If you have your own Facebook Page or manage one for a business, you’ve seen the notice plastered to the top of the page every time you log in. Facebook rolled out timeline to personal profiles awhile back, and now has set a “timeline” for all Pages to be updated by March 30th. As TechCrunch helps point out, with this comes some new exciting things, and some major differences.

Facebook is looking for consistency across the whole platform, and is now pushing for Businesses and all Pages to move to the new Timeline. With this comes some exciting changes, like being able to plaster a huge cover photo, being able to pin posts to the top of your Feed, and being able to respond to private messages from users. Like TechCrunch points out, this should make Pages much more visually appealing and hopefully get users to browse and interact more with Pages.

One major difference and perhaps flaw of the new Timeline is that it removes the ability to set an app as a default landing tab. Many Pages have used this as a marketing tool and as a way to get more followers, through offering discounts and other incentives in exchange for email signups or likes for their Facebook page. Now instead of the default landing tab/app a person is directed straight to the company’s timeline, where they can peruse the feed and have to click through to the tiny apps section that’s dwarfed by the cover photo to find these contests and sign up forms.

TechCrunch did look further into this and found out from an unknown source that tabs reportedly only drove 10% of Page app traffic, with the rest coming from published links and ads, both which haven’t changed with the new Timeline.

As they continue, they note that this change will only better the user experience, and we agree. With all Pages going to the Timeline, there will be a much greater focus on content and how it’s displayed. Companies will have to be very conscious of what they say and what users are saying about them, as this will be what is displayed immediately when a user visits their page. They will also have to focus more on visuals as the Timeline is clearly visually oriented, with the cover photo and how images display prominently in the new layout. Companies also should think about ways to optimize the new timeline, such as filling in older stories of the company’s roots and origins. This not only helps fill in the Timeline but can help users better connect with what the company is about and how it does business.

In the end the Timeline should be a great change for Pages, as companys will hopefully start to understand the need for taking their social media presence’s serious. Do you run a Page for a company or your own business? Have you updated to the Timeline? How do you like the new features and changes that accompany it?