The Daily Dose by Dream Local Digital

Welcome to Geekbook —  Capturing the weekly buzz in digital media and online marketing & design, as well as trends, news, and cultural topics that are helping shape and inform today’s readers.

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Google Takes on Pandora and Spotify

Google held its annual developer conference, Google I/O this week, introducing several updates, including those for Google+, Gmail, Maps, and Search. One release that captured the attention of the internets was the introduction of Google Play Music All Access. Awkward name, I know. The new service gives users unlimited access to a cloud-based music library with discovery features and sharing capabilities, for $9.99/month. Critics are not giving Google much credit for creating something to differentiate it from others, though. As with anything Google does, there are many opinions on both sides. With its vast reach and extensive library of data, I wouldn’t count them out yet, though I hope they come up with a better name. – TIME

You Can Now Send Money Using Gmail

More Google news this week, as they introduced a new and rather intriguing feature. You can now send money using Gmail. Using their existing Google Wallet service, users will now be able to send each other payments, even if the other person doesn’t have a Gmail account. As is my usual take on Google’s new offerings, though this new service is similar in many ways to other existing services, the popularity and wide use of Google products give it a massive advantage. If this functionality scales-up to a broad user base and even forces the market to consider how this could be used at physical checkouts, we could be reaching a tipping point in digital payments. — Los Angeles Times

Yahoo May Buy Tumblr

Several reports this week indicate that Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer may be closing a $1 billion deal to buy  microblogging social media website, Tumblr. Yahoo continues to look to bolster its image in the social media world and this potential acquisition would give them a leg to stand on. Though considered a niche site in many ways, Tumblr is a powerhouse, with 107 million blogs and 15 billion pageviews a month. — GigaOm

Newsweek.com’s Impressive Redesign

It stinks when someone else launches your idea before you do, but that is apparently what happened to Newsweek. When the New York Times launched its immensely popular Snow Fall story earlier this year, it demonstrated a huge opportunity for the design and publishing world. Combining amazing imagery with a long-form essay and presenting it in a visually stunning way online, was the right recipe. Incidentally, at the time, Newsweek’s redesign was two months in the making, and reflected a similar approach. After shutting down their print magazine last year, this new strategy looks to create ‘Snow Fall’ stories on a weekly basis. This approach feels right to me. By taking the best traditional media content creators and combining them with this new user-focused design, legacy organizations have the ability to transform themselves and succeed in an increasingly digital world. — Advertising Age

Banner Ads That Work

Though banner ads are less effective than native advertising, I was pleasantly surprised this week as I sat through this one from IBM, that displays Internet statistics for the amount of time I watched the ad, even displaying my time on that current page. It caught my eye, though didn’t get me to click. One step at a time.

“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

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(Images via L.E.H., Technobuffalo.com, Mashable)

Geekbook is produced by Jeff Howland, Community Manager at Dream Local Digital, a marketing agency specializing in interactive media, marketing, SEO and social media.

Tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.

Follow Jeff on Twitter and Google+.

Let’s dive in and look at some of the new features.

Homescreen

First, the home screen. What’s different? The matte design streamlines the feel of Google+ to match other Google mobile applications, such as Gmail and Google Now. The options to make a new post are cleaner, and invite you to share something with the gentle green pencil. The posts you follow will be in your stream as columns now, instead of one stream.

The new “Home” button in the upper left hand corner will be your guide to all things Google+, whether you’re logged in as your business or just for your own profile.

The menu on the left has become more streamlined and dynamic, so that you can see it simply by mousing over your Google+ location in the upper left hand corner. There, we have the list of options to visit different sections of the Google+ community just as we had before.

We’ll look at some of the design changes on other pages, such as Communities, since that is an excellent avenue to increase engagement on Google+ for your business.

Communities

On the Communities page, you’ll be able to select which community you’d like to view. You will be able to see which communities have been updated most recently by the number of new posts in the red box that sits inside the Community Page’s profile photo.

The stream is similar to the previous Communities format. Much like the home page, the Communities pages contain multiple columns of recent content, as opposed to a singular news feed.

People

The “Circles” page has become the “People” page, though you can still view individual circles by selecting them at the top of the menu. Below, we’ve selected the “Customers” circle. The option to share a post directly from this circle’s page is now available.

You can also customize how often you see posts from this circle in your newsfeed, under to the gears icon that sits in the upper right corner of the “In This Circle” block at the top of the page.

Profile Pages

The business profile pages mimic the old style as well, but with a cleaner look and new ways to share your content. It looks much like the main news stream, but on the business page. The user profile page is also much like the business profile page. Keep in mind that your menu is no longer below your business page title and basic information. Now, it is above your cover photo and scrolls with you as you move down the page. 

Status Posts

Sharing your content or status post is a little different as well. Now, when you click inside the “Share what’s new…” status box, a popup appears.

There are a few different ways you can customize text now in your status posts. Above you can see that in the example post we have used an underscore as well as an asterisk to do different things with status text.

If you add an underscore before and after a word, it will appear italicized in the post. For example, the word “post” above is the same one that we saw under “ _post_ ”.

In a similar fashion, the word “formatting” above would have been the same word we saw under “ *formatting* ”. 

What do you think about the new Google+?

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This article was written by Corissa Poley – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Corissa lives in Portland, Maine and believes Maine is the best state in the U.S. She brings her can-do attitude from the busy pace of her former residence in the New York/New Jersey Area. Her professional experience with the Portland Public Library, green construction publishing, Apple Inc., and the Information Technology Group at University of Nebraska-Lincoln gives her a diverse outlook to feed her ever-curious and creative mind. You can reach Corissa at corissa@dreamlocal.com or connect with her on Twitter.

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Businesses are finding exciting new ways to use Pinterest to reach customers and gain feedback and insights on their products or services. Entrepreneur Magazine posted an interesting article recently recommending several new approaches that I’d like to expand upon here.

1 .  Topics of interest to your target audience – boards that speak to obvious themes that are important to clients and potential clients.

I’d add that creating boards that are relevant to the default categories available on Pinterest can be inspiring. Connecting your business and your services to categories that are already relevant to potential customers brings those pinners one step closer to the sale.

2.  Educational value – build a “how to” board with informational content relevant to your business industry.

My addition to this would be to follow and capture pins from industry leaders who are already putting out great content on Pinterest.

3.  Feedback for your business – create a board of images requesting feedback about potential product or service offerings, treating your Pinterest followers like a virtual focus group.

On top of that, ask customers for their opinions about your current products and services to improve upon the services you already offer and come up with new inspiration for what may be missing in your current lineup.

4.  Upcoming events – pin information about speakers, workshops, training sessions, and sponsors for upcoming business events to promote your current events with followers.

Promote events in your community and encourage followers to participate with your business at volunteer and networking events that strengthen your community to create and uphold a business that is closely linked with the town that it operates in.

5.  New products or services – rev up audience anticipation for new product launches by pinning information about the features and benefits and a countdown to product launch.

Give followers on Pinterest a first crack at a beta test or make a unique service offering as a “soft” launch that is exclusive to avid followers.

6.  Showcase your company culture and employees – give followers an inside peek to your business by telling the story about unique employee style, company culture, and interests.

Create a board that highlights your company branding in unique ways. For instance, if your predominant logo color is chartreuse:  dedicate a board to the color and collect pins across Pinterest that are predominantly chartreuse.

7.  Provide social proof – evidence that famous celebrities, your family members, people in your town or country are already enjoying your business offerings. May include customer testimonials, profiles of sales, or images of people using your branded services or products.

You can also create a shared board and invite fellow pinners to pin their own images and stories about your brand. For instance, a shared board of landscape maintenance customers where followers pin images of their beautifully landscaped yards throughout the seasons.

8.  Discussion groups – a Pinterest discussion board features a designated topic and invites other pinners to weigh in with responses in the description box.

Additionally, create a series of Pinterest boards based around loosely relevant topics to your business and invite engagement and pinning. Example:  a kitchen and bath remodeling company shares a Favorite Recipes board with current customers so that they can post their favorite things to prepare in their gorgeous new kitchens. Your business can comment on these pins to the shared board and say “I bet cooking this up in your new kitchen is a lot of fun!”.

Finally, participating on a regular basis and following proper business etiquette on Pinterest goes a long way to getting your business the kind of reach and engagement you really want on this unique social media platform.

Read Pinterest’s Business Pinning Principles here: http://business.pinterest.com/pinning-principles/

Read Entrepreneur Magazine’s original article here:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226533

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This article was written by Eliece Hammond – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Eliece is from the Pacific Northwest and has recently relocated to Silicon Valley with her new husband, Jim. Maine has a special draw for her and she is excited to work with the team and support local commerce. Eliece attended college at an early age in Illinois, earning a high school diploma and AA degree in Graphic Design in June of 1999. She later went on to complete a 4-year Business Administration degree from the University of Washington with concentrations in Marketing and Finance. Her focus has always been on entrepreneurship, with 14 years of experience developing business models and marketing plans. You can reach Eliece at eliece@dreamlocal.com or connect with her online at: http://about.me/eliece

Welcome to Geekbook —  Capturing the daily buzz in digital media and online marketing & design, as well as trends, news, and cultural topics that are helping shape and inform today’s readers.

Subscribe here to receive Geekbook via e-mail

The Onion Hacked by Syrians

The Onion, a highly popular parody site, had its Twitter account hacked this week. While The Onion has already parodied the event, incidents like this are forcing Twitter to improve its security. Twitter responded to the attack this week by saying they continue to work on a two-step verification process and also has provided advice to journalists to help improve their account security. – Adweek

LinkedIn Turns 10

LinkedIn reached the 10 year milestone this week and this article takes a look at how it started, how it has evolved, and how it is changing the way we work. With over 225,000,000 registered members, the company looks to generate added revenue through its advertising and job recruiting platforms, while continuing to bring our professional lives online make them more social. — The Next Web

Facebook Rolling Out Video Ads

As Facebook continues looking for new ways to generate revenue, they plan to tap into advertisers’ television marketing budgets by offering video ads. The ads will become part of the newsfeed starting in July. 15-second ads will likely be autoplay and muted by default and will be initially targeted at one of four demographics. Digital video advertising is expected to grow over 40% in the U.S. just this year — Financial Times

Longread: Millenials’ Impact on Journalism 

A great essay by Ben Adler looking at the dynamics of news consumption and how younger generations’ expectations from digital media are impacting journalism. Faced with the need to adapt to quick-hit stories which are shared primarily on social media, and working with an audience who expects to be part of the process, writers and media organizations are coming up with some creative solutions to maintain the context of their stories but also keep this audience satiated and engaged. Ben looks at these dynamics at some depth, highlighting four overlapping trends that are driving change. —  Columbia Journalism Review

Mother and Daughter Reunite on Facebook

After years of searching for her birth mother using more traditional methods, Cyndi Lane turned to social media, hoping for better luck. 44 years after her birth, Cyndi set up a Facebook page named, “Are you Cyndi’s mother?” and within two days the photo she posted had been shared 1,100 times, including her cousin, who saw the similarities and made the connection. Cyndi then made the call to 82 year-old Audrey Gilligan — “I was adopted in 1968 out of Olean, and I think you may be my mom.”  – The Daily Beast 

“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napolean Bonaparte

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(Images via L.E.H., The Next Web, Twitter)

Geekbook is produced by Jeff Howland, Community Manager at Dream Local Digital, a marketing agency specializing in interactive media, marketing, SEO and social media.

Tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.

Follow Jeff on Twitter and Google+.

Welcome to Geekbook —  Capturing the daily buzz in digital media and online marketing & design, as well as trends, news, and cultural topics that are helping shape and inform today’s readers. Subscribe here to receive Geekbook via e-mail. 

Native Ads Outperform Banners

A new study shows that the increasingly popular, native advertising format performs substantially better than banner advertisements. The data show that study subjects were 25% more likely to look at a native ad than they were at a banner, and they looked at them 53% more frequently. This story suggests, rightly so, that there is still a lot of work to do in order to prove how much more effective native ads are at getting consumers to click. – Forbes

Magazine Cover of the Year

Shot on the Wednesday evening after Hurricane Sandy hit, this image of Manhattan, taken by Iwan Baan, and captured on the cover of New York Magazine’s November 12 issue, was recently named Cover of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors. — Advertising Age

Warren Buffett Joins Twitter

Investor Warren Buffet sent out his first tweet (below) this week. He’s already amassed nearly 300,000 users. — Wall Street Journal

Instagram Adds Tagging

On Thursday Instagram introduced ‘Photos of You,’ allowing users to tag people, businesses, and products in photos, similar to how Facebook works. Previously users could link to others using the @ symbol, however with this new functionality, an archive will be viewable for those who have permission. Through creative tagging, this new feature could help brands drive more engagement and boost follower counts. —  Advertising Age

Twitter Moves the Market

Last week, when the Associated Press’s Twitter account was hacked, a false tweet sent the financial market into a two minute tailspin. Things recovered quickly, however the implications are significant and the event has regulators and the FBI engaged. In addition, Twitter later announced that they would be introducing new two-step security authentication to help protect against such incidents. — The Washington Post 

“It’s not much of a tail but I’m sort of attached to it.” – Eeyore

(Images via L.E.H., New York Magazine, Twitter)

Geekbook is produced by Jeff Howland, Community Manager at Dream Local Digital, a marketing agency specializing in interactive media, marketing, SEO and social media.

Tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.

Follow Jeff on Twitter and Google+.

Big news in the social media world!  HootSuite recently announced that they now allow companies who schedule content on HootSuite to schedule Company Updates.

Okay, let’s back up…

HootSuite is a tool that many people and businesses use to schedule content on social media channels.  With this tool, users may decide what date and time their posts appear on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.  However, until recently posts on HootSuite could only be scheduled for personal LinkedIn profiles, not Company profiles.  Rather than scheduling out content for their Company profiles, businesses on LinkedIn have manually updated statuses on LinkedIn to keep their content fresh.

This may not seem like a big problem to some people; to be perfectly honest, it’s not.  However, when it comes to running a business and updating LinkedIn statuses, which one usually gets put on the backburner?  Now businesses have one fewer online marketing concern on their minds.

Another great thing about HootSuite is that the service is free if the business uses up to 5 social media channels.  The average company has nothing to lose by opening a HootSuite account to assist with their social media marketing strategies.

Is your business using LinkedIn?  Get started here.

This article was written by Alyssa McCluskey – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Alyssa has lived in the Midcoast area for seventeen years. Raised in Hope, Maine, she recently graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maine at Orono. Alyssa has been a part of the local community for a number of years: she was a member of the Pen Bay Sailfish Swim Team for twelve years, and worked for the Penobscot Bay YMCA by helping to develop youth through swimming lessons and summer camp. She was also a member of the UMaine community during her four years in Orono as a Resident Assistant. Her past community involvement gave Alyssa the skills to interact with people and the desire to get involved and watch local businesses thrive. She is very excited to use her skills as a writer and to learn more about social media by working with Dream Local Digital. To contact Alyssa, email amccluskey@dreamlocal.com.

Much like a Swiss army knife, Google’s search engine has many facets. Researchers miss some of the best content online because they’re not using the proper search tools and parameters.

Remember that content is king, and quality content is the regent queen mother whispering in his ear. Internet users are not going to be interested in an article that is either wrongly informed, poorly designed, outdated or badly written. With 360 million websites on the web, it’s easy to see that there is awful content out there, mixed in with the good stuff. Google can help you differentiate. By using “Boolean” searches, you can cull the Internet to find the perfect articles, images, videos and education for your blog or business page.

The term “Boolean” comes from the term Boolean Logic, from a man named George Boole who lived in the 1800s. Skip to today, and watch Google use that logic to corral the Internet into a manageable list. You’ll be using it, too. It may seem strange at first to use 200-year-old set of mathematical commands, but you can do it.

What do “search parameters” mean on Google? They are an added bit of text within your search terms that will allow you to “talk” to the search engine and relay your search quest. When you type in a phrase or question, Google’s search engine doesn’t automatically know the specifics of what you’re looking for. Deliverance is in the tiny details; let’s take a look at how to “tell” Google what you’re searching for in a more focused way.

In this guide below, you will see some basic text additions you can make to your search terms to narrow your focus and give the Google search engines some parameters. Using Google is like being Sherlock Holmes; you are constantly tuning in on your subjects in order to find out everything you need to know about them.

For a specific phrase search

Put your search in quotes [ “ ” ]

Ex. search: “How to start an urban garden”

• The user desires to find out how to start an urban garden, but they want to be specific. They’re looking only for pages that say their exact phrase. The quotation marks tell Google to look for that string of words together, and nothing else.

It looks like this:

For a word elimination

Use the minus symbol in your search [ - ]

Ex. search: “How to wash a bat” animal -baseball

• The user wants to wash an animal bat. Searching for “how to wash a bat” by itself has brought up results about a baseball bat, but that’s not what they want. They are telling Google to eliminate any results where a page contains the word “baseball”

It looks like this:

When searching through a specific website

Use the term “site:” before your search [ site: ]

Ex. search: site:nytimes.com “Maine”

• The user wants to find out what the New York Times says about vacationing in Maine. They have told Google, with this text command, to search only the websites under the domain and website “nytimes.com.” This is so that they will see strictly what the NY Times has written and no one else.

It looks like this:

Other Search Parameters

• Time Parameters
  • You can search within any timeframe that you want. This helps to keep your content current. Search within the last month or 3 months, or a year.

It looks like this:

• Searching Blogs
  • Visit http://www.google.com/blogsearch to search millions of blogs online. This is excellent for original articles and content on many subjects.

There you have it. If you’d like to get brave, there are many more Google Boolean search parameters at http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136861, where you’ll be able to qualify even more strictly what it is you’re searching for. The Google blog search and timeframe parameters are incredibly helpful as well, allowing you to stay on top of original, updated content about the subjects and industries you need to know.

So don’t think that the gateway to great, quality content is some big secret. You can cull and fine-tune your searches to get the best articles, images, and periphery on the web.

This article was written by Corissa Poley – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Corissa lives in Portland, Maine and believes Maine is the best state in the U.S. She brings her can-do attitude from the busy pace of her former residence in the New York/New Jersey Area. Her professional experience with the Portland Public Library, green construction publishing, Apple Inc., and the Information Technology Group at University of Nebraska-Lincoln gives her a diverse outlook to feed her ever-curious and creative mind. You can reach Corissa at corissa@dreamlocal.com or connect with her on Twitter.

The voice of business marketing cries out “Consistency!” as the most effective solution for brand promotion and customers’ brand awareness. Without reliability, a brand will not be memorable. Logos, colors, and mission statements must all be used as tools to communicate the values of the business. Branding is the key to great communication with the customer and therefore is the key to great marketing.

This is essential when it comes to your social media presence, as the pool of businesses online is so much larger than your local competitor pool. For example, Facebook has offered business pages for over 5 years now. As a result, 88% of America’s businesses will be marketing on the site by 2014. There are at the moment over 30 million businesses in the US, which means over 26 million business will be on Facebook by 2014.

Monthly active Facebook users number over 1 billion. Twitter has 555 million active monthly users, and Google+ has 170 million active monthly users. You can connect with new customers in the social media market; because of the overwhelming number of messages they see and hear every day, clarity is paramount. In order for the customer to trust your brand, you must present it as it is: a reputable local business with excellent service and personal consideration.

Use the tools of consistent branding and promotion to share your business on the web and gain more followers who in turn become customers. One of those tools is the vanity URL.

No matter where you go, whether it’s Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or other social media sites, you will find that you will have to sign in with a username or email. On Twitter, you can use either. It’s the same on Pinterest. You will be able to choose the name that will be displayed at the end of your profile URL. It is made to identify your profile from the profiles of other users on that website. For example, if you’re the New York Times, you’ll most likely go with something simple and easy to remember, such as “NYTimes”. Your Pinterest URL will look like this: pinterest.com/nytimes. Your Twitter URL would be much the same: twitter.com/nytimes. The wisest method would be to employ that title everywhere, so that on Facebook, Tumblr, your blog, and your website your brand name and “username” online are easily memorable for the customer.

You can see below an example of a “set” of social media URLs.

Facebook.com/DreamLocal

Twitter.com/DreamLocal

Instagram.com/DreamLocal

Pinterest.com/DreamLocal

DreamLocal.com

Other services you can do this with are LinkedIn and Google Plus (Note that Google does not offer this to all pages yet; they are still rolling it out.)

This is a memorable set. If a customer looks at this a few times, even at a glance, it is not difficult to remember later that the websites were “Dream Local”. This will enable the user that may be interested in the company to easily recall the company’s title and visit their social media pages or website.

At the moment vanity URLs do not cost a thing. URLs for Pinterest and Twitter are automatically generated based on your username. On Facebook and LinkedIn, you will have to set your vanity URL for your business name in your company page settings. You can find tutorials for Facebook and LinkedIn (2-minute video) at each link. Google+ is testing the waters of vanity URLs with some selected and verified companies. While this may seem tedious, and the annoying set of random numbers is still your URL, we hope that they will soon offer this feature to more companies. At the moment, there are some tips and tricks you can try to generate your very own Google+ URL.

The customer looks for dependable brands. This may mean the kindness of the customer service representative at your company, the extensive Q&A posts on your company blog, or it may just mean the notability of your company’s brand online. The purpose of social media marketing is to reach out to each customer via digital interactions and connect with them on a personal basis in order to promote your brand.

Sources: http://science.opposingviews.com/importance-vanity-urls-facebook-fan-3431.html, http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/10/vanity-url#why%20vanity%20urls%20are%20awesome

This article was written by Corissa Poley – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Corissa lives in Portland, Maine and believes Maine is the best state in the U.S. She brings her can-do attitude from the busy pace of her former residence in the New York/New Jersey Area. Her professional experience with the Portland Public Library, green construction publishing, Apple Inc., and the Information Technology Group at University of Nebraska-Lincoln gives her a diverse outlook to feed her ever-curious and creative mind. You can reach Corissa at corissa@dreamlocal.com or connect with her on Twitter.

Last week, Twitter launched its new app, Twitter #music, on iTunes. Yes, you are supposed to say the “hashtag.”

Twitter #music is Twitter’s new music service, designed to use activity and engagement on the social media channel to find the most popular songs and artists. This app also makes finding and following musicians on Twitter easier.

While this is a fun, new music service for Twitter users, it is particularly beneficial for musicians gaining exposure on Twitter. Now independent musicians may connect with fans on a platform that highlights their work and allows them to listen to music that they post and music that they also enjoy. Already-famous musicians have already had a chance to check out this new app; Wiz Kahlifa tweeted, “Man this new Twitter music app is insane!” and Jason Mraz tweeted, “Thanks to my friends @TwitterMusic for sharing your new app and connecting us thru music. Congrats!”

Now all Twitter users can connect with their friends and their favorite artists through music. The app is currently available on iPhones and can be accessed with a Spotify or Rdio account.

Will you use Twitter #music?

This article was written by Alyssa McCluskey – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Alyssa has lived in the Midcoast area for seventeen years. Raised in Hope, Maine, she recently graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maine at Orono. Alyssa has been a part of the local community for a number of years: she was a member of the Pen Bay Sailfish Swim Team for twelve years, and worked for the Penobscot Bay YMCA by helping to develop youth through swimming lessons and summer camp. She was also a member of the UMaine community during her four years in Orono as a Resident Assistant. Her past community involvement gave Alyssa the skills to interact with people and the desire to get involved and watch local businesses thrive. She is very excited to use her skills as a writer and to learn more about social media by working with Dream Local Digital. To contact Alyssa, email amccluskey@dreamlocal.com.

Complaints from users concerning Timeline’s confusing layout have finally reached Facebook’s ears, and the social media website has changed a few things for the better.  The site has a few improvements to Timeline and your profile. Here’s a basic breakdown of what’s changed, and how to navigate it.

When you go to your profile page now, you’ll no longer see a mix and match of posts along your timeline on either side of a thin white bar (your “Time” bar). The previously staggered posts are now aligned on the right side of your page, streamlined in an easy-to-read and clear “Timeline”. The tabs that informed visitors about various information don’t redirect you to a new page, but now sit as a feature on the front of your profile. They are easier to navigate than ever.

Your basic information has moved as well. You can see below that the left side of the profile page is reserved for information about you, your pursuits, and your interests. See this picture below of Shannon Kinney’s profile. On the right you’ll see her posts. On the left, information about her and her list of friends begins the other side of her Timeline.

When you scroll further down the Timeline, your “apps” or other programs on Facebook (such as Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, games, and more) will appear in the left column as their own individual blocks, making it easy for friends visiting your profile to find out about your latest updates.

You can see below that, on the right, Shannon’s apps like Pinterest, Foursquare, and Instagram are all online, giving any of her visitors easy access to her other social media profiles.

A unique part of these blocks is their flexibility; you can pick and choose which blocks will appear on your Facebook profile. For example, if you wish to share your Instagram photos with friends, but not your music, you have the power to hide your music block from the front page. In order to access it at that point, friends will have to visit your “About” page in order to see the block. This feature allows you to customize your profile with the blocks you prefer to highlight. You can even hide some blocks altogether.

If you want to edit a block, simply mouse over its title on the right side and look for the small pencil icon. You can click that to change your block preferences.

The About page has also changed. Instead of containing only the information about the basic parts of your life, it now holds your Music, Movies, TV Shows, and other custom blocks you’ve added to your profile. Anyone visiting your About tab will see your basic information first, and then as they scroll down they will see blocks about your tastes and hobbies. It is much like Timeline on the front page, but it is a one-column scrolling experience that gives an excellent overview of the user’s personality.

Below you will see an example of the beginning of the About tab, at the top of the page.

You can see that the change to a new tab has not disturbed the layout or feel of the profile. You can now easily find what you are looking for on a user’s profile in a matter of moments.

What do you think of the new Facebook Timeline design?

Share your thoughts with Corissa in the comments.

This article was written by Corissa Poley – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Corissa lives in Portland, Maine and believes Maine is the best state in the U.S. She brings her can-do attitude from the busy pace of her former residence in the New York/New Jersey Area. Her professional experience with the Portland Public Library, green construction publishing, Apple Inc., and the Information Technology Group at University of Nebraska-Lincoln gives her a diverse outlook to feed her ever-curious and creative mind. You can reach Corissa at corissa@dreamlocal.com or connect with her on Twitter.