Let me just say this up front: I love the Facebook Timeline for businesses. Period.
I think it's a step in the right direction for businesses, and just because it is different doesn't make it bad. Though that's the impression you'd get from a lot of people. We don't like change. I get that. But it's something we have to deal with, and if Facebook never changed, we'd be complaining about that as well.
Now, having said that, there are two particular aspects of the new Timeline that I don't really like, and they both relate to the same particular area.
Issue One: Posts By Others
In the olden days, which we shall refer to here as B.T. (Before Timeline) your business had a wall. On that wall you would see a nice mix of posts from both you, the business, and your fans. It was a chronological list that provided a nice visual of the flow of conversation that was taking place.
Now, with the Timeline, the focus is on your business ("Yay!", right?), and less on the conversation. Instead of posts from your "fans" showing up on your Timeline, they are all relegated to a box on the right called "Recent Posts by Others".
The problem with this is that when someone comes to your wall, while the focus is on you, the posts by others, and much of the engagement we are seeking, is relegated to (read: hidden in) that small box. So in some ways, this plays against one of Facebook's strengths. When people come to your business page, unless they know to look in that box, or to click on the "Posts by Others" filter at the top, they will miss out on some of the conversation. And sadly, because this adds one or two clicks to the process, it makes your users "work" more to get to that content.
So while it doesn't outright kill engagement, I hope Facebook will find ways to address this and allow for more posts by individuals to show up on walls.
Issue Two: Posts by Others (again, and from the other side)
And this brings me to the second problem I've found with the Timeline, also related to that same "Recent Posts by Others" box. As I stated above, if someone posts to your business page, rather than showing up in plain view on the Timeline, it is relegated to that box. That means if someone has a problem with your business, and they post a negative comment, it too gets relegated to that box.
Awesome. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Not really.
I think this is a dangerous thing as it will be tempting for some businesses to get lazy, and think that they might actually be able to get away with ignoring negative comments. The thinking will be something along the lines of, "Well, if no one else is going to see these negative comments, then I can just let them slide, rather than address them."
Not so.
We still need to address negative comments, and do so as if the entire world were watching. Don't get lulled into some false sense of hope that no one can see what's going on. This is lazy and dangerous, and will set you up for more problems down the line.
Now, while both of these things related to the "Recent Posts by Others" box can be seen as problems, here is why you shouldn't worry about the first problem, or be tempted into taking advantage of the second one:
Based on usage data and stats, most of the engagement on your business page actually doesn't occur "on" your page. Most of it happens within the framework of the newsfeed of the individual user.
This is where your "fans" see most of your activity, as well as the activity of their friends, even if it happens on your Timeline. And when they comment, like, or share, that usually occurs within their newsfeed as well.
So from the point of the first problem, don't worry too much. There will still be engagement, it will just be less visible and a bit more confined to particular friend groups. From the point of the second problem, continue to worry. Negative comments on your page will still be seen by those who are connected to the person making the negative comments.
And beyond the issues related to posts by others, remember that engagement still happens in relation to your own posts and status updates. This means you need to up your game and make sure you are posting great "engagement worthy" content frequently.
The new Timeline shines the spotlight on you and your business, and that's a good thing, but don't forget your users. You should still encourage them to post and share their content, even if it isn't quite as easy to see and navigate. And hopefully, Facebook will tweak the Timeline to allow these posts to be seen more easily. They've already made a few tweaks to the Timeline regarding how third party apps post, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Oh, and I'm sure that there are plenty of you who have other things you don't like about the Timeline. Feel free to share them here, but overall, I think it's a wonderful thing. The possibilities are endless. And now I'm off to work with a client that has big plans for their non-profit organizations Timeline as they highlight more than a century of great works and helping people.
How will you approach the issue of content from your users now that it's relegated to a special area on your Timeline? In what ways will you seek to increase and encourage engagement?