Facebook unveils update to newsfeed to provide ‘the best personalised newspaper we can’
Facebook has today announced the changes that it is set to make to its newsfeed, to make it ‘the best personalised newspaper we can’; with a front news section to help display updates ‘with more than just text’.
Mark Zuckerberg says that people will be able to share with their whole audience or just a few people: stating that over 50 per cent of content uploaded are photos.
He adds that people want updates from friends – but they also want updates from publications and world leaders.
The new design will focus on three aspects: rich stories, to make the content visual and engaging; a choice of feeds so users can ‘dig in’ to different topics; and a mobile inspired consistent UI.
Julie Zhuo, director of design at Facebook, says that they have been told the newsfeed is important, and other items on the homepage are just ‘clutter’.
Sharing of articles will receive a bigger picture; logo of the newspaper or magazine; and a larger summary.
Sharing from third-part apps, such as Pinterest, will be ‘better reflected’, Zhuo says.
The stream will now show the most shared articles, and will also show what events are upcoming; based on where a user has previously checked in, their interests and what their friends have planned.
Passing over to Chris Struhar, tech lead, Zhuo said: “We’re really excited to bring these changes to you, starting today.”
Struhar has said that the new feeds will let users choose between seeing the posts of all their friends; as well as having feeds for photos; music; and for those pages which a person follows.
More to follow...