Leading social networks are trying to figure out whether users will “like” timelines.
Twitter is experimenting with a timeline feature that allows users to expand conversations and media within the usual display.
At the same time, speculation continues to mount that Facebook’s oft-delayed Timeline implementation is the result of early complaints about the new profile feature. When it was announced in September, Facebook promised the Timeline would fundamentally change the 800-million member social network and be implemented within weeks.
Now, Facebook is reportedly hoping to roll out Timeline by the end of the year.
Facebook is well versed in negative feedback for big changes. The news feed that Timeline will replace was originally criticized when it was launched in 2006, and other recent design changes and feature additions have drawn their fair share of disparaging comments.
Twitter, conversely, is often seen by users as the spunky upstart, the mom-and-pop alternative to Facebook’s Wal-Mart-like proportions.
“i care about 90% of the stuff on my twitter timeline. i care about 10% of stuff on my Facebook timeline. Twitter > Facebook,” Mike Hastie recently tweeted.
But Facebook’s new Timeline has been available for over a month to developers and users who manually switch to it, and many like the changes after an adjustment period.
“I really like mine,” Tara Kennedy Aiken tweeted in response to an article speculating about the reasons behind the delays.
Only a limited number of users have access to the new Twitter timeline, but early reviews of the Twitter timeline appear to be favorable.
“Me likey!” Oriana Lauria tweeted about Twitter’s new feature.
