Facebook is testing a new Timeline design. Currently live in New Zealand, the new look brings a slimmed down toolbar to the top of profile pages and repositions other content.

First spotted by The Next Web,

Check out the two photos below. The top is the new design, while the bottom is the older version:

New:



Old:



The toolbar at the top of the page is where the most drastic of the changes takes place. Where there are currently large photographic tiles, there are now just text buttons for your About information, Friends, and Photos.

Maps and Subscriber information are removed from the top of the page. Subscriber info is now made available in a new About widget at the top of the screen, while Map info is restricted to the Places widget on your Timeline. Photos also have a new home on the left side of the page, where nine photos are shown in a square (currently Facebook shows eight pictures in a rectangle).



Timeline navigation moves to the top right of the screen, swapping places with the ads that currently reside there.

Likes and App information are now centralized on the left side of your profile page, while status update are placed on the right. Notes are also given a new prominent placement.



Perhaps the most noteworthy change in the redesign comes in the form of advertisements. Owen Williams shared with us that now when you share a link on Facebook, a prompt to Like the page for the company you're posting about is automatically added. For instance, in the photo below, Williams posted a link to a Mashable story, and a link prompting readers to Like Mashable on Facebook was added to the bottom.



It's important to note that Facebook is likely using New Zealand as a testing ground for the new look. Depending on how those tests go, we may not see the new design come to the U.S.

Check out the gallery below for a closer look, and let us know what you think about the new design in the comments.

Facebook Updated Timeline 

New Toolbar

The redesigned Timeline changes the top of the page in particular, removing the photo tiles for Friends and Photos, and moving Map and Subscriber information lower on the page.



Navigation Up Top

Timeline navigation moves to the top right of the page, trading places with the ads that currently reside there.



Divide and Conquer

App updates and Likes are on the left side of the screen, while status updates are in the center.


Take Note

Notes have a new prominent location in the updated look.



About Me

Your About Me info has been moved to right below your profile picture.



9 Lives

Photos are now displayed in a square format that holds nine pictures. The same with Instagram shots.



Sponsored Stories

Sponsored ads appear below the Timeline navigation on the right side of the page.


Screenshot images courtesy of John Lai; Thumbnail image via iStockphoto, LeicaFoto
































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Considering all the attention it gets, mobile advertising is still a pipsqueak in the industry, accounting for just $1.6 billion globally in 2011.

Compare that to the overall $498 billion global ad market and you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Even newspaper revenues, which hit their lowest mark in 60 years in 2011 were 129 times higher than those for mobile. True, mobile advertising is a fast-growing category — that 2011 figure is triple what it was in 2009 — but even if the category nearly doubles, as it’s projected to do by 2014, we’re still talking about a $3 billion market.

At the moment, though, the mobile advertising segment is known for its destructive power — it’s a vampire, sucking the net worth out of Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Google. Investors, who calculate the value of a company based on how they think it will do down the road, see a future in which users are accessing Google and Facebook products and services more via mobile devices. In that scenario, falling ad revenues are inevitable.

Of the two, Google is doing the best; CEO Larry Page claimed a $2.5 billion run rate for mobile ads last October, which appears to give the company more than 100% of the global market. However, even that’s not enough for investors, who fret that Google’s cost-per-click keeps falling as mobile ads become more prominent.

Facebook, meanwhile, has only offered mobile advertising for a little more than a month. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts, the company claimed it was making about $500,000 a day off its mobile ads, which would amount to $182.5 million over the course of a year. However, you’d assume that the figure would increase as adoption rises.

This did nothing to please investors, who pummeled Facebook’s stock price until it hit a new sub-$24 low on Thursday. Is Facebook really screwing things up that much?

Led by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook appears to be giving mobile the single-minded focus that you would expect. The company has some of the best minds in the business attacking the problem and it’s solution so far — Sponsored Stories on mobile — isn’t bad. Multiple reports have found that the ads perform much better than standard desktop ads. David Williams, CEO of Blinq Media, says he’s seeing click-through-rates as high as 8.5% on mobile Sponsored Stories ads “which is pretty much unheard of.” The only problem with the ads, in Williams’s view is scale: The ads depend on an interaction with the brand by someone in your network. If none of your Facebook friends has interacted with a brand, then you won’t see the ad.

Of course, novelty might account for much of the ads’ efficacy. “New ad units always perform better,” says Nate Elliott, a Forrester Research analyst. “That will decline over time.”

But even if the ads are the silver bullet that Facebook hopes, the company has to grapple with a situation that’s affecting everyone in digital media: The transition to mobile, which, so far, is much less lucrative. How much less? Michael Wolff of The Guardian estimates that media companies that used to make $4 on advertising on a webpage only make $0.25 on the equivalent mobile page.

Shrinking screen size is a major reason: You simply can’t cram as many ads on a 3.5-inch iPhone screen as you can on a the 15-4-inch MacBook Pro screen. That means saying goodbye to Facebook’s unloved, but lucrative Marketplace ads (the direct-response ones that run in the right column.)

Some investors believe that Facebook can only solve the problem by making its own mobile devices — as Google does now — to better control the experience. However, Facebook put the kibosh on such speculation on Thursday.

But, as we’ve seen, even Google’s not immune to the trend. In its most-recent quarter, the search giant disclosed that the price advertisers pay for clicks on Google ads fell 16% year over year. Yet Google is less threatened by mobile since it has a lock on search advertising. Facebook doesn’t have the equivalent.

That’s too bad. Without a mobile device of its own or a proven method of maintaining its overall ad revenues despite the transition to mobile, Facebook is in a tight spot. Unfortunately, Facebook’s not the only one

1. The Facebook Phone

A Facebook smartphone concept on Yanko Design -- and created by designer Michal Bonikowski -- gives us a look into what the device could potentially look like.

Image via Yanko Design

2. Front Look

Featuring a sleek case in Facebook’s signature blue, the device is made from metal and touts a 4.2-inch screen.

Image via Yanko Design

3. Back View

It also features a 5-megapixel camera in the front and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Image via Yanko Design

4. The Full Concept

A look at both sides.

Image via Yanko Design

5. Docking Station

Bonikowski also included in his design a docking and charging station.
Image via Yanko Design






































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