WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: Features of the New Facebook Update and How to Get It – July 2020--If you’re like some people and have recently been on Facebook you may have received the following notification:

new facebook update notification

Facebook has recently made a big announcement about the launching of the “New Facebook,” or FB5. Back at the F8 2019 conference, executives announced their plan to release a significant redesign of Facebook. This is Facebook’s fifth major redesign since it was founded back in 2004 and features some dramatic changes, including dark mode. But don’t freak out just yet. It’s been a while since Facebook’s last redesign, so it’s about time we see a new look. To help you out through this change, we’re going to explain how you can switch to this update and Facebook’s reasoning for this specific design. 

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: Features of the New Design

This “New Facebook” is considered the most dramatic of all their redesigns, which means there are many new features. Here’s what’s new:

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: Dark Mode

Jumping on the latest trend, Facebook is set to introduce a much-anticipated dark mode feature which has gained popularity amongst various applications like Google Chrome, Twitter, and Whatsapp. This new feature will bring a dark color scheme to the desktop and iPhone versions of Facebook, providing users with the option to reduce eye strain and enhance their overall browsing experience in low-light conditions. Stay tuned for more updates!

facebook dark mode preview

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: White Design

While Facebook has always had a white design, FB5 will undergo a significant transformation to a more contemporary and visually appealing aesthetic. The upcoming update will introduce a cleaner and brighter look that aims to enhance the overall user experience. During the F8 2019 conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided a sneak peek into the white design facelift, giving users a glimpse of the exciting changes that lie ahead. Get ready to embrace a refreshed and modernized Facebook interface!

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: Faster Load Times 

One the primary objectives of FB5 was to optimize the speed of Facebook, ensuring a seamless user experience. To achieve this, the highly dedicated team at Facebook developed a groundbreaking feature known as the “Instant Experience.” This innovative feature is designed to significantly reduce load times, allowing users to access and navigate Facebook effortlessly. The Instant Experience is thoughtfully crafted to enhance user engagement and satisfaction, and it will be accessible across both mobile and desktop versions of Facebook. With this exciting update, Facebook is taking yet another leap towards delivering unparalleled performance and usability to its global community of users.

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: News Feed

With FB5, Facebook is making some significant changes to its News Feed algorithm. This update will place more emphasis on original and quality news content, as more and more people are relying on Facebook as their leading news source. When Facebook asked users what kind of news they want to start seeing in their feed, they said they want “news stories that are credible and informative.” 

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: Facebook Groups

When Facebook Groups was launched back in 2010, its primary purpose was to help users socialize around specific topics and communities. With FB5, Facebook wants to make Groups more prioritized and surfaced to users, as well as make it easier to find group’s users may be interested in.

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: How the News Feed Algorithm Update Will Work

Out of all the new features introduced, the algorithm update is regarded as the most significant change. As we mentioned earlier, this update places significant emphasis on two fundamental aspects – originality and transparent authorship. By prioritizing originality, the algorithm aims to reward content that brings fresh perspectives and unique insights. Furthermore, transparent authorship ensures that credit is given where it’s due, fostering a more accountable and trustworthy online environment for creators and users alike.

This comes about due to the era of “fake news” we live in and the fact that so many people turn towards Facebook for their daily news. Here’s what Facebook has to say about how they plan to emphasize original reporting:

We will now prioritize articles in News Feed that we identify as original reporting on a developing story or topic. We do this by looking at groups of articles on a particular story topic and identifying the ones most often cited as the original source.

Source: Facebook

So, when a specific story is shared multiple times by publishers, Facebook will boost the original one to help it get more distributed on user news feeds.

This important journalism takes time and expertise, and we want to ensure that it’s prioritized on Facebook.

Source: Facebook

As of right now, it’s relatively difficult to see how effective this algorithm update will be. However, it’s clear that Facebook is trying it’s hardest to start boosting more original reporting and reward those outlets and people who put the time, effort, and money into their hard work.

When it comes to transparent authorship, Facebook has stated they are going to start downgrading news content from publishers that do not share transparent information about their reporters and editorial staff. It has been understood that news sources that don’t publish information about their team tend to lack significant credibility. For more information about how this News Feed update will work for news publishers, Facebook published a 14-page guide that includes notes and insights that you can find here.

WordPress Website Help in Kansas City: How to Get the New Facebook

Ready to make to switch to the New Facebook? If you don’t already see a notification on your Facebook page asking if you want to update, here’s how you can update yourself.

Desktop Version

  • Go to Settings
  • Select the “Switch to New Facebook” option toward the bottom of the drop-down menu

Mobile Version

  • Make sure you are on the latest version of Facebook’s mobile app

If you aren’t a fan of the New Facebook and want to switch back to the classic version on your desktop, simply reverse your steps and disable it. You may also see this notification:

switch to facebook classic notification

We are excited and anxious to see how these changes to Facebook will impact the future of local and global news, as well as what kind of content we will start to see more of. It’s hard to know right now, but there is no doubt that news publishers will have to make some major readjustments to how they operate and promote their stories online to follow these new Facebook guidelines.

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