Big Changes on Facebook

29th September 2011, by Tim Beaver

The past week has seen some pretty big changes on Facebook, and typically, the changes were made without any formal announcement. 

As a result my Newsfeed has been full of complaints, which happens every time Facebook makes changes – and these changes appear to be the biggest in its history. So let’s explore what they are, why they been made and what this means for business organisations. 

Firstly, the Facebook changes arrived just days after Google+ went public, and are widely regarded as an attempt to keep users on the site in light of increased competition from Google+ and Twitter (and I think they will succeed). 

They certainly appear to be aimed squarely at what the competition has got right – notably Twitter’s real time updates and Google+ providing the ability to place your contacts into ‘friends lists’ so that you can be selective about what you share with whom. 

Here’s a quick look at the changes:

The new News Feed

Perhaps the most controversial, since it has changed the look of the Facebook homepage. Gone are the chronologically ordered posts, now ‘Top Stories’ appear at the top, each marked with a blue corner – and ‘Recent Stories’ are listed below, in the order they were posted. 

What’s causing most concern is how Facebook determines what is a ‘top story’. Essentially it’s a ranking algorithm that considers your relationship to the person posting, how many comments and likes it has received, whay type of story it is etc. 

 The good news is that you can filter by friend lists and hide an individual or story type. You can click on the blue triangle to remove a top story, or click the top left of any post to mark it as a top story – in doing so, you can tweak and ‘teach’ the system what kind of story you would like to see at the top of your newsfeed. 

 Learn more about the news feed changes here.

The improved ‘Friends Lists’

 Have a look at your friend lists. You will find that new groups of friends have appeared (i.e. ‘smart lists’ by school, employer, city, family, etc.). Using the new lists features gives you a quick optional way to organize friends so you can control what you see in your News Feed and post updates to specific groups of people. Very useful, and a direct attack at the ‘Circles’ feature on Google+. 

There are three new lists that have been made automatically by Facebook: 

• Close Friends: Your best friends, who will show up more in your News Feed 
• Acquaintances: Friends who should show up less in News Feed. 
• Restricted: Friends who can only see posts and profile info you make public. 

You can add your friends to these lists, without them being notified at all (which is nice..) This way, you can also go straight to photos and updates from the friends you care about most and skip the news from acquaintances you don’t know well. 

Learn more about the friends list changes here.

The News Ticker

Facebook has now put Facebook in the top right of Facebook so you can Facebook while you’re on Facebook. 

The scrolling news ticker (grab the bottom of it with your mouse, and drag down to the bottom of your screen – recommended) shows friends' updates in real time, and displays them in chronological order - replaces the function of the “Most Recent” section of the News Feed - and provides a 'Twitter' like experience. If you click on the updates, a box will appear showing the full story and all related comments and likes. 

This has cause privacy concerns from users, however, it is worth noting that only users commenting on your ‘public’ updates or to updates to 'friends of friends' will become visible to users outside your immediate network. 

The Subscribe Button

This new feature allows for users to follow public updates without becoming friends, very useful for celebrities and public figures. 

Also, by using the subscribe button, you can pick and choose the types of content you would like to see from individual friends - ‘all’, ‘most’, or ‘only important’. 

Learn more about the new subscribe button here. 

The social network has since made more announcements this week, unveiling a music and media-sharing platform and a major profile redesign. 

All of these developments are being made with a view to making Facebook more engaging, to make people spend more time using it, now that their connections are established. 

For brands the outlook looks very positive. The best companies in the socia space have known for some time that social media is about engagement, rather than simply counting the number of 'likes'. And with people spending more quality time on Facebook the brands that get it right should find that this means users spending more quality time with them. 

Stay tuned for another update which will follow the launch of the new Facebook Timeline, and we’ll take a closer look at what the changes may mean for company Facebook pages and applications – notably, the new ‘Open Graph’. 

 At the moment it’s pure speculation, but many commentators anticipate it being a case of ‘back to the drawing board’...