How will the revamped News Feed look? First, it will stress more visual content, such as photos and videos. Similar to what the social network did with Timeline, photos will be larger and float higher to the top of your Feed.
“In the new design, we’re making sure that this media is front and foremost” said Julie Zhou, Product Design Manager at Facebook, via a livestream provided by Facebook.
More prominence will be given to photos and videos and even places, she stressed. So if someone checks in to a bar, say, you’ll be able to see the map and description flushed out on the News Feed.
Also, it’ll be easier to spot videos that you can play instantly via the News Feed.
Another key redesign is the addition of multiple feeds. On the top-right side of the News Feed, you’ll soon see a “switcher” allowing you to see only Friends updates or only Music-related posts from artists you Like. Or you can click Photos to only see the pics your friends and Pages posted. If your friends commented on a video or pic, their Timeline pics will appear next to the media, and clicking on the thumbnail will let you see what comment they made to the video or photo.
Photos from third-party apps like Pinterest and Instagram are also getting a better treatment, as TechCrunch notes.
Events will also be highlighted better, so when you see an event pop up on your News Feed, a list of your attending friends will also display next to the event.
News publishers will be able to reach more readers, potentially. If you like our Digital Journal Page, for instance, Facebook will give you an overview of the most-shared content from our Page that day, atop your News Feed. It’s unclear how news Pages will be displayed if a user Likes dozens of news outlets.
The redesign will roll out today on desktops, and in a few weeks for mobile Facebook users.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the beginning of the announcement: “What’ were trying to do is to give everyone in the world the best personalized news paper. It should have quality public content and from friends. It should have a front page and it should let you drill down into any topic you want. It should be visual, rich and engaging. They should be displayed with more than just text. From the beginning our goal with news feed was different that what any service was trying to provide.”
