Facebook opens up about Timeline and approval process for Open Graph Apps

Inside Facebook reported today that Facebook has revealed about how it will make Timeline available to public, as well as how developers can expect the Open Graph App process to go.

The blog spoke to Facebook Product Manager Carl Sjogreen, and he had this to say:

We’ve tried to be mindful about the lessons we’ve learned

As we’ve reported, Facebook’s Timeline feature is due in the “coming weeks”, and now we know what that roll-out will be like for users.

Before users are able to publish their Timeline, they are given a period of time to “curate” the content that will appear on their new profile. Facebook seems to feel like this approach is better than people turning on the new profile and being surprised by how much is shared, such as what songs they’re listening to on Spotify.

As far as Open Graph apps, developers will have to go through more of a strict approval process, similar to Apple’s App store. This will stop apps that don’t fit Facebook’s terms of service requirements, or are extremely spammy.

Sjogreen also told Inside Facebook:

We’ve learned a lot in hindsight, and built a lot of technologies to make sure we’re targeting users with info they find relevant

These approaches are showing a softer side of Facebook, one that we’re not used to. Before this past f8, new features were given to everyone at once, which drew many complaints from the 800+ million userbase. With a softer roll-out approach, Facebook can build back the trust of users who may be concerned about their privacy or the control they have over their profile and data.