As announced at the f8 conference last night there are big changes coming for Facebook users – timelines, gesture buttons, media sharing, plus lots more. So what does it mean for Facebook users?
Timelines
Facebook is aiming to chronicle your life and make it much more personal, giving a scrapbook, collage feel, with a stream of information about you over your lifetime. All the things you’ve done, places you’ve been and all your status updates. You will be able to limit who sees what, using the new privacy settings that have already been introduced.
Gesture buttons
Sometimes when you read, watch or listen to something on a website, you don’t necessarily want to hit the Facebook Like button – you want the button to say something else. Well, soon it will be possible with Facebook’s new gesture buttons. Now instead of like you will be able to say you’ve read it, or heard it or watched it, or any number of new options that will become available. You can connect to things without having to actually like them.
Web developers like us will also be able to programme our own Facebook “gestures”.
Read more here: http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-gestures/
Media Sharing
Want to know what your friends are listening to, reading, watching? Now that Facebook has teamed up with music streaming services such as Spotify you will be able to listen to music without leaving Facebook, and what you choose will show up on your friends’ Ticker modules. News sites such as the Guardian and Independent are signed up to provide a rolling news stream through new apps. Availability depends on which country you live in though.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says it’s a “new way to express who you are”, and it is, but what it means is that users will spend more time on Facebook, making it more appealing to advertisers.
