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Facebook pushes photo prominence in timeline

Jul 31, 2012 at 18:52:25 GMT

OTHER NEWS FACEBOOK

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Facebook has updated the way photos are presented in the timeline section of users' profiles - devoting more page space to the images and making it easier to give some images prominence. The result is an awful lot like the Google+ gallery view, and the Flickr interface for viewing contacts' images but appears to crop all images to square format. The Facebook update gives the ability to 'highlight' specific images (making them four times larger) but doesn't just present your own images - images with you tagged in them will be intermingled with your own shots, so it's not an optimal way to showcase your photography, unless you ruthlessly de-tag yourself from other peoples' photos.

The company says it is rolling the changes out to user profiles but gives no timescale for how long it will take to apply to all accounts.

Press Release:

A More Beautiful View of Photos

Today we’re announcing improvements to the photos section that make viewing photos more enjoyable.

See bigger photos

Now when you click Photos at the top of your timeline, you’ll see larger pictures that fill up the page. You can use the menu to find shots you’re tagged in, pictures you’ve shared and albums you’ve created.

Facebook will devote more of its photo page to the images themseleves

Showcase photos you like

With your Facebook photos all in one section, it’s simple to show friends your favorites. Click the star button to make important photos stand out.

Individual images can be selected so they appear larger.

Comments

Total comments: 83

I wish there was as much momentum against the dangerously invasive 'patriot act' (in the USA) as there is for FB's Timeline. I'm stunned how much resistance and hate there is for a graphical design choice, while important issues are ignored. That's really all I can say about this subject.

0 upvotes

Don't like Facebook. They are into collecting -- and in a way stealing -- your stuff under the guise of being social.

On the other hand I like Dpr because (for the most part) the contributors add value in shared social pursuits.

But if you still think Facebook is good for something, sell their stock short.

1 upvote

Mine doesn't look anything like this. Is this something that is now in place or something they'd like to have?

0 upvotes

Proof that photogs hate facebook - DP Review one of the biggest photog gear websites DOES NOT HAVE A FACEBOOK like button in the "Share" tab above!

0 upvotes

Really just shows their marketing department isn't interested in exposure or driving traffic. Makes me wonder what other revenue generating opportunities they are ignoring. Revenues that could be put towards improving content and fixing the clunky UI of this site.

0 upvotes

Not true. There is in fact a "FB Like" button, at least when I am looking at it. Besides, DPR has a FB account is is active on FB.

0 upvotes

Well it doesnt show up on THIS article. I know there is a like button on the pics for example.

0 upvotes

Actually, it does. You must have it blocked somehow. Maybe through a Chrome extension?

0 upvotes

I ruthlessly remove any image tags that identify me in a photo.

2 upvotes

I see no difference in any difference on my page. The ineptness of FB to showcase photos is amazing. Highlight shows only part of the photograph. They simply are not doing much right and this extends from harassing member with phone calls to sell advertiosing to pages that change constantly, to software that dramtically changes the appearnace of photos. If a change is being made, it hasn't aoccured yet.

In addition, they encourage participants to make new friends and punish you for doing so, never respond to help requests or repsond to questions about suspensions. What investors need to know is that FB is filled mainly with people posting saying that explain how easy life is if only . . there are exceptions. For a photographer, Facebook is just a big billboard and I see no changes in what they are doing

1 upvote

any copyright protection yet for the posters of these 'photos'... from fb ...worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook

0 upvotes

A website has to license your IP so that it can legitimately make your images visible to other web users. Sometimes (and I haven't read Facebook's T&C recently) the standard agreement required to allow your images to be shown across the web ends up looking very scary, when all it actually means is 'we need permission to reproduce your images across lots of servers.'

4 upvotes

I think it all depends on what you want to do with your photos. Most of my friends and family are on Facebook, so it is much easier to post photos for there for them to see. They could give a rats behind about compression, or any supposed 'lack of quality'. They just want to see pictures, They don't want to wait forever for pbase to load, or to navigate Flickrs crappy UI. To 99% of the public, photos on Facebook look just fine.

Now, if you are a pro and want to share your photos, why wouldnt you have your own site? Nothing says 'amateur' like "hey, check out my amazing professional photos on pBase".

1 upvote

> Nothing says 'amateur' like "hey, check out my amazing
> professional photos on pBase".

Totally disagree.
http://www.pbase.com/ronnie_14187/
http://www.pbase.com/deewun/portraits

0 upvotes

Sorry Kim, the photos are nice but the web page layouts are so wretched. No margins? Center-aligned Helvetica. Ughh...

PBase was sort of able to hold its own through Flickr and even Facebook, but now that everyone's seen photos showcased spectacularly well on 500px, LiveBooks, Google Plus, and nice Wordpress templates, PBase looks as frozen-in-1999 as ever. And I'm not talking about glitz, just basic aesthetics that would not be ignored by any designer of a photo book. Why should we have lower presentation standards just because it's on a screen?

Comment edited 49 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Soon, Facebook will only be relevant in the third world countries, just like Blackberry.

6 upvotes

WOW, you couldnt have said it better. I am from Trinidad. I hate when my photos appear on fucebook. But you know what here everyone is on facebook and everyone uses blackberry, the more uppity one use an iphone with almost NO android proliferation. And we are a thirdworld country. But most of the world is thirdworld.

3 upvotes

I can't find this anywhere. I only see the old layout.

I would like to see Facebook using the position information in the uploaded pictures, so we didn't have to place them on the map ourselves. I am really surprised this isn't in there already.

I tried to place a picture on the map in Facebook, and it was so horribly difficult that I am not going to do that again.

I appreciate improvements in Facebook, but I think they're moving too slowly forward.

0 upvotes

It sounds like they are doing what Flickr is having trouble with, having a community based photo-sharing service. The only (big) trouble is the photos on Flickr are at least trying to be better... but my friends etc aren't there and thus can't comment. Win to Facebook for thinking out of the box. Not so sure it's a win for photography.

The site that really has it right in many ways, despite their small resolution imagery, is Instagram. Easy to view, easy to respond, easy to share and hard to swamp it with pointless uploads.

0 upvotes

I just got back from a trip where I took TONS of photos, got some great landscapes out of it. Know where I parked them? On PBase. I have WAY more control over its presentation, I don't get people griping about photos I post of them that get "tagged," I was able to upload many at once via the use of ZIP files, and if I leave Facebook they're still all there. I've used their site since 2004, in fact.

Funny: it seems to me Facebook didn't event photo-sharing & that there are PLENTY of places to post your photos besides Facebook, although fewer & fewer people believe or realize it. If no one bothers to look at them, that's on them, they're there and easy to see. I don't need Facebook for that.

1 upvote

I also use (well mostly used) Pbase, and much prefer it's presentation. The only things I don't like are it's massive size makes it hard to connect with other users and it's antiquated tools. No-one else does albums as well, though, making too much of your latest uploads.

0 upvotes

And aside form the small fact that FACEBOOK OWNS your images. Just another reason I don't participate with facebook!!!!!!!!
funny how their stock offerings are going south fast

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

6 upvotes

how does fb handle 'share' from a site that is copyrighted....

0 upvotes

Can you support that claim?

1 upvote

Les Facebook does not own your photographs. If you think they do you misunderstand their terms and conditions.

0 upvotes

You send me to Flickr and I will not look at your images. Horrible viewer experience.

2 upvotes

I don't mind if you stay away.

6 upvotes

FB is the very LAST place I want to take people to in order to share my photos. If I meet a client and want to share my photo hobby with them, I send them over to Flickr which is a far superior experience, and dedicated only to photos and not a junky timeline history of my late night activities.

4 upvotes

Timeline® will be rolled out to every FB user by November, or earlier.

1 upvote

Never have and Never will visit Facebook for any reason whatsoever! If you like the government knowing everything you say or do be my guest....A sucker and a fool is born every second!

5 upvotes

They are on to you just from this post!

Really, in most reasonably free countries, the govt has to get permission from the courts to read your facebook data. They could get your bank statements, email account, phone history, traffic logs from your ISP the same way. If you do something to warrant being a significant suspect, staying away from facebook is probably not going to save you.

What I'd be worried about is which companies are buying it from facebook.

2 upvotes

The government? Really? Any computer literate person could find your ISP and a ton of other stuff about you in about 5 minutes just based on your post on this site. A sucker and a fool posts on this site every second apparently.

7 upvotes

So where is tkbslc from then Goob, and which ISP does he use?

2 upvotes

Paranoid much?

0 upvotes

Gotta sell more facial recognition logs of where and who people hang out with to .gov. And yes, Facebook does do this.

1 upvote

Roughly 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day, so obviously some people like using it.

1 upvote

Said the wife looking at all the empty chairs in the funeral parlor:
"I don't understand it. He had 2000 Facebook friends."

Facebook shot up like a rocket and what goes up must and will come down.
Better to stick with dedicated sites like DP Review, Flicker, 500 PX and Smugmug to mention a few.

9 upvotes

Love fb ! It's the reason I got back into photography! I shoot photos for people just to put on fb. Way to go!

3 upvotes

Don't forget, once you post a photo to Facebook it becomes their property. You may delete it, but FB has already copied it and added it to their database.

9 upvotes

I don't like Facebook, but that's a gross oversimplification of their updated TOS. (Most "Facebook panic" posts are about the old TOS.) Nowhere in their current TOS does it say they own your work. In fact, it specifically says you retain ownership. What they ask for is a nonexclusive license, which is also the case at most other sites where you post photos.

The only thing up for debate is whether Facebook's requested license is too broad. That is fair. And many think Facebook does ask for more rights than other sites. But for you to say they own your work is unfair, based on the legal facts.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

20 upvotes

Thanks for the clarification, graybalanced.

3 upvotes

Facebook doesn't get anymore rights than smugmug, flickr or any other photo site. You have to give them rights so they can put it on their website and store it on their server without violating copyright law.

0 upvotes

Doesn't FB get the license to use and sell to any 3rd party and to extend these rights to those 3rd parties?

2 upvotes

@tkbslc: Sorry, you are quite wrong! Facebook grants themselves the right to sub-license without any monetary redemption to the copyright owner. - So be happy to have your image show up in advertising for anything - even things that go against every grain of your belief!

4 upvotes

I solve this buy posting pictures with a watermark, If facebook have rights on the picture, it only applies to the one with the watermark? I belive.

0 upvotes

Karl Gnter Wnsch your understanding of facebook T&C is incorrect.

0 upvotes

nicolas guilbert those watermarks have been known to be removed by national newspapers before.

0 upvotes

Karl Gnter Wnsch one reason they sub-license is, as an example, when they have to handle global expansion by hiring a vendor to help out with server capacity (like how many companies outsource to Amazon S3), they don't have to come to all 1 billion users asking for permission to extend their photo license to every new vendor needed. Are user photos actually turning up in Facebook ads? Does Facebook even run any ads? (other than ad space bought on Facebook)

0 upvotes

@graybalanced, sorry, but sublicensing doesn't mean that, they grant themselves a irrevocable right to sublicense as they see fit. This includes sublicensing your photos to porn sites, mcdonalds or whoever pays enough to them!

0 upvotes

They are shoving their final dose of Timeline down everyone's throats.
It sucks rotten eggs but they are doing it for add space.
This is probably just a way to divert the timeline hate...

Comment edited 9 minutes after posting

4 upvotes

I'm still timeline free, amazingly.

3 upvotes

Me too :-)

2 upvotes

I used a little ad-on called social fixer to remove my timeline. Had already been given timeline by fb. But managed to remove it with social fixer.

1 upvote

Well, there is still 500px and Flickr.. not mentioning DPreview has its own gallery.

Facebook is thing that I avoid for photos, if I wanted to cripple anything I take then I can use instagram. :D

4 upvotes

Instagram is owned by Facebook now!

6 upvotes

Facialbook, is that the site where you can make new and exciting friends with a single click on your mouse?

4 upvotes

Does that mean they're fixing their TERRIBLE jpg compression as well?

6 upvotes

Horrid, horrid things it does to colors.

5 upvotes

It really is like going to the "add noise" filter in photoshop, and moving the slider all the way to the right. This effect is even more pronounced when attaching a pic via private message to a client that wants a quick preview. Did that once. wont happen again.

1 upvote

Their compression is seemingly: max compression, just the right amount of downsizing to make lots of jaggies, and a bit of a pop in orange- just to make skin tones look weird.

0 upvotes

Square crop (which does't fit any of my images), mingling in idiotic snapshots from other users, giving them the rights to sublicense the images you upload - sorry but which photographer with a sane mind would ever upload a single photo onto that %&%@&)-site?

11 upvotes

I know a lot of small-time photogs earning good rates locally by posting samples of their work on FB. With their work more easily viewable and reachable they tend to get hired also more frequently. But then again, they're not big names...

2 upvotes

Of all the places I've put up my photos to, FB has been the most useful, I hate the site for all the reasons said here, but just by putting up my good shots I got loooaadds of response. Not a few months later I'm getting people I never met asking if I'd shoot for them, now I'm shooting weddings, and I never said I'd do them!

2 upvotes

So... slow news day at DPReview, eh?

9 upvotes

Wow, fancy new outfit. Is there finally a way to manually choose your own square crops from the non-square photos?

1 upvote

There is in fact a "Reposition photo" control on the Timeline which is Facebook-talk for adjusting the square crop.

1 upvote

? ... lot of my "friends" are clients, or potential clients ... so any exposure is good exposure!

1 upvote

I love FB. I don't use it but I love it. Since their stock has gone down the toilet, I have made some nice money shorting the stock. Won't be long before it gets to 50% of the IPO price.

So please, feel free to talk about it all you want to. :)

6 upvotes

Got rid of my account ages ago... i bet they still have all my photos, posts, etc.

5 upvotes

Please, for the love of mercy, no more about facebook...

13 upvotes

Fair enough - I'm sure none of our readers use it, so won't be interested in how it presents their photos.

22 upvotes

Thanks! I am sure they won't mind, or they will get over it! ;)

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

2 upvotes

Indeed. Is there another way to users to avoid this new layout? So, why bitch about it? Why post something about it? The only choice is to deactivate our accounts or close the DPR tab.

1 upvote

It's funny, I just activated this account literally this morning ... (been lurking for rather a while though) and, lo and behold, the very first new story to crop up ... essentially an ad for farcebook.
I posted here to express my displeasure about how focus is being taken away from gear reviewing, and being devoted regrettably towards covering the latest asinine social media trends. Now, if there were to be more articles about pros in the field, or interviews with the camera makers, I'd be all for it ... Refer to me as a bitch if you like, I'll consider it a compliment.

8 upvotes

Is there a way to CC- license your own photos that are uploaded to FB? I just don't like the idea that they get property of FB.

1 upvote

No. All content uploaded to FB gives them the right to do whatever they want with it. It's in their T&C's. That's why I don't upload there. Problem solved.

2 upvotes

No, there is no way to keep them from exploiting your images as if they were their own - wouldn't you be proud to find your images promoting anything you hate?

3 upvotes

How ironic that this post has 10 Likes.

0 upvotes

I don't see the irony. Facebook didn't invent the "like" / "thumbs up" button. And if gajillions of people mob and latch onto something, that does not make the entity in question any more worthy or impressive in my eyes than a the lesser/un-hyped entities. Groupthink mentality is my kryptonite ...

1 upvote

Yes, thank heavens for DPReview, where 'professionals' can post pictures of their cats and proclaim "C&C encouraged", only to be shot down by the other 'pros' that this "is a gear site only".

At least on Facebook people will pretend to 'Like' your awful photos.

1 upvote

http://www.socialmediaplayground.com/social-media/you-should-know-photo-licensing-agreements-on-social-networks/2012/02/07/

An excerpt from the article: "What it means: Facebook can use your photos as long as you have them posted up, but they cannot sell or license them to third parties or do whatever they want with them in perpetuity."

So no, they do not own your photos nor can they do whatever they want.

1 upvote

@ tonywong...

there is nothing ironic about it. It is just people voting with their mouse clicks.

And it sure looks like more people agree with Camediadude than agree with you.

1 upvote

Why is this even considered News?

1 upvote

Total comments: 83


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