A couple weeks ago, Facebook launched Timeline for Brands.  Immediately after it launched, I got some help developing a tool to check and see if a Page was using Timeline programmatically.  Back then, I checked several hundred large Pages for which I had id’s and found only 6 Pages that had made the change to Timeline.  Now, several weeks later, I ran it again to see what Pages had made this conversion to get a feel for how the adoption of Timeline by brands is going.

So with the set of Pages I had used previously, I found that 27% of these Pages had made the switch to Timeline.  This indicated to me that marketers are taking some time, some taking more than others, to craft an engaging, visually appealing Timeline experience for their brand.

I then took my list of Pages and looked at the average number of Page Likes they had to see if there was any significant relationship between the size of a brand Page and how quickly they adopted the new Timeline.  Sure enough, the larger brands and larger Pages had already made the switch.

 As Timeline grows in adoption, I’ll be keeping an eye on the rate at which brand Pages are doing the adopting.  I’m most curious to see if the adoption rate picks up into the mad rush I expect as we move toward the end of the month deadline, at which time all brand Pages will be switched to Timeline, ready or not.

Key Takeaways:

-It’s to be expected that brands would take the time to put together the best experience they can for Timeline and not rush into publication before they’re ready.  Last time I checked, there are no prizes for being first, but plenty of benefits to be gained by being one of the best.

-The adoption of Timeline has been small so far, but hopefully brands are aware of the impending 3/31 changeover.  While it’s smart to take time to craft your Timeline, it’s not smart to get caught unaware and have to do your designing in a mad scramble right at the deadline.