those running it) change.

You can't stop this, so the answer is not to get too worried about it.

So several of us have the jumping problem for some time it seems and yet they can't/haven't fixed it. Is it really that difficult?

Yes I understand what you're saying and to an extent agree. I'm not going to waste hours trying to make it into a made to measure product that suits me (I already have a clunky website to waste all my time on!)

For a company that is about to go public, surely it's in its interests to make it as user friendly as possible. Right now, it seems to be alienating many, by this change of features that appear to have some serious user issues across the different generations that are using it.

[Nemo]

I came across this blog about using timeline. blog.hubspot

Two important features seem to be the option to pin/anchor a specific story to the top of your timeline for up to 7 days and that messages are now enabled. This means that you and your customers can have a private conversation.

[Martha]

Yep I agree. I've never considered facebook to be a very pleasant-looking or easy to use site. It's not much fun, it's just a tool to me, and I like Pinterest a lot for that. Pinterest is the simple, elegant Apple to Facebook's ugly, clunky PC !

I hope there'll be more integration between all the sites. I can pin an item on Pinterest, it goes automatically to my FB and Twitter and website - but I'd like the integration to be simpler and work in reverse as well. There are many privacy (and other) issues associated with this though.

Working on a massive site myself (properly massive, with a UK userbase close to Facebook's) has given me a lot of sympathy with issues like the jumping scroll. When things like this happen on an enormous site, the fix, which seems so simple to the users, is often fiendishly difficult and long-drawn out to actually do.

[Harborfields]

Here's a pretty good overview of the new Business pages featuring the timeline:

http://www.livestream.com/fbmarketingta ... 0a4eef7b4b

(20 minute video)

[Harborfields]

And here's a pretty good look at how facebook thinks of pages working (and how page admins can take advantage of this):

http://www.livestream.com/fbmarketingta ... f553dfcfe4

(30 minute video)

[elena]

Are Martha and I the only ones who actually quite like Timeline?

When I first saw the profile Timeline I hated it as I'm not one for change once I get comfy with something but having had the personal profile for a while now I've got used to it and find it more visually attractive than the old layout. I like the cover photo idea and the fact that the photos are bigger as I always feel photos speak louder than words.

I can't comment on the impact these changes may have directly or indirectly as I've never got to grips with the real techie stuff and have only ever used it to post photos and quick updates - probably I've been missing out on a whole host of opportunities but so far I don't notice much difference except I think it looks "cleaner" & fresher.

I'm sure someone will enlighten me...!!

Nemo, I've never had the jumping problem either with my personal or business page.

Elena

Dordogne holiday cottages
Tales from our Dordogne gites
join Les Crouquets on Facebook – if you like us, please like us!!

[Nemo]

I've seen very little of it so far, although I think Windy has changed his page to it?

With those personal profiles that changed over, I had a major problem with jumping to the extent that the pages were not viewable. You simply could not scroll down and the pages were not loading properly. I tried on more than one computer and have a fast internet connection. At least I know now I am not the only one!

I'm sure I will adapt when the time comes, but just hope they get to grip with this problem in the meantime. I just don't understand why a company rolls out a new product when there is such a major user issue but hey, that never stops Microsoft does it!