On the heels of the recent prompt to update friend lists it appears that Facebook is still implementing changes in anticipation of its revamped news feed. The social media giant has made other noticeable updates to the user experience in the past few days.
For those who use the Facebook iPhone or iPad app, you may have noticed an update to version 6.0 with the main description of “brand new ways to chat and a cleaner look for News Feed.” This, in essence, is the updated news feed on the mobile platform. Both the iPhone and iPad versions feature new “chat heads,” which allow users to chat within the app and not in a separate window. On the iPhone, chat heads appear on the vertical axis, while on the bigger iPad they appear horizontally on the top of the screen.
The main difference between the two versions for the different devices is that the iPad version now boasts the updated news feed with “brighter, more beautiful stories.” While the iPhone version didn’t see much of a change in the look of the news feed, users can now explore different feeds, including music, photos and games. The iPhone versions also brought along the stickers feature, which are basically giant, cartoon-like emoticons that can now be sent via messages.
Approximately 24 hours later, iPhone users saw another Facebook update for version 6.0.1. However, it was merely a bug fix. The company acted quickly after receiving reports of news feed loading problems for some users.
Facebook website users also may have noticed some changes, specifically with their personal profiles and status update box. The profile changes are more noticeable as the layout has been updated. Posts from you or others on your wall appear on the right below your cover and profile pictures. The left side features your about section, friends list, photo albums, pages you liked and ad check-ins, among other things. The new profile also features different tabs at the top and larger, richer photos, as is expected on the updated news feed. While mobile profiles remain the same, users are being prompted to update their information (just like they are on the web version). It looks like Facebook wants its users to share more, which could be tied to the wide release of graph search. More details filled out in a profile will make graph search more useful.
Regarding the status update change, now you have the option to not only write what you’re doing, as the prompt asks, you can also add details to posts. For example, you are now able to add how you’re feeling or even what you’re watching, reading, listening to, drinking and eating. If one of the things you select happens to also be a brand, your post will link to the official Facebook page. Additionally, other details will appear on your about page and other places on Facebook.
Finally, if you feel that even though it doesn’t look different, you think there’s something up with the Facebook logo, have no fear. You’re not going crazy. The company has also updated its main square logo on most, but not all, of its pages and apps. The “f” now extends all the way to the bottom margin, while the light blue shading that existed near the bottom of the square is now gone. This coincides with the other official pages that have received logo refreshes, including Facebook developers, privacy, mobile and security, among others. All logos are now uniform, with a Facebook blue square background with a white icon featured within.
Stay tuned as these will certainly not be the end of Facebook’s changes.
