New Design Ideas for Facebook News Feed

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the foundation for Facebook is based on 3 pillars, Time Line, Graph Search and News Feed. Time line received a massive overhaul approximately 18 months ago. Graphics Search which focuses on the navigability was overhauled this January. Now the team at Facebook is looking to revamp the News Feed.

Marketplace ads being tested

One of the significant changes that are currently being tested, are new Marketplace ads, which appear along the right-hand column of Facebook’s homepage. The new layout will include a banner above text and is comparable to Facebook’s mobile ad and mobile app. The ads will display only a thumbnail of the Page’s profile picture and then a gray box with an icon and some text detailing the brand. When users highlight over the brand’s hyperlinked name, a pop-up is displayed featuring a mini-version of the top of the brand’s Page, with buttons to like or message the brand.

The major drawback for advertisers needing different size banner images for different ads.
These suggested Pages are likely to help attract advertisers to the News Feed. COO Sheryl Sandberg said that 65 percent of Facebook’s advertisers are now running ads in the News Feed, up from only 50 percent at the end of the third quarter.

More Possible News Feed Alterations

Another potential change for News Feed, though nothing has yet been set in stone, is to create more specific categories for the user to choose from, which will simplify the search process. For example, there are already specific feeds for music and games. Additional feeds could lean toward friend’s posts and activities such as products they like, videos they’ve watched, and news articles they’ve read. This concept will help the user find specific information much faster and with less scrolling.

Although some traditionalist are always resistant to the changes in aesthetics and design in the appearance of their Facebook page, Zuckerberg feels that it is important to keep things fresh and ahead of the curve.

It has been a continual struggle to keep Facebook current and relevant and to reenergize the disappointing market shares since the company has gone public.

[Images via fanpagetoolkit & stuffpoint]