Here are the changes Facebook made during the last two weeks in August, 2011 and the first couple of weeks in September 2011. Today we heard these changes are a mere foreshadow of a complete Facebook overhaul. We look at the upgrades here to get a glimpse of what’s ahead.
The “Inline Privacy Control” change was rumored to be an attempt by Facebook to get ahead of its newest rival, social media platform Google+.
This feature rivals Google+ “circles,” in which you can share a post with one, several, or all of your circles of friends, colleagues and family.
“New Lists” also help you segment your friends better.
Two New Lists that Facebook added for me are “Close Friends” and “Lakeville Area” (Lakeville is where I live).
Now dubbed “Smart Lists,” they take information from your friends’ profiles and adds them into your New Lists for you. So your family, college classmates, coworkers and so on will be auto-populated to your new lists.
If Facebook thinks you need to review something, they now notify you on your wall. I got a notification that one of my friends added me as a family member. I was asked to review and approve her addition.
Funny thing, though: she added me as a “family member,” and I had to input what the relation was – sister? cousin? daughter? before Facebook would accept my approval.
The “Subscribe” function is a move to directly compete with Google+, where you “circle” others to follow them.
Facebook even makes suggestions for you:
This is a cool feature. The only problem here is that I don’t know these people. Why can’t I subscribe to Dorien Morin van Dam of More in Media, Leigh Beckett of Leigh Beckett Digital Marketing, Susan A. Katz of EarthWhorls or administrators of any of the other 1,000+ pages I’m already a fan of?
I saved the best for last :). This is a great upgrade, and I hope Facebook continues improving these type of features, which will really help small businesses advance using the platform:
If you post a really cool post and others share it, then everyone will see, right in the post, how many shares it has. The more shares, the more people will see how cool your post is, and your page will gain fans.
Facebook launched all these upgrades in preparation for a big redesign, which will include a new look for profile pages, music streaming and perhaps a push for F-commerce. Time will tell whether the changes will help small business. For now, be prepared to have some fun with Facebook’s new features!
What a nice surprise, Donna, to see http://www.fb.com/MoreInMediaCompany mentioned on your blog 🙂 I love the idea of the post: a recap before the big roll-out. Nice format. Facebook is really shelling it out this summer. I have to believe that Google+ has lit a few fires under the Facebook team to keep coming up with new features. Competition is very healthy for Facebook as far as I can see! I still do not spend half as much time on G+ as I do on Facebook!.