TechViews
New look of Facebook
In an attempt to hold on to its popularity, Facebook, the fastest growing Online Social Networking site, has recently introduced a complete 'new look'. Whether the new look is here to stay or not still remains to be answered, but let's have a sneak peek into what the new look is all about and its share of pros and cons. Facebook has been developing its new design for the past 6 months and as a part of this process has received feedback from more than 100,000 of its users. One of the principal changes in the new Facebook is an expanded 'Wall' section, which will incorporate feed information about friends' activities as well as the ability to leave comments. In addition to that, a Publisher feature allows users to add photos, upload videos, or write notes from a single place. Other information, such as applications or photos have been organised into tabs. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "We've made the changes rolling out in order to highlight the most recent and relevant information that users value, give users even more control and ownership over their profiles and simplify the user experience. Facebook's new design makes it a lot easier for users to share information." The development comes as Facebook and rival MySpace vie to become the central hub of online communications and social networking. With the new updates, you won't be able to see a member's entire profile on one screen. Personal information about someone will be included on one "tab" of a profile, whereas the "wall"- public messages, developer-created applications, News Feed updates, and other activity-related information - will be on a separate tab. A third tab will link to the photos that the member has uploaded. Facebook has also said that members will be able to create separate tabs for their favourite applications. Part of this is because of technical issues, Facebook has said, telling members that the changes will make the interface cleaner. "As more and more information is available on Facebook - more photo albums, more applications, and more history -we've realized that Profiles have become cluttered and slow as a result," a release from the site read. "We're trying to make profiles more simple and relevant, while still giving you control over your profile and how you express yourself." In the 'all-new' Facebook, users will now have more control over their "Walls", the sections of their profiles where friends can leave comments and videos. Downloaded applications, such as Text Twirl, will be listed under their own tab, and information that does not change frequently has been relegated to a less visible section of the site. Most importantly, however, the manifold updates that a user receives about what their friends are up to known as "feeds" will be brought together in a single place, making the site cleaner but also more appealing to advertisers. I personally found the new look of the Facebook 'Home' much less appealing than what it used to be. It seems to be a badly organised notice board with too many notices on it! It might be true that I too might become used to the new 'looks' in the long run, but if the first impression fails to be impressive, I really don't think it will be able to impress later. Facebook, which has 80 million regular users, is hoping that the new features will reassure users who have become concerned about the amount of clutter on the site, particularly as they store more personal information on their profiles.
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