Old vs. New: A Look at Facebook Social Media Profiles
As Facebook Timeline creeps up on us, it’s helpful to consider how your social media profile may be newly perceived: by taking a look at how renovations to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace profiles were visually received, you may have new information to work into your social media strategy.
At the request of Mashable, EyeTrackShop, the research startup, compared visual statistics for the profiles of these sites before and after major site redesigns; 30 people were observed looking at profiles, with their eye movements tracked.
The conclusion? In all cases, the new designs made more of an impact than their respective older profile designs. In comparison to old profile design, Facebook’s Timeline wins out for attracting notice; Twitter’s recent design change brings attention to profile; and the new MySpace leaps ahead of the old version in featuring music.
Let’s take a closer look:
Facebook:
- Timeline cover photos claim first attention, over older profile design.
- Facebook Timeline profile photos, however, still claim more observation time than the Timeline cover photo, so don’t forget to put the same thoughtful effort into choosing your profile picture as you do your cover photo
- Ads in Timeline draw more attention: 63% of participants took notice of ads in Timeline format, compared to the 43% which noticed the older format of “sponsored stories”. This is good news for business and services; your visibility has increased dramaticall
- No matter the format, ads claimed the same amount of observation time from participants.
- Timeline draws more attention to personal information – including employer and location: In the old format, this profile section only got about 1.6 seconds of view time. In the new format, however, an average 2.2 seconds was spent on the section. This may be aided by the fact that the new format features photos in the section- again, be sure to display appealing and relevant photos.
Twitter:
- The new Twitter design gives more attention to profile over tweets: This is a reversal from the older version where tweets were more noticeable than profile. This new change allows YOU – and how you choose to brand yourself – to stand out a bit more.
MySpace:
- In the new MySpace, soundtracks are more noticeable – much more noticeable: In the old version, 53% noticed the selection of songs, compared to an overwhelming 97% which noticed the selection of songs in the new format
- Photos win out over text, no matter the format: New or old, it didn’t matter – top photos claimed attention first and for a longer time than any text. In light of this, consider how the pictures you choose should best reflect you and your message.
Related posts:
- Facebook Privacy : How to Turn Off Instant Personalization and Protect Yourself
- 8 Best Practices for Writing Facebook Ads
- How to benefit for using twitter?
