Facebook is testing a colossal amendment to your news feed
As seen in screenshots that surfaced on Twitter on Friday morning, Facebook is experimenting with a brand new layout on mobile that highlights multiple news sections, with topics like World & U.S., Sports and Food. However, the first (and presumptively default) section remains the classic news feed we're at home with seeing.
Facebook confirmed to Mashable that it's testing the new, sectional news feed, additionally to the present format, tho' it's unclear if the feature can ever get a political candidate launch.
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While the feature being tested is not entirely new — we have seen some versions of topic-focused feeds within the past on iOS — the format unconcealed within the latest Android-based screenshots haven't quite been seen before.
"People have told North American country they’d like choices to ascertain a lot of stories on Facebook around specific topics they’re inquisitive about," a Facebook proponent aforesaid via email. "So we've got been testing a number of feeds for folks to look at a lot of and totally different stories from folks and Pages supported topic areas."
The sections seem at very cheap of the screen, accessible by sound or swiping left or right. once sound one among the sections, like World & U.S. News, the news feed updates to news articles that square measure associated with the subject.
In theory, this news reader-style approach takes users to all or any of the news they care regarding, housed in one large hub. it might additionally actually encourage users to induce a lot of news from Facebook instead of different sources like Twitter or Google News.
“There’s plenty a lot of content currently with multiple feeds, rather than one,” Tom Critchlow, a selling adviser United Nations agency denote pictures of the revamped feed to Twitter, told Mashable. “As for the news and sports feeds, they need posts from my friends too and it feels greatly a lot of sort of a news human instead of a private area.”
There's additionally a tool to edit that feeds you would like to ascertain — that means if you were not into Sports, you'll be able to take away it from the classes and embrace things like Music or Animals & Pets instead. Out of the gate, however, all topics square measure turned on by default, Critchlow aforesaid.
Critchlow, United Nations agency saw the feature on his Moto X, says the article news feed additionally includes a prompt to feature folks he doesn’t understand as Facebook friends.
“This appears like an enormous departure from the normal Facebook model,” he said. “There's no ‘two friends in common’ label or something like that. maybe there is some intelligence behind the scenes however nothing in real time obvious.”
“I can not help however see plenty of Twitter ties here, like turning the default feeds into places you move to get news with third-party content, whereas Facebook teams, Instagram and traveler places would be wherever you share personal content,” Critchlow aforesaid.
Lance Ulanoff contributed to the present report.
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