Web Desk (August 17, 2017): Facebook has brought some changes to the main News Feed, a press release announced on Wednesday.
Among other things, Facebook will start replacing the square profile photos with circular ones as a new method of displaying the picture of a friend who just shared an update or commented on a post.
However, it is not clear whether circular profile photos will also be adopted to display your picture above your Timeline, which used to show your photo in a square frame. Link previews will also become larger so that you can easily read them and quickly identify external links from native texts.
Additionally, website domains will be displayed above the title of an article for posts containing a news piece, for example, so that you can easily see on what website the content is published. The current design of News Feed places a domain below the article title, but that is changing with the new update.
Existing designs for the Like, Comment, and Share buttons also makes them relatively small. With the latest update, those buttons will soon grow in size so that you can easily tap them. Facebook says that it’s also making texts more readable for users by increasing the color contrast.
Part of the aim with this update is making sure its users always experience clear discussions by updating the comment style on the platform so that it is easier to set direct replies apart from post comments.
On top of improved readability and conversation, Facebook also aims to provide a more convenient way for users to navigate the website. More specifically, you can now see where a URL will lead you prior to hitting the link, which will significantly reduce the proliferation of spam and bogus content.
You will also be able to identify the owner of the post on which you are posting a comment. Finally, there is now a more visible return button for you to go back to the News Feed once you’re done reading a post or comment. The latest update and design will be rolled out to News Feed in the next few weeks, according to Facebook.
