Facebook’s new design has been hotly debated, with users either loving or hating it. I personally like it. However, no matter your feelings on the design it is probably here to stay. There is a bright side though. The new Facebook design could actually be better for political campaigns.

Facebook Advertising

Facebook ads are popular with campaigns and organizations since they are inexpensive, extremely easy to target, and reach young voters. However, with the old Facebook these ads appeared all the way on the bottom of the left sidebar and didn’t really get anyone’s attention. With the new Facebook, the ads are much more likely to catch the eyes of the users.

Notice how the new ads take advantage of white space to pop out and appear above the fold. If you use Facebook, think about how many times you noticed an ad in the old design and compare it to noticing the ads with the new one. It isn’t even close. This means that Facebook ads will most likely be much more effective and an even better investment for your advertising budget.

Shared Items

Items shared on the new Facebook actually stand out for people visiting your profile to see, as opposed to the old Facebook which only used small thumbnails and some text. Look at how prominent a shared picture becomes on a profile.

Anyone visiting your profile is going to see a large version of what you shared. This helps when you are sharing political cartoons, pictures of flyers for upcoming events, etc. People are also more inclined to comment on your item, so the items you share can spur discussions about it.

This more prominent featuring of shared items also includes video.

The videos you share can be played in full size on your profile, and your friends are able to comment on it. I know that a number of the videos I have shared have been in turn shared by them. The new Facebook is good at helping things go viral.

The feature I would like to see added to the new Facebook is the ability to reshare someone’s shared item into your feed right from their profile, similar to Friendfeed.  This would definitely help things spread.

Give it a chance

Though some of you hate the new Facebook now, give it some time and it may grow on you. Remember when everyone flipped out over the news feed and mini-feed?

What are your thoughts on how the new Facebook design affects the use of Facebook by campaigns? Share in the comments.