‘TICKER’, Facebook introduces information.
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Facebook has unveiled a new live “ticker” of information about friends’ activity on the social network, alongside changes to its central “news feed”, which will pave the way for anticipated integrations with digital music and other media services later this week.
Facebook hopes the new features will make it “easier to keep up with the people in your life no matter how frequently or infrequently you’re on Facebook”, by separating a constant flow of the latest updates from the main news feed, which will become more focused on users’ priorities.
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As its 750m members add new friends, install games and other applications, and “like” more pages, Facebook is having to find new ways to ensure they see the most useful and entertaining content when they log in, without being overwhelmed by information.
“We want to make sure Facebook is the place you can find out about what’s going on and the people and the things in the world around you that are interesting,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s vice-president of engineering.
Since its introduction in 2006, the news feed – which comprises the central column on the Facebook home page after logging in – has become most users’ main source of information about their friends’ activities, with the most recent at the top.
Facebook is now creating a new “ticker” window within its homepage that offers a “real-time” flow of friends’ activities, from posting photos and status updates to playing a game or “liking” items, such as articles, celebrities and products.
Mr Schroepfer said this was inspired by stock-market tickers, showing a flow of updates without having to refresh the webpage.
“We have the opportunity to answer the question ‘what is going on right now?’ without having to obsessively check all over different parts of the site,” Mr Schroepfer said.
At the same time, the main news feed will highlight the most significant updates from friends since the last time a user logged in, based on how people are categorised in “friend lists” and other algorithmic criteria.
“We optimise the experience for you based on how much you visit,” Mr Schroepfer said, likening the news feed to a “personal newspaper” with the most interesting stories at the top.
“People use Facebook in all sorts of different modes. Some people log in once a day for five minutes and want the front page of the paper,” he added. “Sometimes, it’s Sunday morning and you have lots of time … We are trying to hit both these aims at both ends of the spectrum.”
The ticker is also expected to play a role later this week when Facebook unveils new ways for people to share the music they are listening to. At its annual f8 developer conference on Thursday, Facebook is expected to enable digital music services such as Spotify, MOG and Rdio to integrate into its users’ profiles, with songs showing up in the ticker as they are played.
Other content and media companies are also expected to be able to tap into the Facebook platform’s new capabilities.
Facebook has unveiled several new features in recent weeks as it strives to keep ahead of increasing competition from Twitter and Google. Google Plus, the search company’s social network that was unveiled in July, on Wednesday opened its doors to the public for the first time, without requiring an invitation from an existing user.
EMarketer, an analyst group, put out revised estimates for Facebook’s revenues on Wednesday, cutting its forecast for advertising spending on the site by $250m to $3.8bn for this year. Total revenues, including its share of Credits, used to purchase digital items on the site, are expected to more than double to $4.27bn in 2011.
Facebook has unveiled a new live “ticker” of information about friends’ activity on the social network, alongside changes to its central “news feed”, which will pave the way for anticipated integrations with digital music and other media services later this week.
Facebook hopes the new features will make it “easier to keep up with the people in your life no matter how frequently or infrequently you’re on Facebook”, by separating a constant flow of the latest updates from the main news feed, which will become more focused on users’ priorities.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.
As its 750m members add new friends, install games and other applications, and “like” more pages, Facebook is having to find new ways to ensure they see the most useful and entertaining content when they log in, without being overwhelmed by information.
“We want to make sure Facebook is the place you can find out about what’s going on and the people and the things in the world around you that are interesting,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s vice-president of engineering.
Since its introduction in 2006, the news feed – which comprises the central column on the Facebook home page after logging in – has become most users’ main source of information about their friends’ activities, with the most recent at the top.
Facebook is now creating a new “ticker” window within its homepage that offers a “real-time” flow of friends’ activities, from posting photos and status updates to playing a game or “liking” items, such as articles, celebrities and products.
Mr Schroepfer said this was inspired by stock-market tickers, showing a flow of updates without having to refresh the webpage.
“We have the opportunity to answer the question ‘what is going on right now?’ without having to obsessively check all over different parts of the site,” Mr Schroepfer said.
At the same time, the main news feed will highlight the most significant updates from friends since the last time a user logged in, based on how people are categorised in “friend lists” and other algorithmic criteria.
“We optimise the experience for you based on how much you visit,” Mr Schroepfer said, likening the news feed to a “personal newspaper” with the most interesting stories at the top.
“People use Facebook in all sorts of different modes. Some people log in once a day for five minutes and want the front page of the paper,” he added. “Sometimes, it’s Sunday morning and you have lots of time … We are trying to hit both these aims at both ends of the spectrum.”
The ticker is also expected to play a role later this week when Facebook unveils new ways for people to share the music they are listening to. At its annual f8 developer conference on Thursday, Facebook is expected to enable digital music services such as Spotify, MOG and Rdio to integrate into its users’ profiles, with songs showing up in the ticker as they are played.
Other content and media companies are also expected to be able to tap into the Facebook platform’s new capabilities.
Facebook has unveiled several new features in recent weeks as it strives to keep ahead of increasing competition from Twitter and Google. Google Plus, the search company’s social network that was unveiled in July, on Wednesday opened its doors to the public for the first time, without requiring an invitation from an existing user.
EMarketer, an analyst group, put out revised estimates for Facebook’s revenues on Wednesday, cutting its forecast for advertising spending on the site by $250m to $3.8bn for this year. Total revenues, including its share of Credits, used to purchase digital items on the site, are expected to more than double to $4.27bn in 2011.
