As the saying goes, “a picture is worth 1,000 words“, and the public has plenty of words to share about Facebook’s recent acquisition of the popular photo sharing program Instagram. With almost 800 million users Facebook’s every move is followed by nearly everyone around the globe, and yesterday’s news of Facebook’s purchase of Instagram for $1 billion created a frenzied buzz of mixed reactions across the internet.

Explaining the acquisition in his post on Facebook Timeline, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the reason for the merger was to, “offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests”. In his post, he also writes that Facebook intends to keep the service as it is, saying that the company is “committed to building and growing Instagram independently.” However, many are worried if this will actually be the case. After the announcement, Twitter users were quick to express both their satisfaction and dismay (mostly dismay), many using funny and savvy visual responses via Instagram to back up the sentiment.

Analysis firm Crimson Hexagon looked at 200,000 tweets that mentioned the deal and the results say only 12% of all the tweets showed any sort of approval of the acquisition. Some 18% of users were simply in shock and a whopping 35% were furious, mostly at Facebook. On top of that, roughly 40,000 Twitter users declared that they had deleted their Instagram account or removed the app from their phone following the acquisition announcement.

This is not the first time that Facebook has raised eyebrows with its monopoly-like acquisitions of popular social networks and services. Many attribute the failure of Friendfeed to Facebook’s acquisition of the aggregator, and more recently Gowalla was shut down only three months after the mega-social network bought it . The reactions of Facebook taking over Instagram seem to be not merely emotional; history has proven that it could either go right or wrong.

In the ever-evolving social media landscape where brilliant new social sharing techniques and services are constantly springing up, acquisitions by existing all-powerful tech companies are sure continue, but is it something we should be happy about? Are we indeed being provided with the best technology for our sake or are companies, especially Facebook, gaining too much power in the social media – and world at large? Let us know how you feel about the acquisition in the comments.

Much like any other change Facebook has made to their design, the new Timeline has not gone without sparking a worldwide debate- but it doesn’t matter if you love or hate it because as of Saturday March 31^st, Timeline is here to stay. Your fans will be viewing your brand from a completely different perspective and if you haven’t considered a new Timeline layout, or drastically rethought your social media strategy, now is the time. Below are some guidelines that will help your brand benefit from the new layout by creating a more authentic and engaging space.

Optimize your cover photo: The most obvious change Timeline makes for your brand is creating a more visual space. The new cover photo gives a dynamic first impression of the brand and should be chosen carefully. In addition, changing the cover photo frequently will keep things interesting for returning visitors, enticing them to look at the brand in a different manner each time.

Tell a story: Your brand’s page will now chronologically show the passage of time. This provides the opportunity to emphasize content and give your fans a chance to appreciate the milestones achieved in the company history. The new Timeline also allows a brand to pin certain content to the top of the page ensuring that this will be the first post visitors see. Use this great tool to your advantage to highlight engaging content that develops your brand’s story.

Choose your tabs wisely: A change less obvious to the public, but just as important for brands, is the reduced tab visibility. Rather than having many different tabs on the left side panel, only four tabs are now visible in Timeline.  Needless to say these tabs should be picked carefully to engage the public and shape the perception of your brand, as it is one of the first things a visitor sees when landing on the page.  Strategically, brands should be putting less emphasis on customized tab development and more on creating exciting content.

Message your Fans: Another important new feature is the ability for brands to send and receive private messages. This can be a great way for a brand to interact with its fans but can also be a downfall, because for some brands there are more effective ways to deal with this kind of traffic. Brands will need to find a balance between helping customers with questions and keeping a clean message board.

Facebook is moving forward and allowing your brand to tell its authentic story by developing much more prominent information along the way. The new Timeline creates the perfect chance to humanize a brand and make people feel emotionally connected to it- which is what we strive for after all, isn’t it?