Facebook begins rolling out new single-column Timeline

Be prepared for another change to your Facebook profile, the timeline could soon be getting a makeover since the company has begun rolling out a new single-column design for Timelines! This design which better organize users’ personal pages and places greater emphasis on communication between friends.

This new Timeline design has gone live for users in New Zealand, which is regularly Facebook’s first port of call for new rollouts. As the next screenshots taken by Owen Williams from TNW show, all communication from friends and status updates placed in the left-hand side column. This left side column has been made larger to place greater emphasis on messages, with the right hand side now made smaller as a result.

The content in the right-side column is now ‘fixed’ to show Friends, Recent Activity and other non-messaging updates. Highlighted posts, such as life events, can no longer be stretched across the page when starred in the new design.

The new redesign also tidies Timeline headers. Boxes that link through to ‘Friends’, ‘Photos’, ‘Maps’ and ‘Likes’ have been removed, these items are now listed in a menu which, when clicked, brings them up separately. The relationship information has been removed from the header, which could perhaps be a focus on keeping personal details more private.

Another comparison. This time with the profile of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

New Facebook Timeline Design

Old Facebook Timeline Design (Current)

At first glance the new Timeline is indeed cleaner and easier to navigate. Previously, it could get awkward when messages would appear on both right and left columns, making it easier to miss or gloss over an update from a friend.

There is no new information in the revised About page but it does lists all the details that Facebook has relating to work, education, relationships and contact information in one place.

The More tab allows you to view a range of activities, beyond About, Friends and Photos, which includes Maps, Movies, TV Shows and Music, as below. There are also setting for activity from Open Graph apps, such as Instagram, Spotify, Foursquare and Flipboard: