Is Facebook Finally Changing the News Feed Looks? | TechTree.com

Is Facebook Finally Changing the News Feed Looks?

A recent report suggests that the company is internally prototyping a tabbed version that helps track feed in real time

 

For close to seven years, Facebook has maintained a stoic silence to multiple requests about the manner in which its news feed operates. Those with a sharp memory may recall that they had announced a multi-feed format for exploring music, photos etc. in 2013 only to scrap it after a very brief period.

Now once again Facebook appears to be exploring ways and means to make the News Feed independent of their ranking algorithm and deliver results in different formats. Reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong recently took screenshots of tabs for Relevant, Recent and Seen feeds.

Based on the images, Josh Constine of TechCrunch.com reached out to Facebook who confirmed that this was something that they were considering testing externally though it was only available internally for the moment. From a user experience point of view, they’re checking if the tabbed interface makes Most Recent and Seen easier to access.

The tabbed version of the News Feed for mobile presented the Most Relevant Feed, the Most Recent feed of reverse chronological posts and the Already Seen feed of posts that was only available on desktop via a relatively unknown URL.

In response to Manchun Wong’s tweet about her discovery, Facebook official Alexandru Voica put out a tweet saying: “You can already view your Facebook News Feed chronologically. We’re testing ways to make it easier to find, as well as sort by posts you’ve already seen.”

Experts feel that the tabbed feed, if launched, could make Facebook more dynamic at a time when it is losing users over data privacy and other security-related fears. Getting to be abreast of events real-time on one’s news feed would also encourage multiple return visits besides also helping users track down important posts they may have lost.

Because the users would have to scroll less to get access to what they’re looking for, Facebook has a better chance of catching their attention with ads and other calls to action activities that it may share from time to time as part of its revenue model.

As Constine says, “while likely not the motive for this experiment, increasing time spent across these feeds could boost Facebook’s ad views at a time when it has been hammered by Wall Street for slowing profit growth.”


TAGS: Facebook, Algorithm, News Feed, Tabbed News, Relevant News

 
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