Timeline might mean shifting your Facebook strategy

Last week, Facebook rolled out its new Timeline feature for all Pages, forcing brands to use the new profile layout whether they wanted to or not. Love it or hate it, Timeline is here, meaning any law library with a Facebook Page has it now. And that new layout could mean new strategies for librarians maintaining those pages, according to a new usability study.

The briefing paper [PDF] by Simple Usability titled “New Facebook Brand Pages: A first look at usability” offers six Key Findings based upon eye-tracking technology testing. First finding? Cover images aren't that important:

Despite Facebook’s assertions that cover images represented opportunities for brands, most users didn’t notice even when the profile and cover images were creatively combined, even when working together to form one image – such as on the Pizza Hut and Coca-Cola pages, users disregarded the header as 'advertising space.'

The study also emphasizes the importance of adding content to the “About” section, so users can find basic information about a brand and its history. This also extends to filling out the Timeline itself, adding important milestone events from the organization's history (e.g., when the library was founded, construction of a new building, etc.), though humorously “some were confused as to how content could exist in the timeline that pre-dated the existence of Facebook.”

The study reports on other findings involving currency of content, friend interaction, “pinned” posts, and apps. Simple Usability also offers advice to Page maintainers based on the findings. If you're in charge of your library's Facebook Page, the report might be worth a look.

And if you don't already, feel free to “Like” the (cover image-less) CS-SIS Facebook Page, where you'll have a front row seat to see how we deal with this whole Timeline thing.

[via The Next Web]