Today, at a Facebook event in San Francisco, the giant social network will introduce long awaited functionality – the new open graph and gesture features. First announced at the f8 conference last year, these new changes will once again improve the level of interaction between people on Facebook. Let’s find out more.
Courtesy of agiledudes.com
Open Graph Apps and Gestures
The like button will no longer be the only interaction that you can have, while engaging with friends posts. In fact, Facebook has made this change, specifically because the like button limits interaction. Now, they will add this ‘lightweight activity’ to the mix, with a host of new app gestures everyone can use.
News on The Open Graph
There are 3 significant changes that Facebook has made to their old Open Graph system. Facebook users will be able to share experiences, via this new system and the running news ticker. Open Graph apps will appear in the news ticker automatically, but the rules of the Edgerank system still apply, if you want to get it into your fans news feed.
And finally, applications won’t have to seek permission to post repeatedly on Facebook. The user can set their permissions to display certain types of content, or choose to accept posts from that application or not. This all happens when the user first chooses to use the app. All in all, it’s a step in the right direction to prevent spam, and keep people happy with what appears in their news feed.
Facebook Gestures
Right now it’s pure speculation what new gestures Facebook has planned to integrate into the platform. But it is rather exciting. The like button certainly has its place, but with the introduction of new gestures – the scope of interaction has broadened. Fans will be prompted to interact based on new ideals, and this means a higher chance of gaining interactions from them.
It also balances out the playing field. If there are any negative gestures, businesses could be receiving far more valuable feedback than ever before. Those empty posts that never get any comments might take on a whole new dimension. Gestures will allow fans to interact without having to comment, which many prefer to do. One click, and you have an opinion.
Facebook will want to keep the abuse levels to a minimum, so we’re more likely to see action words in play. Whatever happens, we can all look forward to increased interaction on our Facebook business pages.
The timeline will also become mandatory soon, so if you haven’t switched over yet, that’s something to look into. The new timelines are great for personality pages, and you can build a personal profile here for business purposes. Just remember to keep it professional, and to watch what you publish.
The future of Facebook is looking brighter. Though there have been many changes and much opposition to those changes – it’s all for the best. Facebook needs to continually improve, if it’s going to retain its steady climb to 1 billion users.
What do you think of the new Open Graph and gestures idea? We’d love to know what you’re thinking.
