Categories: Social Media

Delayed Facebook Timeline now confirmed as only “a matter of weeks” away

I've been using the new Facebook Timeline since day one - September 22nd

I've been using the new Facebook Timeline since day one - September 22nd

Speaking to The Next Web’s European Editor Martin Bryant at the Dublin Web Summit today, Ethan Beard, Director of Developer Marketing at Facebook, has confirmed that the roll-out of the new Timeline profile is now only “a matter of weeks” away.

For whatever reason the roll-out of Facebook Timeline has been delayed, be it the controversy over trademark infringement claims by Timelines.com, the suggestion that negative feedback may have caused Facebook to re-consider Timeline or that developer adoption has been slower than expected, Timeline’s introduction to Facebook’s 800 million or so users is imminent and will more than likely happen before the end of November.

Ethan described Facebook Timeline as a “very significant change” that would enable users to provide a “much fuller description of who they are” on Facebook when compared to the current “limited” profile page. Timeline gives users the “ability to curate and highlight what they think is important”. Facebook have been working on Timeline for the “better part of a year”.

Ethan also provided some commentary on Facebook’s vision of a mobile future. With 350 million people per month accessing Facebook on a mobile device, Facebook knows the importance of the mobile experience. Ethan describes the similarities between mobile devices and the Facebook platform. Like a mobile phone is a personal device but also social, so to is Facebook. Users feel possessive over their own Facebook profile and are inherently social on the network. For this reason “mobile and social go hand-in-hand”.

Facebook has recently released their iPad app but are “investing very heavily in HTML5”. They see HTML5 as a technology that can be “employed everywhere”, reducing the need for an ever-growing group of teams to work separately on translating Facebook to other platforms. HTML5 also gives Facebook the flexibility to push updates out quickly, allowing them to bypass the approval process in respective applications markets.

Towards the end of the short interview, Ethan left us with this comment – “Everything is going to be social at some point”.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

Leave a Comment
Share
Published by
Albizu Garcia
Tags: Dublindublin web summitdwsdws7ethan beardFacebookFacebook timelinemartin bryantprofile pagetimeline
14 years ago

Recent Posts

Reality intelligence startup Track3D raises $10M to tackle construction delays

Construction is one of the world’s most complex industries to manage. Projects run late, costs…

1 day ago

UK to force digital ID, Blair Institute claims 62% of Brits favor digital identity

Illegal immigration is the Trojan Horse of choice to deliver mandatory digital ID: perspective Using…

1 day ago

97% of CIOs, CTOs concerned about unethical use of AI at companies: Report

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022, use of artificial intelligence (AI) has…

2 days ago

We can’t eat it, but AI will feed the world

Since its massification in the early 2020s, AI has been slowly integrated into sectors as…

1 week ago

To monitor disinformation Von der Leyen urges European Democracy Shield, Center for Democratic Resilience

The EU, UN, WEF, and G20 all call on stakeholders to mitigate the harmful effects…

1 week ago

Trump Takes Aim at Remote Work—Is He the Movement’s Top Adversary?

Back in 2018, I wrote a story, To Kill an Outsourcing Bird. For my younger readers,…

1 week ago

Search