Yesterday, the Neoco team headed down to a live broadcast of the Facebook F8 conference as part of the Facebook Developer Garage monthly event. Usually packed with insider info on the latest Facebook happenings, we were excited to see what’s in store for the future.
After a very American sketch-show introduction involving Andy Samberg impersonating Mark Zuckerberg (at thinking it was Steve Ballmer shouting at a Microsoft Developer Keynote), the Facebook founder himself was invited on stage to discuss the new features. Presenting the keynote as if he’d been up all night taking pointers from Steve Jobs’, he explained what’s in store for the future of Facebook.
The first new feature that Facebook geeks can’t wait to get their hands on (I want my invitation!) is Timeline “the story of your life”.
Facebook profile be gone – with the new Timeline users can browse your life like a magazine. Scrolling down a two column page made up of photos, links and videos posted to your wall, Timeline has a distinctly magazine feel including boxes that look like Myspace did circa 2008.
The purpose of this new feature ? According to Zuckerberg to give users a “new way to express who you are”.
Introducing Timeline — a New Kind of Profile
Like every new Facebook development, reception from users is always divided but this visual, more design-based way to organise content, pictures, activities via apps and maps is a great way to have a visual memory of your life, whilst discovering your those of your friends.
If you can’t wait to test Timeline, with a little Facebook geekery, you can find some tips on how to enable the Facebook Timeline right now via Techcrunch.
The second new feature discussed at F8 is the change of the Social graph. Facebook allow developers to create apps using the new OpenGraph feature, which will interact in real-time with other users in their timeline. For example, OpenGraph will enable users to listen to music that one of their friends are listening to, via Spotify for example.
After developing great partnerships with big brands like Netflix, Nike+, Zynga, when the developments launch, everything your read, listen, watch and even cook will be included in your Facebook Timeline.
A New Class of Social Apps on Facebook
These exciting new features will not only change the way we post to Facebook and interact with content, but also present fresh opportunities to boost engagement between brands and customers.
We can’t wait to test it, can you ?!
Tags F8 Facebook Facebook Developers Garage Mark Zuckerberg OpenGraph