Facebook F8 Conference: Latest Changes in Facebook

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“We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues.” – That’s what Mr. Zuckerberg said in his speech at F8 conference. Echoing the never ending tempo within Facebook, this statement somehow gives a clear indication of Facebook’s future intentions to rule the web.

F8 and the announcements coming out of it were weighed in different ways all over the globe. It was a kind of mixed reaction overall. While some of the users, analyzers and experts welcomed the new concepts yet rest of them are still in doubt that they might experience a great chao in the exact near future.

While F8 was solely a developer conference, yet it stores a lot for almost every FB user with its latest announcements. Probably, Google+ is the best thing that happened to Facebook; because of it all of a sudden Facebook (which was going almost Yahoo way) focused more on the users.

Outcome in a Technical manner:

With the introduction of the Timeline, Lifestyle App powered by Open Graph, Zuckerberg coined the phrase “who you are”. In his words, Facebook with its enhanced ability to share/show more of you will focus on the point “who you are”.

F8 being a developer conference, Facebook and partners like Netflix, Spotify etc. together showed a great future ahead for the developers mainly.

Open Graph integration has been the base of all the changes in Facebook this time. All the apps by the third parties whether it’s a news app or a music app or a social gaming app it would be integrated via open graph.

Timeline, the automatic yet manually controllable profile feature which is supposed to be available by the next week or so for the regular users, is the main upshot from this F8 conference. Timeline is the game of data as a platform, based on which your profile would gain a new shape revealing more of “who you are”. As of now, Timeline is available for developer only.

Lifestyle App is the cluster of different social apps designed to conjunct the Facebook Timeline. It will power the users in sharing the day to day lifestyle activities like what are they doing or watching or listening or cooking or even what decisions are they making. This stream of activities from the user gets shared via that ticker already being introduced to the right side bar of a Facebook profile.

Outcome of the F8 Conference: General

The F8 conference ultimately stretched on the point of sharing more on Facebook than earlier.

New Profile Look – With the latest changes in Facebook you would be able to experience a whole new profile called ‘Timeline’ designed to share “who you are” in actual life. 

You would experience a wide open area for a picture to be made cover of the Timeline.

Photo Credit: Timeline intro

You would be able to share and highlight your memorable stories, snaps etc.

Photo Credit: Timeline intro

New ways to share and interact – With these latest changes, Facebook now would allow you to read what your friend is reading, listen what your friend is listening or would allow you to participate what your friends are doing, and all in real-time. Now, you would be able to share almost everything (music, video, stories) with your friends on Facebook and can taste the same from their lives with the help of different apps.

User Friendliness – As against the misconception that it would be beyond the control of users, Timeline would come handy with customizable options as per the user requirements (as FB says in a tweet). That means you would have a total control over what you share and how do you share it on Timeline. The only thing to mention is that we users would need some time and ten we will be accustomed to it gradually.

The apps you use would not require your permission to connect your activities to one another. So, be very cautious while selecting the apps that you decide to enjoy with, go with.

Since Facebook now strikes more at collecting your data than ever before, most of the users have the question in mind that – Would Facebook now reveal more of their personal life? Well, the answer is yes. But the good news is that one can always control what s/he shares on Timeline and on the Lifestyle apps.

Availability – At present, this newly introduced feature Timeline is available for the developers only. And by the next week or so almost all the users worldwide will experience it. Just note that you have to click that ‘Sign Me Up” button present at https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

Caution:

Be careful while selecting your apps. Choose friends wisely to list them out. Have a tight grip on the privacy & security options updated by Facebook from time to time.