Facebook Timeline Coming for Businesses

http://www.facebook.com/TimelinegoAway?ref=hl

I've got mixed feelings about the new Timeline, but the Cover Photo would be great for marketing. However, one big beef is that the Cover Photo is so awkwardly shaped. It's expansively wide and really stout. All the photos I want to use either get cropped severely or don't fit right. I did find an app that lets me make my Cover Photos look really good that I wanted to share. 

It allows you to use multiple images and add text.

http://fbphotomaker.com

You can see some pretty inspiring user-generated samples here:

http://facebook.com/coverphotomaker/

In my opinion, Facebook has missed several opportunities to get the business side of Facebook right. And if they figure it out this time it's going to be really big. But even if they don't, it will at least have an impact for the biz that keeps an ear to the street.

I know I'm late to the party...but I had to second how awesome @Shonali 's Valentine video was! By far my favorite Valentine...my boyfriend was not happy he got trumped but hey he didn't serenade me either!

I didn't know the expected FB biz page timeline release date, way cool keeping us up to date on that. My sense is that this could be the best asset of the FB business pages to date. I suspect that only time will tell..

Facebook Timelines for business pages vs. snow for @ginidietrich . Which happens first? (I'm taking bets)

There's some interesting points of view/ comments in this thread.

Facebook has done one thing very effectively; they've gotten folks to expect change. People don't like it, but if they expect it, they're more prepared for it!

We've just completed building a FB application platform for a corporate client with 400+ distributors and they'll be promoting it to over 250K active customers. Yikes!

Based on @WilliamDeRosa 's comment, makes me think - "Oh shit!"

May need to rework somethings, eh?

You gotta love Facebook!

I don't have much productive to add to the actual topic, but I'd like to say one thing. Telling us to read someone else's post first is like the coolest thing ever. Obviously your established, but even so, most wouldn't have had the cojones to send their readers to another blog. I love it - SCREAMS confidence and that you're a badass for keeping our interests in mind.

To start, I can't wait to see Timeline for businesses. I know my designer is already chomping at the bit to take advantage of the new layout. I'm very curious to see if the addition of Timeline increases traffic to actual brand pages.

That said, I see where @WilliamDeRosa is coming from. Companies like Facebook present the ultimate challenge in that it's unwise for clients to ignore the 800-pound gorilla but said gorilla can also smash all of your great plans to bits with one move. We try to warn clients that the benefit of Facebook's reach comes with the con of being at their mercy, but it's hard to explain when thousands (or tens or hundreds of thousands) appear to be wasted.

However, I think one thing everyone could agree on is that a search bar within Facebook pages would be a phenomenal addition. If the rumors are true, it could possibly the first change ever to not warrant panic! Let's see more of those, Facebook! :)

While I love Timeline, and love fanpages being able to use this awesome layout, I predict a lot of flak over it. My clients are raging (we admin over 140 fanpages) about what is going to happen to the landing pages they spent so much money on for design and coding, the many many tabs purchased to connect various platforms, custom iFrame pages developed and integrated…contest tabs…even the sidebar graphics. If they take away all we built and that clients have spent money on, the clients (and biz/organizations) who don't see a physical $ ROI will bail, or at least get jaded over this slap. Change is awesome, but it must also embrace the hard work and efforts of businesses who have invested so much time and money into the platform.

As we count down the days to Facebook's IPO, I feel like this won't be the last of the changes we will see so they can build more relevance and utility into their platform. These changes seem to be sound and will pay dividends for those who are able to take advantage. Appreciate you writing this post to summarize. And the evolution of modern day story telling continues...

Get out! (imagine me hitting you like Elaine as I say this...um, hopefully you watch Seinfeld!) I'm so excited about this! I agree with @Shonali that it will be a great way for businesses to tell their stories!

Thanks for the shout out, Gini! I personally am looking forward to the brand timeline rollout. I think it will be a terrific way for businesses to tell their stories, and you know how I feel about businesses that DON'T do that well. I love @bhas example below - exactly what I mean.

Happy V-Day, my friend!

Cue droves of marketers wringing their hands and raging about the ficklemindedness of Facebook. Basically, it will be like Scott Pilgrim freaking out when the cool chick he was dating was so blase about changing the color of her hair, only magnified multiple times

Personally I love Timeline and I can think of so many ways brands can tell stories in pictures. One example of an ad agency who created a timeline of a fictional guy with before and after images on either side of the page for a drug rehab clinic or agency (forgot the details) comes to mind.

Bring it on, Zuck

I predict a backlash and a panic. Though I have had quite a few clients asking me if it was coming for business pages. Though...I'm not really sure if they are asking out of fear or anticipation. Will be interesting!