Last week came the announcement of yet another change to Facebook’s design and functionality.  As a creative agency, The Practice team were pleased to hear that Facebook’s newsfeed redesign places importance on the visual, not just its workability.  So what can we expect from the new layout, and how will this affect the user experience?

The newsfeed revamp comes as the first major change since the launch of Timeline back in 2011, and will be introduced throughout the week although we won’t experience the new format for several months. It seems that Zuckerberg wishes to (and rightly so), capitalize on the trend for pictorial content, and some might say in line with the current popularity of photo-sharing social media sites such as Instagram. Indeed, photos already comprise 50% of newsfeed stories; something we noticed occurring particularly after Facebook’s change to its Edgerank algorithm which put precedence on posts containing images. We at The Practice have always argued that social media users are most definitely drawn to its visual nature above anything else, which makes Facebook’s newsfeed evolution all the more apt. One of the biggest transformations from a design perspective, is Zuckerberg’s decision to replace the current logo display in the top left hand corner with a simple “F” logo, perhaps in attempts to promote a cleaner feel.

Zuckerberg stated at the launch event that the transformed newsfeed will be akin to “the most personalized newspaper”. This is where the other elements of newsfeed’s redesign come into play; multiple feeds and mobile consistency. In this way, newsfeed will allow users volition over how they view the stories that surround them. With multiple feeds, users will be able to subscribe to various types of feeds, such as those solely featuring posts from friends, or those of “liked” pages. The layout will now feature a double-column view making pictorial content, and ads for that matter, appear bigger, bolder, and less cluttered. And, what will be especially useful to us in terms of managing our clients’ social media profiles, is a chronological view instead of random post sorting.

Finally, the newsfeed redesign was inspired by mobile, and takes many of its features from the current iOS and Android app interfaces. For example, the left-hand navigation side bar seen on the app will be incorporated into the desktop version, making the format consistent across all devices. This will now contain the usual features, such as the live updates ticker, app bookmarks, chat and calendar, amongst others.

We at The Practice will also be keen to see what these changes mean for marketers. With paid content, sponsored posts and ads set to create a stronger visual impact, will this encourage greater fan interaction? Certainly the more image-based feel of the smart phone app should bode well for mobile advertisers. And might multiple newsfeeds enable more space for a greater number of adverts, or even specific brands targeting the newsfeed that’s relevant to them as opposed to a single generic one? The impact remains to be seen, but we can safely say we’ll be monitoring the updates as they roll out.

What do you think of the changes? How do you think the new look will compare to other newsfeeds from platforms such as Tumblr, Google + or Instagram? And do you think Facebook creates too many updates, or is this important in order for it to remain relevant? Please share your comments and opinions by tweeting to us @PracticeDigital and on our Facebook page.