Facebook to announce Timeline for brands this month

According to executives briefed on the company’s plans, Facebook will be providing details of its Timeline feature for brands in the U.S. this month.
The feature, that recently rolled out to all of Facebook’s 800 million users, was originally announced at the F8 conference in September last year. As for brands, the company said it would make it available in the future but did not specify when. David Fischer, Facebook VP-Marketing and Business Partnerships, said that Timeline for brands would be “consistent” with the Timeline look-and-feel, but not a carbon copy.
Now sources reveal that the new pages for brands will start in beta with a few partners followed by a release in various stages to a few marketers.
AdAge reports that the tabs or apps marketers currently host on their Facebook pages to sell products or take polls to users could become boxes on the brand’s Timeline, similar to  how apps for Spotify or Washington Post Social Reader live on users’ Timelines.
However, this change in format for brands could put the responsibility on the brands themselves to develop their own apps using custom verbs other than”like,” in the same way that Pinterest’s Facebook app that tracks when its users have “pinned” something. Promoting the use and development of “Open Graph” apps, which can have their data tapped for ad targeting, is currently a focus for Facebook.

By making Timeline available, Facebook now provides brands with new options for self-expression. In addition to being able to outline their corporate history, brands can also go beyond linking and take advantage of gestures. The design, that includes a space for a large image at the top fo the page, rather than an old template, enables brands to be more creative and distinctive. Content is no longer limited to that generated while running the Facebook brand page and administrators can use the feature to add events like their founding date, or when a CEO was hired.
Facebook is expected to announce the new Timeline for brands at the upcoming fMC event in New York on the 29th February.
Facebook declined to comment on the product or the timing.
Source: Mashable, AdAge