What You Need to Know About Facebook’s New Look

Major changes to the News Feed will be the first ‘big’ renovations made by Facebook since the timeline was rolled out over a year ago. The updates can be categorized into three parts:

• Larger Images:
  • If you follow Sociality Squared, it’s no secret that we adamantly believe in the importance of visual content in social media. Facebook obviously shares this vision as photos will now appear larger in the News Feed and will be more prominent. Many people are comparing this new design to platforms like Instagram and Google+.
• Multiple Feeds:
  • Facebook’s News Feed will now be broken into multiple categories which will allow users more control over the way stories are displayed. For example, there is a News Feed specifically for music where users will see stories about the artists they follow and the music their friends listen to. Other feed categories include close friends, all friends, photos and games. Furthermore, there will be one feed dedicated to “follows” where users can view all of the posts from the brands and celebrities they follow on Facebook.
  • Throwback feature? For those who prefer to see stories listed in order, a chronological view of the News Feed will be available with the new update.
  • According to Mashable.com: “It’s not clear how these new feeds will affect promoted stories or content or the longer-lasting impact it may have on brands and pages.”
• Mobile Consistency:
  • Facebook wants the user experience to be the same whether it’s on a mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Because more people are accessing Facebook via mobile device than ever before, the new News Feed design is based more heavily on the existing Facebook mobile apps than it is on the desktop  version of the News Feed. Users will notice a side navigation bar and more white space than was present before.
    

The new News Feed will begin rolling out today and Facebook will be monitoring and making adjustments for the next several months. We will be releasing new information regarding the update as it becomes available.