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Tag: timeline

  • Reported Twitter Feature That People Don’t Have To Use Freaks Said People Out

    Reported Twitter Feature That People Don’t Have To Use Freaks Said People Out

    On Saturday, BuzzFeed reported that Twitter is planning to introduce a new algorithmic timeline, and that this could happen as soon as this week. According to that, the timeline would reorder tweets based on what Twitter’s algorithm thinks users want to see most.

    Naturally, Twitter users didn’t respond with arms wide open. #RIPTwitter became the trend.

    CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted this in response:

    In other words, hey Twitter users, remember all those other times Twitter made tweaks and everything turned out ok? Settle down.

    The Verge reports that it has seen the redesigned timeline, and shares some details. According to that, it’s basically an extended version of the While You Were Away Feature, and you can opt out of it.

    Everyone also seems to be taking the all-important Lists feature for granted too. I’ve seen nothing to indicate that these lists, which guarantee you see everything from the people you want to (like normal), are changing in any way.

    I think everything is going to be ok.

    Image via Jack Dorsey (Twitter)

  • Twitter’s New ‘While You Were Away’ Feature Is a Smart Move to Keep People Interested

    It’s easy to get lost in the Twitterverse.

    I’m not just talking about the the nearly 300 million-member community as a whole, but also your own Twitterverse – comprised of the people you follow. It could be 100 people, it could be 1,000. Unlike Facebook, which doesn’t show you all the posts coming in from all of your contacts, Twitter has always been a unmitigated content delivery system. For better or for worse, your Twitter stream contains it all – every post from everyone you follow.

    And unless you’re checking Twitter constantly, it’s very easy to miss something important.

    That’s what makes Twitter’s newest timeline tweak smart. The social network has begun to roll out a new ‘While You Were Away’ feature that automatically surfaces tweets that you might have missed to the top of your timeline.

    Here’s how it works, from Twitter:

    “A lot can happen while you’re on the go. To fill in some of those gaps, we will surface a few of the best Tweets you probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise, determined by engagement and other factors. If you check in on Twitter now and then for a quick snapshot of what’s happening, you’ll see this recap more often; if you spend a lot of time on Twitter already, you’ll see it less.”

    The ‘While You Were Away’ feature is now live on iOS, and is coming soon to Android and desktop.

    Is this the Facebook-ization of Twitter? Not really. Yes, it’s an algorithmic tweak (and Twitter’s not too forthcoming on how it’s going to work – other factors?), but Twitter’s not deciding what content you see or more importantly – what content you don’t see.. It’s all still there in your timeline if you want to scroll through it. Twitter’s just surfacing tweets that it thinks you’d be sad to have missed. How sweet of you, Twitter.

    Of course, this could all change when Twitter is 100 percent sure than while I was away, I wanted to see an ad for Chobani yogurt.

    Twitter’s been making small changes to the timeline for months now, and we knew this one was coming. This is not a big algorithmic shift to Twitter that has been discussed and is mostly feared. What it is is a pretty smart way to keep people who aren’t constantly checking Twitter engaged.

    Image via Twitter

  • Users Don’t Like What Twitter Is Up To

    As previously reported, Twitter is messing with users’ Timelines. They’re starting to show tweets from people you don’t actually follow. These will be tweets it thinks you’ll be interested in.

    Are you okay with Twitter injecting tweets from accounts you don’t follow into your Timeline? Let us know in the comments.

    Twitter has already been experimenting with this, and has determined that people actually like seeing tweets from accounts they don’t follow. They announced that it’s going to be a permanent feature.

    “When we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline,” Twitter explains .”This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.”

    So if you don’t like it, I guess you’re out of luck. Of course a lot of people don’t. Here’s a small sampling from the pool of tweets from the last few minutes.

    There are plenty more where those came from.

    I have to say, some of these points are pretty valid. As we’ve seen with Facebook, a lot of people don’t like their feeds being screwed around with. They like to be in control of what they see. On the other hand, however, we’ve also seen that Facebook screwing around with people’s feeds has done virtually nothing to alienate users. It’s as massive a social network as ever.

    Twitter, on the other hand, has problems with user growth, and this is no doubt a play to help the company in that regard, even if that means pissing off a lot of the Twitter faithful.

    One of Twitter’s biggest draws for a lot of people has been that timeline control, so it will be quite interesting to see if any noticeable effects in usage come as a result of the changes.

    Twitter has often been associated with noise. If you follow a lot of accounts, it can be a task to wade through everything to find what you really want to see. There are tools (like lists) that let you solve this problem, but people don’t always use them. If Twitter doesn’t get this right, it will just be adding to the noise. If it does get it right, then you really will be seeing more content of interest.

    Twitter’s not stupid. It wouldn’t be doing this if it truly thought it was going to alienate users, and for the most part, it probably won’t. This feels like one of those things that people will complain about for a few days, and then get on with their lives.

    It’s not as though seeing content from people you don’t follow isn’t already a daily part of Twitter. You most likely follow people that retweet content from other users. Sometimes it leads to you finding new, interesting accounts to follow. Still, retweeted content is at least there because the person you follow tweeted it. Not because Twitter thinks you’ll like it.

    How much this annoys or pleases users will be up to how well Twitter executes. How well does Twitter really know what you want to see? I guess we’ll all find out soon enough. Until then, let’s just take a deep breath and see how it plays out.

    What do you think? Is this a big deal? Do you like the idea? Hate it? Let us know in the comments.

    Image via Twitter

  • Should Twitter Change Its Timeline Feature?

    Should Twitter Change Its Timeline Feature?

    There have been rumors and fears for quite some time that Twitter would one day implement an algorithmic timeline, which would essentially be its equivalent to Facebook’s News Feed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like many users want that.

    Would you favor an algorithmic approach to the Twitter timeline? Should they make it an option? Should they just leave things alone altogether? Tell us what you think.

    Fueling the rumors, Twitter CFO Anthony Noto recently spoke at the Citi Global Technology Conference about priorities at the company, which according to The Wall Street Journal, include an algorithm-driven content feed, a better search engine, and group chatting. I don’t think many will complain about better search or group chatting, but that algorithm-driven content feed part has people up in arms.

    The WSJ reports:

    Twitter’s timeline is organized in reverse chronological order, a delivery system that has not changed since the product was created eight years ago and one that some early adopters consider sacred to the core Twitter experience. But this “isn’t the most relevant experience for a user,” Noto said. Timely tweets can get buried at the bottom of the feed if the user doesn’t have the app open, for example. “Putting that content in front of the person at that moment in time is a way to organize that content better.”

    Some reactions from users:

    I’d have included tweets in favor of the change if I saw any.

    Suffice it to say, a lot of people are frustrated with Twitter right now, even though the big changes haven’t gone into effect yet (if they even do). The company is, however, also responsible for the death of Twitpic apparently.

    Twitter has already started to tinker with the Timeline a bit, adding favorites from people you follow, for example, though as CEO Dick Costolo said, these only appear when you refresh your timeline twice and they have no additional content to show you. You’re more likely to see that stuff if you don’t follow many accounts.

    The kind of change Noto seems to be referring to would make Twitter much more Facebook-like, and that means your organic reach will be in jeopardy just as it has been on Facebook. Getting in front of your followers will be at the mercy of Twitter, who is pushing advertising more than ever.

    We may see some controversial days ahead.

    Of course some tweets would benefit from an algorithmic approach. As Twitter’s analytics made clear, most tweets already aren’t getting a great amount of reach to begin with. The algorithm approach could mean more visibility for more of your content, which could lead to things like more web traffic and more conversions. But it would still be at the mercy of Twitter, and it would ultimately come down to what kind of content Twitter felt like showing to users. Obviously, they want you to spend money on advertising, so it’s hard to imagine the benefits for unpaid content would outweigh the need to pay to play.

    What do you think? Is an algorithmic Twitter Timeline a good idea? Let us know in the comments.

    Image via Twitter

  • Twitter Timeline Changes Might Not Be Quite As Bad As You Thought

    Those changes to the Twitter timeline that everyone has been talking about for the past week or so may not be quite as bad as they sound.

    You may have heard (or noticed) that Twitter was starting to show favorites in the timeline, similar to how it shows retweets. The company also updated its help documentation to say:

    Additionally, when we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline. This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.

    Twitter has been fairly vague about just what it is that people see, but it sounds like you don’t have to worry about flooding your followers’ timelines with all your favorites. It’s not that simple.

    Kurt Wagner at Re/code reports:

    Sources familiar with the update say Twitter’s algorithm searches for popular tweets in your “social graph,” marked by actions like favorites and retweets. But it’s not showing you those tweets specifically because of one of your pal’s actions — it’s showing it to you because lots of your pals have shown interest in that tweet.

    This means that every tweet you favorite won’t appear in someone else’s feed — it would require engagement from a number of other people, too.

    Okay, that’s not quite so bad. It might still not be what some users want, but it sounds less intrusive and annoying than what some feared.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Twitter Grabs More Control Over Your Timeline

    Recently, you may have seen some tweets in your Twitter timeline that confused you. Why? Because the tweets are coming from people that you don’t actively follow. This may have pissed you off, and if so, you wouldn’t be alone.

    If you fall into that camp, I have some bad news – it looks like this Twitter ‘test’ is here to stay.

    Over the past week or so, Twitter users began to see two types of largely unwanted tweets in their timelines. First, there’s the tweet from someone followed by someone you follow. A second-hand tweet, if you will. Second, there’s the tweet that’s been favorited by someone you follow, which is showing up just like a retweet in timelines.

    Here’s what the two new types of timeline filler look like:

    Thought to be a test, these new types of tweets in the timeline are likely permanent features. First spotted by Quartz, Twitter has added new language to its help page section What’s a Twitter timeline? that specifically allows for this new content in your feed.

    Here’s what Twitter has always said about timelines:

    When you sign in to Twitter, you’ll land on your home timeline.

    – Your home timeline displays a stream of Tweets from accounts you have chosen to follow on Twitter.
    – You may also see content such as promoted Tweets or Retweets in your timeline.
    – The newest updates are at the top. You can reply, Retweet, or favorite a Tweet from within the timeline.
    – Clicking anywhere on a Tweet in your timeline expands the Tweet, so you can see photos, videos, and other information related to that Tweet.

    And here’s what Twitter just added:

    Additionally, when we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline. This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.

    The good news – it appears Twitter is only interested in unearthing “popular” content from accounts you don’t follow. Still, this doesn’t completely assuage fears that Twitter is going to expose your embarrassing favoriting spree.

    Say hello to the new Twitter timeline. It’s official.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Google’s Knowledge Graph May Get A Timeline Feature

    Google is testing a new feature for its Knowledge Graph, which lets users explore timelines for select queries.

    Florian Kiersch, who frequently identifies Google features in testing, posted a video showing the functionality on Google+ (via Search Engine Roundtable):


    It’s unclear what all types of queries might display this type of result, but the video shows queries for Google, Andy Rubin, and “world war”.

    This could turn out to be a pretty helpful tool, particular for studying, though until Google’s Knowledge Graph becomes a more reliable source of information, I wouldn’t put too much stock into the accuracy of the information presented, at least without fact checking.

    Google was even recently spotted showing brand results in the Knowledge Graph, though this appears to have been a mistake. But that’s part of the problem. Google seems to make a lot of mistakes in its “Knowledge” Graph.

    Image via Google+

  • Facebook Redesigns Timelines For Pages

    Facebook Redesigns Timelines For Pages

    Facebook announced the launch of some changes to Pages, including a redesigned timeline, new options for admin tools and a new Pages to Watch feature.

    With the new Timeline design, all posts will appear on the right-side column, while the left side will display business info if applicable (hours, map, phone number, web address), photos and videos.

    “No matter where you are on your Page, you can now view information about the ads you’re running and new likes on your Page, as well unread notifications and messages,” Facebook says in a blog post. “You can click on any section in the This Week section for more detail.”

    “We’ve also added new navigation options to the top of the Page, making it easier to access your activity, insights and settings,” the company adds. “The Build Audience menu at the top of the Page offers direct access to your Ads Manager account.”

    The Pages to Watch feature (first spotted by some admins last summer) appears in the Page Insights tool for all admins, and lets them create a list of Pages similar to their own to compare the performance of the Page with that of other businesses. It will show stats about these pages like total likes, new likes, number of posts during the week and weekly engagement levels.

    The changes begin rolling out this week on the desktop.

  • Twitter Gives All Advertisers Promoted Accounts For Timeline

    Twitter has had Promoted Accounts since 2010, and launched them in its mobile apps last year.

    The company has been testing a feature on iOS and Android that shows account recommendations, which leverage tweetsas a call to action, and are shown right in the timeline as a native ad. This is being expanded to all advertisers globally. It will now be an option alongside the Promoted Accounts format that appears in the Who to Follow section.

    “For example, a new coffee shop could run a geo-targeted Promoted Accounts campaign in timeline to build awareness about their business and explain why users should follow them on Twitter,” suggests Twitter.

    Advertisers running these types of ads are only charged when a user follows the account.

    “Our hope is this enhancement to Promoted Accounts will make it easier for businesses to connect with the 76% of our users who access Twitter on their mobile device, and help users connect with the brands they care most about,’ says product manager Tarun Jain.

    Now that Twitter is public, the ad platform enhancements are coming fast and furious.

    Last week, Twitter launched broad match for its keyword targeting feature. Additionally, Twitter’s MoPub launched native ads.

    Image: Twitter

  • Twitter Forces Image, Vine Previews In-Stream

    Twitter has just announced an update for iOS, Android, and the web that’s all about putting more content in your actual tweet stream.

    “We want to make it easier for everyone to experience those moments on Twitter. That’s why starting today, timelines on Twitter will be more visual and more engaging: previews of Twitter photos and videos from Vine will be front and center in Tweets. To see more of the photo or play the video, just tap,” says Twitter’s Michael Sippey.

    What that means is that your timelines will not longer contain vine.co and pic.twitter.com links inside the tweets – instead, those images and videos will be displayed in rich media format, as a preview, right inside the tweets. Apart from making your timeline a lot more visual, this will probably make scrolling through hours worth of tweets a bit more challenging.

    For now, Vine videos and Twitter pics are the only rich content that will be visually previewed in your stream.

    Here’s how it will work:

    The update is likely to annoy some users who follow people who constantly post images and videos – as it will cut down on the actual amount of tweet text they’re able to digest over any given period of time. But Twitter’s moving toward a more visual focus – and have been for some time. No matter how you feel about this update, your timeline will look a lot more visually appealing.

    It’s hard not to think about promoted tweets and other forms of Twitter advertising with this update. By forcing visual previews of images and Vines, Twitter can assure advertisers that users are more likely to actually see their rich content.

    A smaller change Twitter has brought to its apps and web experience still lands in the realm of wanting to put more goodies in your actual timeline. Starting now, you can favorite, reply, or retweet in-stream – without having to click through the tweet.

    You can grab the iOS and Android update today – and you should notice the change in your web stream soon.

    Image via Twitter Blog

  • Facebook Settles Timelines.com Trademark Lawsuit

    Facebook has settled year and a half-long litigation with Timelines.com, according to a recent filing with the SEC.

    The case involved Chicago-based Timelines.com, which lets users to create interactive “timelines” based on historical events. Back in October of 2011, they sued Facebook for trademark infringement just weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new Timeline profile page at the company’s f8 conference. Soon after, Facebook countersued, saying that the word “timeline” was generic and did not deserve trademark protection. The trial was supposed to have begun on April 22nd, but was delayed at the last minute.

    Here’s the pertinent bit from the filing:

    We are also party to various legal proceedings and claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. Among these legal matters, in two cases, Summit 6 LLC v. Research in Motion Corporation et al. , and Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc., we have reached agreements to settle the matters. The cost of settlement in each case, which is included in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2013, was not material to our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

    Facebook adds that they expect no adverse effect from the settlements:

    Although the results of these other lawsuits, claims, government investigations, and proceedings in which we are involved cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not believe that the final outcome of these other matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

    That’s all we have right now. I’ve reached out to Facebook for additional info and will update this article accordingly.

    [Form 10-Q via Inside Facebook]

  • Facebook’s ‘Timeline’ Trademark Trial Delayed

    With no explanation, a U.S. District Judge has delayed the trial that has Facebook on the defensive over its “Timeline” product.

    The case involves Chicago-based Timelines.com, a site that allows users to create interactive “timelines” based on historical events. Back in October of 2011, they sued Facebook for trademark infringement just weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new Timeline profile page at the company’s f8 conference.

    That trial was supposed to have begun this morning, but Bloomberg is reporting that it has been delayed without further explanation.

    According to the report, U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah conferred with lawyers for approximately 90 minutes before declaring a recess, after which he said that the tril would be postponed until either tomorrow afternoon, or if need be, May 7th.

    After Timelines.com sued Facebook for the supposed trademark infringement, Facebook countersued, claiming that the word “timeline” was too generic for federal trademark protections. They argue that Timelines.com has no legal rights to them, and that they should be canceled.

    Facebook moved for dismissal, but Judge Darrah rejected that motion earlier this month. He said that Facebook “failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.” He noted that the word “timeline” may very well have specific meaning to Timelines.com users, and therefore the case should see a trial.

    As of now, that trial will have to wait.

  • Facebook’s Timelines Trial Gets Underway

    Facebook’s Timelines Trial Gets Underway

    This morning, Facebook begins its defense of its Timeline product against a website who claims that its continued use amounts to trademark infringement.

    The website, Timelines.com, lets users create and edit “timelines” of historical events. They sued Facebook back in October of 2011, just weeks after Facebook announced their new Timeline product at the company’s f8 conference. As of now, all Facebook users have the new Timeline, which is an update of the traditional Facebook profile page.

    Timelines.com claimed that Facebook was infringing upon their trademarks by operating the new profile under the name “Timeline.” Facebook quickly countersued, claiming that the term “timeline” is generic – too generic in fact to deserve any sort of federal trademark protections. They have argued that the trademarks should be canceled.

    “Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” says Facebook.

    Earlier this year, Facebook asked U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah to dismiss the original suit. And a few weeks ago, Darrah ruled that the claim must go to trial. He said that Facebook had ““failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.”

    He also concluded that with “millions of dollars invested in its business and more than a thousand active users,” it’s reasonable to believe that the word “timeline” has its own specific meaning to Timelines.com users.

    Timelines.com has just shy of 100,000 visitors a month, while Facebook boats over 1 billion monthly active users. The trial began this morning in the Northern District Court of Illinois.

  • Facebook to Display Your Open Groups on Your Timeline

    Facebook is adding a new Timeline section to highlight the groups to which you belong. The new Groups section will appear on the About tab on the new Timeline.

    Facebook launched their new Timeline design, a one-column format with more focus on interests, in early March. The main Timeline page got a facelift, streamlining stories and moving other information and activities to the left-hand side. More relevant to this story, the About section also got retooled. Each interest now has its own section, and you can also add custom apps like Instagram or Foursquare activity if you so choose.

    Facebook is still in the process of rolling out the new Timeline.

    Anyway, Facebook tells Inside Facebook that the new Groups section on your Timeline will only show the “open” groups that you belong to. Both closed and secret groups should be hidden from the new panel, something that should please those concerned with privacy in light of Facebook’s problems with Groups visibility.

    Groups will join individual boxes for your friends, photos, music, movies, Tv shows, books, games, likes, and app activity on the About section on your Timeline. Facebook just unveiled the new Games section a couple of weeks ago.

  • Facebook Continues To Make Timelines More Interesting

    Last month, Facebook launched the new Timeline look with more focus on interests, and let users showcase stories from apps in dedicated collections (this is all still in the process of rolling out). Today, the company announced that it is rolling out new tools to make it easier for developers to set up their apps’ Open Graph stories and timeline collections.

    “Common action and object types such as ‘video.watches’ and ‘music.listens’ no longer require configuration within Open Graph tools,” explains Facebook’s Caroline Schafer, in a post on the company’s developer blog. “To start publishing common actions, simply select the SDK that you use and paste in the sample code that we provide for each action type.”

    Documentation for this is available here.

    Facebook has also made it easier for developers to create custom actions and object types, enabling them to preview the stories that their apps can publish to the News Feed. Once a story’s configuration is finalized, developers can hit “Get Code” in the Open Graph dashboard, and past it into the app to publish the action with logged in users.

    Documentation for this is here.

    “In addition to News Feed stories, users can now add your app’s content to dedicated collections on their timeline and About page,” says Schafer. “For example, a recipe app can include collections such as ‘Recently Cooked Recipes’ or ‘Top Recipes.’ Collections can also have different layouts, such as lists, map, and gallery below.”

    Documentation for this is here.

    Developers must submit their app’s News Feed stories and timeline collections for approval, so Facebook can make sure they’re up to snuff with their quality guidelines. The review status can be seen in the Review Status section of the dashboard. Developers will also receive alerts when submissions are made, approved or returned for changes.

  • Facebook’s Timeline Lawsuit Must Go to Trial

    A U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that a lawsuit between Facebook and Timelines.com will in fact go to trial, after denying Facebook’s notion that the trademark-infringement lawsuit should be killed due to overly-generic trademarks.

    Back in October of 2011, fresh off of unveiling the new Timeline profiles at the f8 conference, Facebook was sued by Timelines.com – a site that lets users create chronological historical records. The site, which launched in 2009, claimed that Facebook was infringing on their trademark with their new “Timeline” feature.

    A few months later, Facebook countersued. They claimed that the term “timeline” is generic, citing the fact that a Google search of the term yields nearly 200 million results.

    “Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” said Facebook.

    Now, a Judge has ruled that the trial must go on, saying that Facebook has “failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.”

    He claims that Timelines.com has “millions of dollars invested in its business and more than a thousand active users,” and that it’s reasonable to believe that “timelines” has its own specific meaning to Timelines.com users.

    A couple of months ago, Facebook updated investors on the situation, saying:

    “We believe the claims made by the Timelines plaintiffs are without merit, and we intend to continue to defend ourselves vigorously. Although the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain, we do not believe the possibility of loss…is probable.”

    The trial is set to kick off April 22nd.

    [Above image is Timelines.com’s Facebook Timeline]

  • New Facebook Games Section For Timeline Goes Live

    At GDC yesterday, Facebook unveiled the Games Developer Center. The hub promises to contain all the information a game developer needs to make games for Facebook or Facebook integrated games for mobile devices. That wasn’t the only announcement, however, as Facebook is also bringing games to the newly redesigned timeline.

    Facebook announced that it will begin rolling out the new Games section to timeline and users’ About pages. The section will only appear for those who have played one or more social games in the past 30 days, or those who have liked at least one game on Facebook.

    New Games Section For Timeline Goes Live Today

    It should be noted that the Games section contains the same privacy controls as other sections on timeline. A user can mark a game’s app privacy to “close friends” and only those designated as such will be able to see the game on their timeline.

    If you want your game to be a little more special, developers can use Open Graph to create a stand-alone app section for their game. Players can then place the game in its own section of timeline for all to see. You can learn more about that here.

    As for the weekly bug report, Facebook says that 33 bugs were fixed while 60 were assigned for further review. You can check out the full bug fix list at the blog post.

  • Facebook Launches One-Column Timeline with More Focus on Interests

    It looks like the news feed isn’t the only Facebook product getting a major refresh.

    For the past few months, Facebook has been testing a one-column Timeline layout that puts all your posts in one, larger column and everything else like music, photos, recent activity, and other Open Graph actions on the other side.

    Today, Facebook is beginning to roll this new Timeline out to all users.

    The new layout puts all of your post on the right-hand side in a single, streamlined column. Everything else, like friends, photos, and more now rest in the smaller, left-hand column:

    Your About page is also getting a facelift, with more focus given to your interest (music, movies, books, TV, etc.) and the apps that deal with them. Each interest gets its own section, for instance “Movies” allows you to easily add films you’ve watched, films you “want to watch” and films you “like.”

    You can either manually add movies to this list or you can let apps like Netflix (which just opened up Facebook integration today) or Flixster do the legwork.

    You can also add custom apps to your Timeline to express what you’re most interested in, for example Instagram.

    “To simplify how apps are displayed on timeline, we’re replacing aggregations with app sections. 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,” says Facebook.

    If you want to add a specific app to your Timeline, all you have to do is click the “add to profile” button on you app section page.

    Facebook says that they will roll out these changes over the coming weeks, so be patient.

  • Facebook Goes to Trial with Timelines.com this April, Thinks Defeat Is Improbable

    Facebook will go to trial to defend their “Timeline” in April.

    Facebook’s Annual Report filing with the SEC revealed that the case, Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc., will go to trial on April 22nd of this year. In 2011, Timelines Inc., owners of Timelines.com, sued Facebook over the “Timeline” name. At that point, Facebook was just coming off of the f8 conference and beginning to roll out the new profile to more and more users.

    A couple of months after Timelines, Inc filed suit, Facebook countersued. Facebook’s argument all along is that the term “timeline” is generic. In their filing, Facebook listed dozens of instances of “timeline” being used in a generic capacity in the past, and made the point that a Google search of “timeline” yields over 196 million results.

    Timelines.com allows users to record and share historical events.

    “Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” claims Facebook.

    In their Annual Report, Facebook tells investors that they don’t see defeat as very probable in this case:

    In the Timelines case, the plaintiffs allege that Facebook infringes a trademark held by the plaintiffs…We believe the claims made by the Timelines plaintiffs are without merit, and we intend to continue to defend ourselves vigorously. Although the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain, we do not believe the possibility of loss…is probable. We are unable to estimate a range of loss, if any, that could result were there to be an adverse final decision, and we have not accrued a liability for either matter.

    “If an unfavorable outcome were to occur in the…Timelines case, it is possible that the impact could be material to our results of operations in the period(s) in which any such outcome becomes probable and estimable,” says the company.

    [via Chicago Tribune]

  • Facebook Tests Another (Flipped) Timeline Layout

    Your Timeline is most likely getting a fairly significant redesign – but it’s still unclear exactly when it will launch globally and exactly what it will look like.

    Facebook has been pretty busy testing new Timeline designs as of late. A new, streamlined one-column Timeline made an appearance for some Facebook users back in October 2012.

    And earlier this month, that test rolled out to users in New Zealand, Facebook’s favorite testing ground for new products and features.

    Today’s new Timeline test is very similar to the aforementioned test, except that it’s been flipped.

    Like the other Timeline test floating around, the column that contains user posts has been expanded. It’s streamlined and single-column, meaning that ‘message’ style posts will only appear in one column. And Open Graph actions, friends, and other information is the only thing that will appear in the other column.

    The image tiles at the top that allow users to access your photos, friends, likes, and map have been replaced by tabs for “Timeline,” “About,” “Friends,” “Photos,” and “More.”

    Profile pics have also been moved out of the cover photo a bit. The stuff that was previously below the profile pic (location, job, etc.) has been moved to the right.

    BUT IT’S FLIPPED!

    Posts on the right, Open Graph activity on the left. It’s a bizarro Facebook Timeline.

    [Inside Facebook]

  • Facebook Expands Test of New Streamlined Timeline

    Facebook is continuing (and expanding) a test that revamps users’ Timelines by creating a single, more prominent column for statuses and posts, as well as redesigns the section headers by doing away with the clunky image boxes we’ve seen since Timeline first launched.

    The Next Web is reporting on the Timeline redesign, and they say that it has rolled out across New Zealand. Facebook routinely tests new features and products in New Zealand before bringing them to the rest of the world.

    The new profile appearing in New Zealand appears to be the same new profile test that we saw back in October, when it was spotted in only a fraction of users.

    The redesigned Timeline isn’t a drastic change from what you currently see, but it is a pretty significant one. Upon first look you’ll notice that the image tiles at the top that allow users to access your photos, friends, likes, and map are gone. They’ve been replaced by tabs for “Timeline,” “About,” “Friends,” “Photos,” and “More.”

    Users’ profile pics have also been moved down, out of the cover photo a bit. The info that was previously below the profile pic (location, job, etc.) has been moved to the right.

    But the most noticeable difference in this new Timeline test comes when you scroll down. You’ll notice an expanded left-hand column, where status updates and friend posts appear. As we mentioned back in October, this test also streamlines these posts, displaying them in the left-hand column entirely. “Message” style posts will no longer fill in the right-hand column after a users’ open graph and other activity runs out.

    We’ll update you on this test, and whether or not it graduates from New Zealand. Facebook has had this one in the works for over two months now, so we’ll take a guess and say that all users should see this new Timeline fairly soon.