What’s with the Facebook Changes??

by Mary Kate Smither Vollmer Dallas

I’m a big fan of the motto: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  

So, when I first logged onto Facebook late last month and noticed the changes to my homepage, I’ll admit I was momentarily thrown. However, in the fast-moving world of agency public relations -- where my brain is constantly changing gears to help deliver effective counsel to our clients across multiple industries – and, as Vollmer’s social media practice leader, I’m also a fan of evolving with the times. That very often means finding the good in change and moving forward with it.

According to recent ComScore data, Facebook memberships continue to grow, as the site added 3.3. million unique users in September alone. If you’ve joined the world of status updates, sharing, commenting and “liking,” you, too, may have felt a momentary jolt when you logged in. You might be wondering what’s behind all of the changes when Facebook seemed to be working just fine.

For one thing, by creating a new News Feed view, Facebook says it is helping weed through the clutter and provide its members with recent content posted by friends, fan pages and groups that Facebook selects as most interesting and relevant to them. Facebook says it makes changes based on members’ questions and feedback, although there have already been questions about how Facebook filters the content and selects which friends’ updates and information to show a member.

For those interested in getting up-to-the-minute updates on all current content and activities posted about a member’s friends, fan pages and groups, Facebook also offers a Live News Feed tab, which users may select as their permanent home page feed. On both the News Feed and Live News Feed views, users can add (or deselect) whose activities they would like to view by selecting the Edit Options button located at the bottom of the News Feed homepage. You may select the number of friends to view in your news feed and show who it has designated as your “recommended” News Feed friends and fan pages, while allowing you to make changes to this list.

In many ways, Facebook has simply centralized content that was already available to users. News Feed content that had previously appeared in the Highlights right hand section of the page has now been moved to the main column, or central focus, of a user’s view. For those of us who don’t necessarily adapt instantly to change, it’s comforting to know that we’re not really losing any content, but instead simply viewing a different presentation of it -- while still ultimately staying in control of what we see.

How long the current version of the homepage will be around remains to be seen. We can only be certain that, at some point, it will change. In the meantime, it’s important to figure out how to best use these changes as a way of further promoting your brand. For answers to questions you may have about these changes or for more information on how to leverage Facebook to promote your brand, contact me at marykate@vollmerpr.com or 972.488.4790. Also, you can become a fan of Vollmer on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/vollmerpr.