Facebook: Subscribe, List, Share, News

Facebook released a number of significant changes yesterday in an effort to give users more control over who sees their posts and what posts they, in turn, see themselves. Businesses need to be aware of how Facebook is being used, as some of these changes will affect how Facebook Page entries are displayed.

Subscribe

Just like Twitter Followers, people can now subscribe to your Facebook profile posts without having to be your Friend. Those who subscribe to your feed but aren’t friends can only see the posts that you mark as ‘public’. They can also filter the types of posts they want to see from you.  This is great if you have a personal profile separate from your business page, but are looking to build your personal brand image.

Friends and Smart Lists

Facebook has mimiced Twitter lists and Google Circles, and created Smart Lists to help you manage your Friends and their posts. Initial lists are created automatically, based on common profile information between you and your friends, such as common workplace, school, city etc. You can add or remove friends from each list manually.  Then just click on a list and you’ll see post from people in that list only.

You can also add people to “Close Friends” and “Aquaintances” Lists. You’ll see all the posts of people in your “Close Friends” lists., and less of the posts of those in your “Aquaintances” Lists.

You can create additional lists for anything you wish at any time. Click on More in the List box and then click the New List button.

View Shares

This is excellent for businesses wanting to know who they’re main contributors are. Click on “View all shares” link your Facebook posts.

News Feed

You now see the most interesting stories at the top of your wall. All posts with a blue mark indicate it is a top story. Just click on see the top news stories.

More Changes Coming

At a live event on 9/22, Facebook announced and demonstrated some additional changes that are in store for users. Most prominent is a complete overhaul of the personal profile page.

Users will be able to choose a large canvas image to be displayed at the top of the profile, in addition to their "profile picture." The rest of their profile page will be seen as a timeline of their activities on Facebook, going all the way back to when they first joined.

As a website development company and registered Facebook app developer, we were invited to try the new profile page while it is still in development. All users are expected to be able to use the new profile page by 9/29.