Yesterday, Facebook announced that they would begin rolling out timeline to all of its users over the next couple of weeks. Cue the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. No matter how long Facebook users have had to play with a new layout, it seems there is no way to avoid the complaints. I made the shift last week though, and honestly I'm kind of fond of the experience already.

Personal reaction aside, what does the shift mean for your organization or company? There are two big changes for you right away, and neither of them have to do with your brand's Facebook Page.

The first is that this is all a part of Facebook's plan to start growing the world of apps using the Open Graph for deeper integration outside of the Facebook ecosystem. Just last week we saw Facebook bring in 60 new partners to Open Graph, including some of the hottest services like Pinterest and Zynga, and some old school folks like Ticketmaster and Digg. For now, that roster of partners seems closed, but I think we can expect that will change soon enough. Chances are pretty good that you've been using the simple sharing toolset provided by Facebook, commenting, sharing, and liking right from your website. This toolset changed the way we thought about our websites by easily adding a social layer on top of what already existed, and implementation was pretty easy. If you want to stay relevant moving forward, you are going to have start thinking about an app developer, because the Open Graph really shines when it is being used by an App. This is a shift from adding a layer, to altering the DNA of your digital presence.

The second thing is that we are shifting to a content curation model that takes Facebook out of the equation. At the moment likes and shares of your content are presented in the way Facebook wants. That is, a small thumbnail, some link text, and some descriptive text. That varied if you were sharing photos. And in both cases your content is in the newsfeed, at the mercy of everyone else's drive to publish content. I don't think the newsfeed is going anywhere, but now you've got a space you can control. Now, an App lives in a box in the users Timeline and the newsfeed of what that user does with your brand lives in that box. No more competing with the rest of the world to tell the story of your relationship with your user/member/customer. That raises a lot of questions about the curation of content and actions on your own site. No one is going Like your About page and since that may be where all your traffic lands, you are going to have to start thinking about getting them to start on the stuff you actually want them to share.

I hate change as much as the next guy, but I love it when change forces us to think more deeply about how we do things. Like and Share was a no-brainer, we just had to slap the buttons on everything. The Open Graph and Timeline are going to require some creative energy. All this creative friction is predicated on Zuck's desire for a frictionless web, and that might just be a good thing.