Facebook begins rolling out new profile pages

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 14 March 2013 10:04 IST

Facebook on Wednesday began rolling out new profile pages redesigned to clear away clutter from "Timelines" that chronicle member postings at the leading social network.

"We heard from you that the current timeline layout is sometimes hard to read," Facebook's Rose Yao said in a blog post.

"Starting today, all posts are on the right side of your timeline, with photos, music and other recent activity on the left."

Sections at social network pages have been revamped to let people display music, books, films and television shows they are interested in alongside uploaded pictures, according to Yao.

Pictures from Facebook-owned smartphone photo-sharing service Instagram can be streamed to timelines, and social network users can share their tastes in films by synching with apps from Flixster or Netflix.

Netflix on Wednesday took the long awaited step of letting US users share with Facebook friends what they have been watching at the film and television show streaming service.

A change made to the decades-old Video Privacy Protection Act late last year by Congress cleared the way for California-based Netflix to join the slew of music sharing services that have synched with the leading social network.

Netflix has previously integrated its service with Facebook outside the United States.

A week ago Facebook began transforming the stream of updates from friends at homepages into a "personalized newspaper," with news ranging from the personal to the global.

The News Feed on homepages at the leading social network was revamped to get rid of clutter and present "bright, beautiful" stories, such as insights from friends or trending news of the day.

"I think there is a special place in the world for this sort of personalized newspaper," Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in introducing the overhauled News Feed.

"It should have a front page and top news section or let you drill down into any topic you want."

Facebook is rolling out the new News Feed "very slowly" at its website reached by desktop or laptop, and will begin adding it to smartphone and tablet applications in the coming weeks.

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