On March 31, Facebook made it mandatory for all Facebook pages to switch over to Timeline. General users have had the privilege of using Timeline for a few months now. I don’t really have any quarrels with it for personal use, however, when it comes to the pages I manage for our clients, I’m not a fan.
Issue #5 – Timeline takes a long time to load
I’m not sure if this has something to do with the cover images or what, but I feel like I spend at least 30 more seconds waiting for the page to load.
Issue #4 – Timeline is so not organized
On the right side bar you get the nice little list of months all the way back to the time the page was founded. However, when you look at the posts, sometimes the dates jump around. Since when are March 6th and March 13th only a day apart?
Issue #3 – Photo Clusters?
A few weeks ago, I was trying to upload two individual pictures to a Facebook page. Why is it that when I tried to upload the pictures that two separate posts appeared? If I upload three pictures, it creates an album. If I upload one picture, it’s a post to the page, what is the deal with two pictures? Is it that we are only uploading individual pictures or more than three pictures at a time?
Issue #2 – Insights
Since switching to Timeline, I’ve noticed a huge gap in insights. First, insights now take a lot longer to load. Second, the last five days of February never appeared. Third, why can’t I change the dates in the “Overview” section? This is especially true with the total likes. In the old insights I was able to see the changes over a month, so why only a week with the new ones?
Personally, I don’t run any campaigns that are only a week long. Most are at least a month and being able to see the change based on the campaign would be nice.
Issue #1 – Fan Posts
Why do fan posts only get a tiny square of space? Yes, my brands have important messages to get out, but what my fans have to say is just as important. Social media is all about having that conversation between brand and fan and the tiny square doesn’t allow for the conversation, good or bad, to be highlighted.
We tell our clients that negative reviews are not the end of the world. We recommend responding to these posts and addressing each issue in a space where every fan can see the conversation. Sometimes other fans can even come to the defense of the brand and share their experience.
I think these posts should get the same space as the page posts. I know the issue arises with huge brands and having numerous people posting to a page each day, but couldn’t Facebook just let the option be up to each individual page like it used to?
Like I said before, social media is about having a conversation and interacting with consumers directly. I think Timeline limits the conversation between the brand and the fans.
