14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has big plans for its F8 developers' conference. There are several big announcements to be made and it looks like the biggest and the core of the conference will be the new emphasis on content and the metamorphosis into an entertainment hub.
But Facebook has even more things lined up, it will also unveil a major profile redesign, possibly one of the biggest in the site's history.
The redesign is linked to the new media content that will become available to Facebook users. That said, there are several other unrelated tweaks and changes.
One of the main focus of the new profile redesign is to keep people sticking around for longer, Mashable says, citing people familiar with the matter.
This has always been a goal for Facebook so it's hardly something new, the very fact that it's launching a media platform is all about wanting to keep people on Facebook and not wondering off on the web.
Another interesting thing about the profile redesign is that it will incorporate interactive media. For example, your friends will be able to play the music that you like straight from the profile page.
Even more interesting, since there aren't many details, is the rumor that the profile will also emphasize Facebook Credits and ecommerce somehow.
That said, one thing that is not coming is Project Spartan, Facebook big push into web apps. Spartan aims to provide a platform for developers to create apps, that will work on mobile devices as well as on desktops, inside the browser, bypassing proprietary app stores.
However, there are already plenty of big announcements for F8, so the Spartan announcement may have been pushed back a while, to give people time to breathe.
One change that is already live, but may not be related to the big redesign is the Poke button which is now hidden away under a drop-down menu.