I don’t know why it took me this long to realize it. I’ve always liked the Ticker. I always thought it had value because it surfaced small nuggets we wouldn’t otherwise see. But for whatever reason, I finally figured out the true purpose of the Facebook Ticker.
It was so obvious.
The Ticker’s only purpose isn’t so that you get roped back into old conversations, although that’s certainly a benefit. It isn’t so you know that your good friend is listening to awesome music or your annoying friend is listening to terrible music.
The Ticker gives you freedom.
Not following? I hear ya, it took me this long to figure it out. It wasn’t until I sat in front of my computer for the third consecutive day while managing my page that it all made sense…
It suddenly all makes perfect sense!
I was thinking to myself: Self? I haven’t spent much time looking at the News Feed lately. I’ve kinda been neglecting it. But I haven’t. Thankfully, I have this nifty Ticker thing.
BINGO!
But then I took it a step further: Self? Do you remember how Facebook rolled out Timeline recently? Yeah, I realize you’ve had it for months. But now your friends are finally getting it. Facebook wants Timelines to be a destination. You know, that would take them away from their News Feeds…
BOOM!
For the past four-plus years, the vast majority of my Facebook time (and let’s face it, a decent minority of my entire time) has been spent looking at my News Feed. It’s all I needed.
But now… Now, I’m all grown up. I have Facebook pages to manage. And now that Timeline continues to be embraced, I may spend more and more time on pages other than the News Feed.
You following? It all makes sense. It’s as if Facebook anticipated we’d have trouble leaving our News Feeds. So they created a second one that would follow us wherever we go.
Brilliant!
Sometimes it seems like Facebook makes changes for the sake of making changes. But I’ve gotta tell ya… The last series of moves over the past six months to a year are strategic. Precision. The pieces all fit together like a puzzle. It’s as if Facebook has the puzzle ahead of time and hands us a different piece each month.
