Monday, April 14, 2008
Facebook Pushes Back Profile Rollout–Developers Breathe a Sigh of Relief
On its blog aimed at Facebook developers, the social-networking site said it would push back its massive Profile page redesign, which was supposed to roll out in early April.
It is now set for late spring, although the post specified no specific date.
Why?
Facebook said it was due to feedback the company had gotten from its legions of developers who rely on the Facebook universe for their oxygen.
"We're still iterating on the design, making sure we get it right. We'll still continue to roll out improvements to Platform as well," wrote Pete Bratach of Facebook. "And rest assured, we will give you a period of time so you can update your applications before the profile is released to our users."
Well, phew, as some big developers have been grumbling to me a lot of late about their many worries about the new look, which is sure to confound them, and more importantly, users no matter how good it is.
“They really have to roll this out perfectly,” said one big Facebook widget maker. “It really is the biggest thing since Beacon, and you know how that went.”
Indeed, the controversial ad program was not the smoothest moment for the social-networking site. But making big changes to what is the heart-and-soul of Facebook is a quantum level of difficulty higher.
It will require almost perfect execution technically speaking, huge educational efforts early and often for users and a total buy-in from third-party developers, whom Facebook made integral to its success when it made the very sharp move of opening its platform to them.
But don’t feel pressured Mark and Sheryl!
You can see some of the previews on this Facebook Previews page here and in the screenshot picture below (click on the image to make it larger).
And, as an added attraction for those developers, here is a video of the lovely Anna Nalik singing her hit, “Breathe,” in an even better “Grey’s Anatomy” video (I am a complete sucker for cheese):
