Facebook Delays Profile Update

Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 14th, 2008 11:30 AM

Back in February Facebook announced some upcoming changes to their profile that were expected to go live earlier this month. Over the weekend, Pete Bratach posted on the Facebook blog that the roll-out has been delayed. The reason is that they have been receiving developer feedback and incorporating it into the new design. Additionally, from the tone of the post it sounds like a lack of resources are being provided to roll this out sooner.

According to Pete, the new profile will be rolled out later this spring. For developers that are concerned about an overnight switch of the profiles, Facebook will give early warning to developers so that they can update their applications. Many developers expressed concern as the new profile would be significantly altering the way that their applications interface with profiles.

Considering that profiles are the primary source for new user acquisition, their concerns are justified. Fortunately for now it appears as though Facebook’s focus is satisfying developers while also balancing the interests of the users. It’s questionable as to whether both groups can ever be perfectly satisfied but for now we will have to wait and see.

Facebook profile screenshot

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Facebook Delays Profile Update”

Daryl Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 6:48 am
You're absolutely right Nick that perfectly satisfying both groups is at least questionable - and I would say impossible.

However, as they are each dependant on the other - Users dependant on developers to deliver good Apps that enhance the user experience; and developers dependant on users enjoying and promoting their apps - it is important that Facebook gets that balance as close to right as it can.
Daryl Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 7:48 am
You’re absolutely right Nick that perfectly satisfying both groups is at least questionable - and I would say impossible.

However, as they are each dependant on the other - Users dependant on developers to deliver good Apps that enhance the user experience; and developers dependant on users enjoying and promoting their apps - it is important that Facebook gets that balance as close to right as it can.