Last Thursday Facebook revealed that the revamped news feed will look like two of its rival formats: Google+ and print media, while also strengthening its mobile apps. In the launch at Facebook HQ in California, Mark Zuckerberg also clarified that the site’s new front-end will be rolled out gradually, with users able to put themselves on a waiting list to get the new design in the next few weeks.
Zuckerberg has revealed that after it’s been rolled out, Facebook’s new front page will function more like what we’re used to seeing in print media and on news sites. The Facebook CEO spoke of being able to “personalize your own newspaper.” It will divide posts up into categories, much like on many newspaper websites, allowing users to specify the kinds of stories they want to see in their social circle’s newly designed official magazine.
Also, the company with a history of taking ideas from its rivals has chosen to follow the lead of Google+ with the new-look news feed. Google+ recently won plaudits for its redesign, with huge profile photos making the site a visual trendsetter. As such, Facebook’s news feed will give users – and advertisers – much bigger magazine-style photos with captions inside rather than outside the images. The new look will come across better on high-resolution mobile devices, which are key to Facebook’s growth strategy.
Facebook’s mobile apps have been redesigned to fit in with the social network’s new front page, and to give them the same look across multiple devices. Given that more than half of Facebook’s billion users access the site on a mobile device, there were concerns that it hadn’t kept tight enough control of its designs for Android, iPhone and PC, which currently look different from one another. The new design will give the site a common feel across all devices, which will restrengthen the brand.
After seeing the prototype, we’ll be putting our names down on the waiting list for the new-look news feed. After nearly ten years, it can’t arrive soon enough.
One Response
Sounds like a very interesting development, and not too soon
Ellie