Facebook redesigns timeline to give more prominence to content apps
Facebook is rolling out changes to its timeline aimed at giving more prominence to third-party content apps and simplifying the user experience.
Posts and life events will now be positioned to the right side of the timeline and content apps will be given more prominence with a separate section in the left column of the timeline on the About tab.
The update means people can add content directly to the timeline form other sites including Pinterest, Quora and Instagram, and connect apps like Netflix and Nike+ in the new sections.
People can add apps as a standalone section if for example they want to display their Instagram photos within the same place. It is also replacing how it usually ranks apps with a view to providing people with “more control” over which apps they want to show on their timeline.
In a developer blog post Facebook’s Jeff Huang said: “Previously, only top-ranked Open Graph stories and aggregations would appear on timeline. Now, when someone adds an app section, it will appear in the same place until they edit the order or visibility,” said Huang.
“As apps become an increasingly important part of people’s identities, we’re excited to create a more organised and consistent way for apps to live on timeline,” he added.
People can also create sections dedicated to personal interests including favourite movies, TV, music, book and fitness via apps like Flixster, Netflix and Goodreads or directly on the site.
The social network has also made changes to simplify the setup process for developers using Open Graph, removing the need to configure common actions. The can also now previous News Feed stories and more easily configure sections.
For more information visit the Facebook developers page.
The news follows significant changes to the Facebook News Feed revealed earlier this month.