Facebook had another announcement Thursday, March 7, about News Feed changes they are making. They invited the media to their headquarters in California, and live feeds were set up across the Internet for viewing. Frankly, most people would admit they are becoming somewhat skeptical about all of Facebook's frequent announcements and changes, but this was different.
As the Facebook CEO and his techno-helpers all arrive in their hoodies and jeans, more mature Facebook users might have been rolling their eyes a little. When they started out speaking about seeing more about “what your friends are doing,” suddenly you feel like you are back in middle school.
The most noticeable change in our Facebook pages will be in appearance: there will be more emphasis on visuals. There was more than one mention of how everyone has a phone camera and is constantly sharing photos to Facebook. There will even be a more complete integration of Pinterest into Facebook. The whole thing will be very photo centric.
While the photo emphasis may not excite you, you might be pleased to know the Facebook experience is also going to be more uniform across all devices, including the desk top. It will look more like Facebook mobile.
There was an interesting angle to this that isn't quite clear, but something in the changes they are making to the platform will make the experience easier for people with older PC's. So, the “teenage” powers that be at Facebook are trying to help out the older generation who are still using their older desktop computers.
About half-way through the presentation, Mark Zuckerberg’s dream team suddenly throws in a game changer! These visual changes allowing people to see when their friends are “in a real cool place” may not excite the 50-somethings out there, but the alphabetical “Friends Only” News Feed sure will. This is the most exciting part of the Facebook announcement.
You can choose what kind of News Feed you want to view by category. Currently, you can only choose from "Top News" or "Most Recent." You can now choose to view only your friends, the celebrities that you follow, or a category like music. This promises to be quite nice.
These visual changes that will help people see when their friends are posting photos from "a real cool place” may not excite the 50-somethings out there, but the alphabetical “Friends Only” News Feed sure will.
For most Facebook users, this could mean not missing a post about a good friend’s illness, their grandmother's death or something important. This is, by far, the best news we have ever heard from Facebook.
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