The Buzz and Brilliance is typically a very lengthy, link-filled post that takes hours to prepare. This one won't be because it's been a busy couple of weeks and, fortunately, things are winding down for the holidays. This will be the last B&B before 2012, because I post this on Sundays and the next two are holidays for people to spend with loved ones rather than reading about social media news, not that there will be all that much in the next couple of weeks. I'm also mulling over the future of this series. It's informative and liked by a loyal group, but that group is a small group. So some change will come in the new year.
The biggest story this week and the thing that has everyone buzzing away even now is the full release of Facebook's Timeline. I can't emphasize enough how much I like Timeline. It's a gorgeous representation of data and the best change to profiles that Facebook has ever made. And if you don't want people to see things, it's ridiculously easy to change permission levels even after an item has been posted. Some are warning about privacy concerns, but I have news for you: that data is there anyway, unless you go through and cleanse unwanted posts on your profile regularly. If you are concerned about others accessing (too easily) past data, just take advantage of the 7-day trial to see how it looks and clean up anything you're concerned about. Timeline will only be optional for a short time - for such a major change, Facebook is doing this one right by giving users this time. Eventually we will all be opted in and there will be no going back. I expected backlash with the rollout, but so far the response has been very positive.
It's become tradition at Facebook that individuals are first and businesses come second. Timeline is no exception. Pages aren't getting timeline yet, but it sounds like something along these lines will happen eventually. In the meantime, be careful about putting promotional content in the cover photo of your personal profile, because that's apparently against Facebook's terms and conditions. One nice addition to Pages would be private messages, which Facebook is now testing. Just don't ignore the private messages the way so many brands ignore the public Facebook posts - and if you do that, stop.
*****
That's all for this week's news. A lot of Facebook but not much else other than spillover from last week's stories. I have a few really good topics lined up for the next couple of weeks, including more of the Sixty Second Social series I recently started. Don't forget our first virtual meeting of the Business Book Club coming up on January 3rd when we'll hear from everyone who's been reading Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki!!
The biggest story this week and the thing that has everyone buzzing away even now is the full release of Facebook's Timeline. I can't emphasize enough how much I like Timeline. It's a gorgeous representation of data and the best change to profiles that Facebook has ever made. And if you don't want people to see things, it's ridiculously easy to change permission levels even after an item has been posted. Some are warning about privacy concerns, but I have news for you: that data is there anyway, unless you go through and cleanse unwanted posts on your profile regularly. If you are concerned about others accessing (too easily) past data, just take advantage of the 7-day trial to see how it looks and clean up anything you're concerned about. Timeline will only be optional for a short time - for such a major change, Facebook is doing this one right by giving users this time. Eventually we will all be opted in and there will be no going back. I expected backlash with the rollout, but so far the response has been very positive.It's become tradition at Facebook that individuals are first and businesses come second. Timeline is no exception. Pages aren't getting timeline yet, but it sounds like something along these lines will happen eventually. In the meantime, be careful about putting promotional content in the cover photo of your personal profile, because that's apparently against Facebook's terms and conditions. One nice addition to Pages would be private messages, which Facebook is now testing. Just don't ignore the private messages the way so many brands ignore the public Facebook posts - and if you do that, stop.
*****
That's all for this week's news. A lot of Facebook but not much else other than spillover from last week's stories. I have a few really good topics lined up for the next couple of weeks, including more of the Sixty Second Social series I recently started. Don't forget our first virtual meeting of the Business Book Club coming up on January 3rd when we'll hear from everyone who's been reading Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki!!