Facebook begins rolling out customizable user About page with larger images, 'want to watch' lists and more

Facebook has begun rolling out an updated design for the user About page on their Timeline, which now gives users more options to customize their page and features larger visuals and more integration of Open Graph apps. Reader Matt Navarra says today he was prompted with a pop-up on his profile that said, "Add things you care about to your all-new About page." The new page is appearing for users with the latest design for Timeline, which includes some users in the U.K. and New Zealand. These users can now choose which apps and content types appear on the page and choose the order in which they appear by using the edit icon in the corner. Users have one long page that they and friends can scroll through or jump to specific sections by clicking on titles in the bar across the top of the page. Sections for Open Graph apps summarize user activity in a Pinterest-like format similar to how these items appear in News Feed. Sections for movies, books, music and other content include new "Want to Watch/Read/Listen" lists. The basic About section with a user's work and education history, contact information and relationships functions the same way as before, but with a slightly modified design. The Friends page, too, works the same but has larger photos and a different navigation bar at the top. Photos and Map are also very similar. The Likes section includes much larger images and tabbed navigation to different categories of interests and favorites. Facebook also allows users to feature sections on TV shows, music, movies and books. These sections include content users have consumed through Open Graph apps like Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and Goodreads, as well as relevant pages that they've Liked. A new component is a "want to watch," "want to listen" and "want to read" list, which we recently saw mentions of in Facebook's code. Now, from the "wants to watch" section, for example, users will see suggestions for shows to add and have the option to type in their own list. This could encourage users to add more intent-based information to Facebook, which could be used for ad targeting. It may also help users discover content through their friends. Users can also add third-party apps to their About section. Previously, users could add apps to their Timeline and see aggregations of their activity over time, but few users seemed to know this option existed. Now with the option to highlight app modules within their About page, users may find more value in Open Graph apps and developers could find that more of a user's friends discover their apps because of it. This would better achieve Facebook's goal of enabling Open Graph apps to help users tell the story of their lives.

Social Pro Daily

Facebook begins rolling out customizable user About page with larger images, 'want to watch' lists and more

Brittany Darwell

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Brittany Darwell