Facebook’s (FB) Mark Zuckerberg often says he likes to “break things.” It sounds kind of crazy, but the results have been pretty good so far. And yes, Zuckerberg is has made yet another change to the Facebook timeline.
The biggest change is for Facebook Pages, which is where businesses, organizations and brands can setup their own presence.
Facebook has rolled out a new Facebook timeline for Pages. The change streamlines posts into a single column instead of two — the same layout provided for regular users. Posts will appear on the right side of the page, while information about the business — such as hours, phone number, map and web address — on the left side of the screen.
If anything, the new Facebook look will bring more consistency across Facebook, which should be helpful. The fonts, photos and videos will also be larger. The changes could encourage more engagement, which should mean higher revenue potential.
The new Facebook timeline also features an admin section that provides real-time information on Likes, messages, unread notifications and ad campaign analytics. But the most interesting feature is “Pages to Watch,” which shows how your Page compares to others that are similar. It could be extremely valuable in making improvements.
All in all, the new Facebook timeline seems fairly reasonable. It’s important to note that the company engages in deep research and testing on the user interface before rolling out any changes.
While the Facebook Pages system is valuable — and widely used for many businesses — it does appear to be somewhat underutilized. So it’s no surprise to see that the company is getting more serious with the new Facebook timeline. Let’s face it, there could be tremendous opportunity to tap into the local commerce market, as Yelp (YELP) has done.
With the new Facebook timeline for pages, it looks like Zuckerberg has found yet another effective way to “break” something on Facebook.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook. He is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
