????眾所周知，馬克?扎克伯格似乎永遠(yuǎn)把Facebook保持在測(cè)試狀態(tài),。每推出一批新功能,，許多用戶都會(huì)感到高興，但也總不免會(huì)有些用戶感到別扭,。然而對(duì)于企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō),，哪怕十分微小的升級(jí)也可以對(duì)企業(yè)的盈虧產(chǎn)生重大影響。

????比如Facebook最近為Facebook Pages應(yīng)用推出了一個(gè)叫做Timeline（意為“時(shí)間線”）的功能,，它主要可以被各大品牌用來(lái)與消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行互動(dòng),。從表面上看，這個(gè)變化并不是什么驚天動(dòng)地的事,。簡(jiǎn)單說(shuō)來(lái),，從今年3月30日開(kāi)始，F(xiàn)acebook已經(jīng)正式棄用了舊版的Pages格式,。舊版的Pages允許企業(yè)設(shè)置一個(gè)“標(biāo)簽”作為靜態(tài)的登錄頁(yè)面——這就像是一個(gè)漂亮的店面門(mén)臉,，可以吸引消費(fèi)者。用戶可以通過(guò)這個(gè)頁(yè)面點(diǎn)擊不同的標(biāo)簽,，來(lái)欣賞照片,、視頻、廣告片或其它定制內(nèi)容,。

????不過(guò)Timeline功能改變了一切,。首先是標(biāo)簽已經(jīng)被最小化了，更重要的是，企業(yè)無(wú)法再自行設(shè)置默認(rèn)登錄頁(yè)面,。對(duì)于各大品牌來(lái)說(shuō),，通過(guò)打造第一印象吸引消費(fèi)者的機(jī)會(huì)已經(jīng)沒(méi)有了。現(xiàn)在用戶首先在Pages上看到的是一個(gè)流動(dòng)的,、不斷變化的由近期的貼子和評(píng)論組成的時(shí)間軸,。（如果有些品牌想要突出特定內(nèi)容，他們?nèi)匀豢梢园岩黄N子在Timeline上“置頂”最多一周的時(shí)間,。）

????然而,，下面才是最有趣的事情。據(jù)一家名叫PageLever的研究公司介紹,，自從Timeline推出之后,，F(xiàn)acebook Pages上各種標(biāo)簽的用戶點(diǎn)擊率下降了53%，著實(shí)令人震驚,。PageLever公司的創(chuàng)始人杰夫?維德曼在接受新聞網(wǎng)站Mashable采訪時(shí)解釋道：“由于現(xiàn)在的系統(tǒng)不提供將標(biāo)簽設(shè)為默認(rèn)視圖的功能,，大多數(shù)用戶永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)再看到標(biāo)簽了。我們已經(jīng)聽(tīng)到不少用戶稱,，他們根本沒(méi)有意識(shí)到Timeline推出后,，標(biāo)簽仍然繼續(xù)存在?！?/p>

????那又怎嘛一個(gè)難,？容我細(xì)細(xì)道來(lái)。這么多年來(lái),，難以數(shù)計(jì)的公司都在幫助各大品牌設(shè)計(jì)這些默認(rèn)登錄標(biāo)簽的視覺(jué)效果和感覺(jué),，當(dāng)然也包括Facebook Pages上的其它標(biāo)簽。他們吃的就是這碗飯,。我說(shuō)的并不只是那些夫妻作坊式的設(shè)計(jì)工作室,。讓我再提幾家有名的：像Vitrue（今年5月剛被甲骨文以3億美元收購(gòu)）、Context Optional（2011年5月以5000萬(wàn)美元被收購(gòu)）和Buddy Media（今年6月作價(jià)6.89億美元被Salesforce收購(gòu)）這種公司,，他們的業(yè)務(wù)中有相當(dāng)大的一部分就是為企業(yè)用戶定制這種標(biāo)簽,。光是這三家公司的市值加在一起就超過(guò)了10億美元。

????現(xiàn)在,，差不多就在一夜之間,，就因?yàn)镕acebook的布局做了一個(gè)貌似微小的修改，他們的業(yè)務(wù)模式中有相當(dāng)大的一部分就要付之流水了,。（科技博客Betabeat的杰西卡?羅伊甚至因此猜測(cè),，這是不是就是Buddy Media急著把自己賣(mài)出去的原因。）因此現(xiàn)在相關(guān)新聞的留言板上都在熱議一個(gè)類似的問(wèn)題——現(xiàn)在大家是不是該點(diǎn)起火把,，手拿鋼叉,，去找Facebook算賬——為什么不肯見(jiàn)好就收,，非要斷大家的財(cái)路？

????事實(shí)上現(xiàn)在絕對(duì)不是找Facebook算賬的時(shí)候,。Facebook的Timeline功能對(duì)消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)其實(shí)是一項(xiàng)福利,，而且對(duì)于那些想接觸到消費(fèi)者的各大品牌也同樣是一項(xiàng)福利——雖然一開(kāi)始看起來(lái)可能并不是這樣。Facebook通過(guò)一次簡(jiǎn)單的升級(jí),，使自己擺脫了大量乏味的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)廣告牌（相當(dāng)于霓虹燈招牌）,，迫使企業(yè)更真誠(chéng)、更親密地與受眾交流,，給自己品牌的Page注入新的活力,。簡(jiǎn)言之，Timeline歡迎的是那些符合社交媒體初衷的內(nèi)容——也就是人與人之間真實(shí),、及時(shí),、有用的信息交流，而不是浮華昂貴的圖片,，以及令人厭煩的自我推銷(xiāo)。

????社交媒體公司Deep Focus的CEO蘭?沙弗爾在接受新聞網(wǎng)站Mashable的記者山姆?萊爾德采訪時(shí)指出：“這是一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì),，可以讓各品牌在Facebook上講述更引人入勝的故事……它要求品牌投入更多精力控制自己的內(nèi)容,。”由于Timeline的照片,、視頻,、內(nèi)容、廣告片和其它貼子總是在不斷變動(dòng),，因此它可以說(shuō)是圍繞著品牌和粉絲之間近乎實(shí)時(shí)的對(duì)話而打造的,。總而言之,，無(wú)論一個(gè)默認(rèn)登錄頁(yè)面設(shè)計(jì)得有多好,，相比之下，Timeline都是一種強(qiáng)大得多的推廣工具,。

????Mark Zuckerberg is famous for keeping Facebook (FB) in a state of permanent beta. And while each new wave of features is bound to baffle some users and delight others, for businesses even minor updates can have a major impact on the bottom line.

????Take the rollout of Timeline for Facebook Pages, which are used primarily by brands to engage with consumers. On the surface, the changes hardly sounds earth-shattering. In a nutshell, as of March 30, Facebook officially canned the old Pages format, which allowed businesses to set one "tab" as a static landing page -- a kind of flashy storefront to lure in consumers. From there, users could click on different tabs to explore photos, videos, promos or any other custom content.

????The Timeline redesign changed all of that. Tabs have been minimized and -- more importantly -- companies can no longer set a default landing page. For brands, a critical chance to make a first impression is gone. The first thing users now see on Pages is a fluid, ever-shifting Timeline of recent posts and comments. (Brands wanting to highlight specific content can still "pin" a post to the top of the Timeline for up to a week.)

????Still with me? Here's where things get interesting. According to PageLever, a firm specializing in Facebook analytics, user engagement with tabs on Facebook Pages is down a staggering 53% since Timeline launched. "Without the option to set a custom tab as the default view, most users will never see a tab again," explains PageLever founder Jeff Widman in an interview with Mashable. "We've heard from several users they didn't even realize tabs still existed with Timeline."

????So what? Over the years, countless companies were born to help brands customize the look and feel of those default landing tabs and other tabs on Facebook Pages. And we're not just talking about mom-and-pop design shops. Let me name drop. A good part of the business at Vitrue (acquired by Oracle (ORCL) for $300 million in May), Context Optional (acquired for $50 million in May 2011) and Buddy Media (acquired by Salesforce (CRM) for $689 million in June) is dedicated to customizing those very tabs for corporate and enterprise clients. Just those three companies alone are valued at more than $1 billion.

????Now - nearly overnight - a significant piece of their business model has been compromised by a seemingly minor tweak in Facebook's layout (Betabeat's Jessica Roy goesso far as to ask if that's why Buddy Media was so eager to sell). All of this begs a familiar question, being debated on comment boards: Is it time to light the torches, get out the pitchforks and -- once again -- skewer Facebook for messing with a good thing and refusing to leave well enough alone?

????Absolutely not. Timeline for Pages is a boon to consumers and, while it might not seem so at first, a boon to the brands trying to reach them. In one deft move, Facebook has purged itself of petabytes of stale marketing schlock (the equivalent of so many flashy neon signs), obliged companies to engage more earnestly and intimately with their audiences and reinvigorated its brand Pages. In short, it has privileged the kind of content that social media was made for -- authentic, timely and useful exchanges between human beings -- over glitz, expensive graphics and tired self-promotion.

????"It's an opportunity for brands to tell more engaging stories on Facebook than they can now... It puts them more in control of their content," points out Ian Schafer, CEO of highly respected social media agency Deep Focus, in an interview with Mashable's Sam Laird. Timeline, with its continual exchange of photos, videos, comments, promos and other posts, is built around a near real-time dialogue between brands and their fans. At the end of the day, this represents a far more powerful promotional tool than a default landing page, no matter how well designed it may be.