Idea Girl Media discusses Mark Zuckerberg's introduction of Timeline at Facebook's f8 Developers Conference 2011

Facebook's 2011 f8 Conference via Livestream

About ten years ago when Scrapbooking became popular, I was envious of the people that spent dedicated time snipping and gluing to create beautiful collections of their loved ones’ lives.

I did not have the patience to sit and do that.  (The proof is the empty scrapbook in my hall closet with stacks of pictures waiting next to it).

By that time, many people were already on the Internet.  I told a few of my friends that I could be a little more enthused if the whole scrapbooking thing could be digital — Somehow on a disc so I could save space and not have to keep a big, klunky book.  It would be great to view it all on a computer.

Back then, I didn’t even know how to ask the questions or find a good source to experiment with that idea.  But today, I very much wish I had!!!

Just last week I wrote a post talking about changes Facebook had already made — And gearing up to what promised to be an exciting f8 Conference.  Headlines were forecasting that Facebook would change social media forever.

f8

And…they did!

I watched and listened to the f8 Conference via Livestream.  It was both amazing and entertaining (Andy Samberg led with a funny imitation of Zuck)!  I tweeted my reactions and communicated with others watching around the world.  (We couldn’t have done that 10 years ago!)

Mark Zuckerberg first pegged the new Facebook Profile as the story of our lives.  He then literally introduced it to us…

Timeline

The new Facebook Profile:

Timeline: “All your apps and stories in a new way to express who you really are.”

If you haven’t seen the Timeline unveiled, experience it!

Mark then used the words, “A place to call home.”

Yeah, I’d say that it looks sensational, and will serve as people’s online home!

It also seems like a three-dimensional, ever-changing, digital………….scrapbook.  How genius!!

Up Close And Personal

Isn’t that big cover picture awesome??

As one of 800 Million Facebook users, I signed right up for the beta to jump onto Timeline.

Here is an updated look at my profile:

Idea Girl Media's CMO gives you an early look at her new Facebook Timeline

Kinda looks like a gussied up cousin of the “old” Facebook, doesn’t it?

Notice That all our friends are still there, along with our photos and Likes — just in different places.  They even added a map so we can follow where we’ve been in our lives when we take a peek at the previous years.

Yep – That’s the timeline – The thermometer-like vertical line at the upper right.  What’s that at the bottom right, you ask?

That’s Spotify – You can see I recently listened to Norah Jones while logged in to Facebook.

 The Next Phase Of Open Graph

So, Facebook takes the next step to help us tell the story of our lives.  They are allowing us to connect to anything we want, in any way we want.  Sweet!

Facebook wants to help us discover more through our friends.  They want to enable us to experience together.

How do we DO that?  With a whole new class of apps!

The largest social network has partnered with more than a dozen entities in each category of apps:

  • Media – Music, movies, tv, news, books.
  • Games – Example: Words With Friends.
  • Lifestyle –  Anything you do in your life (cooking, gardening, etc.).

According to Zuckerberg, we’ll now fill out our timeline by discovering stuff from our friends in three ways:

1) Frictionless experiences.

2) Real-time serendipity.

3) Finding patterns in our friends’ activity.

Social By Design

Idea Girl Media discusses the media partners for Facebook's new TimelineAs Mark says, “Your apps, now with friends.”

This social experience will happen mainly through the Ticker.  (Yes – That pesky little thing on your Home screen that distracts you from your newsfeed).

From your Home screen, you will discover that your friend is listening to a favorite recording artist, and you can opt to listen to the same song at the same time!

I’ve actually done it – All that is required is activating the app beforehand.  Once you activate an app, all that will be needed is one simple click to enjoy.  Nice!

Facebook has partnered with more than a dozen sources in each category to launch this new experience.

See Facebook Run: A Timeline New For You And Me

In Facebook’s terms…

Their last update took the social graph to an open graph.  They gave the social stream nouns.

So, to follow their terminology, we had nouns – With this new class of apps, we get verbs.

It sounds sort of “See Spot Run,” doesn’t it?

But the apps look cool – During the f8 Livestream, people went GAGA over the cooking app!  And Spotify has been fun.  🙂

The beauty of it?

Facebook will summarize your years as you add important events and achievements.  Interestingly enough, as the details are summarized over time, the year pages look a tad like infographics.

So, “Timeline – The story of who we are.”

Your new Facebook Timeline goes live beginning on September 29, 2011.  Are you ready?

What are you looking forward to DOING with this new Facebook?

What do you think will come next?