What ‘Facebook fatigue’? Company unveils major changes to the News Feed
The major redesign of Facebook’s News Feed features bigger images, multiple feeds and is modeled after the social network’s mobile app.
Facebook rolled out a radical new redesign of its News Feed feature today, the biggest change since the social media site launched the feature in 2006.
Facebook executives debuted the new changes at a big press event this afternoon at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
The new News Feed features bigger images, multiple feeds and was inspired by Facebook's mobile app, according to Mashable.
Right now, the feed is organized by a confusing distinction between "Top Stories" and "Most Recent."
Under the new changes, feeds will be organized by content type including music, games and followed pages.
Facebook will begin rolling out the new News Feed today, according to USA Today.
Users can join a wait list to add the updated News Feed to their pages
Since the News Feed functions primarily as a home page for Facebook, any major changes are likely to elicit some grumbles from users.
Facebook got slammed by criticism from users in 2011 when it first unveiled the "Top Stories" feature that separated out stories from people whom you have the most contact with.
The redesign comes on the heels of some general grumbling about the relevance of Facebook and reports of "Facebook fatigue" from users.
A recent Pew study reported that many Facebook users ditch the site for weeks at a time.
According to AP, the report found that some 61 percent of Facebook users "had taken a hiatus for reasons that range from boredom to too much irrelevant information to Lent."
Facebook acknowledged some of its users are flocking to other social media sites including Instagram, which Facebook bought last year.
"For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram," AP reports the company said last month in its annual 10-K filing.
"In the event that our users increasingly engage with other products and services, we may experience a decline in user engagement and our business could be harmed."