Sunday, 21 July 2013
Facebook said of the changes: ‘Today we’re announcing a new version of Facebook designed to reduce clutter and focus more on stories from the people you care about. You see all the stories you saw in your News Feed before, but with a fresh new look.
‘We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful.’
Facebook users keen on converting their page to the new-style news feed can now sign up to be among the first users to experience the latest update to the world’s most popular social network.
The all-singing, all-dancing new-look Facebook – which boasts a cleaner, less cluttered news feed in the style of a ‘personalised newspaper’ – is being tested on a select number of users first in a bid to gauge reaction.
However there is a waiting list for the new format, which users can sign up to here.
This page offers a more detailed look at and explanation of how the social network’s new style news feed will work, together with video footage of Facebook staff explaining the thinking behind the revamp.
The Facebook changes were unveiled on Thursday in a presentation by SEO Mark Zuckerberg from the firm’s Palo Alto headquarters.
The bold new look will feature greater emphasis on photos and more visual info on mutual friends, businesses, bars and restaurants.
And the buzzword appeared to be ‘personalised newspaper’, with news feeds set to switch from one continuous feed to several specific lists that can be flicked between – like one would with newspaper supplements.
Photos will be bigger and more plentiful, mutual friends will come with more detailed information, check-ins will be more rich and trending stories shared by multiple friends will be more prominent – allowing users to instantly view viral videos in-feed.
Facebook will now divide your friends into ‘all’, ‘recent’ and ‘close’, while content can be distilled down to either ‘music’, ‘photos’ or ‘games’.
The redesign was launched alongside the words: ‘Goodbye clutter, hello bright, beautiful stories.’
The new look Facebook will be consistent across different devices, with changes being rolled out on desktop from today and mobile and tablet set to follow in the coming weeks.
Fear not: You WILL still be able to view every single update in once place if you so desire. Facebook was quick to point out that this sub-division of feeds does not mean the popular ‘ALL’ updates option will be sacrificed.
Facebook said of the changes: ‘Today we’re announcing a new version of Facebook designed to reduce clutter and focus more on stories from the people you care about. You see all the stories you saw in your News Feed before, but with a fresh new look.
‘We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful.’
