Facebook's mobile redesign makes reading easier but it's kind of just really gray
Does your Facebook app look more gray? Well, it's not just cause it's a sad day on the internet.
Facebook wants people to talk and browse more on mobile—the home for the majority of the company's billions of dollars in revenue. To that end, it's pushing out a News Feed redesign that really just makes it all flatter and more gray, the company announced Tuesday.
The biggest change is in the comments, where each reply is in its own bubble, kind of like Apple's iMessage. When users react to a post, the reactions (like the "love" reaction) cling to the side of the bubble, just like on iPhones.
Replies are nested, which Facebook also introduced into Instagram Tuesday.
Everything else just got flatter and a little more gray. Facebook says in its blog post that the new look is supposed to improve readability. Link previews are now larger as are the like, comment, and share icons.
In another not-so-fun twist, profile pictures are now circular when displayed in News Feed. Twitter made that change in June, so congrats Twitter on doing something so monumental first.
What's somewhat annoying about the new post format is all news articles shared now kind of look like Instant Articles. Those are the fast-downloading ones, where news outlets give up their data and potential ad revenue so that Facebook users get a faster experience. If all the posts look the same, users may get even more frustrated by slow-loading publishers that don't use Instant Articles. Good for Facebook. Perhaps not so good for publishers.
Finally, Facebook introduced a new navigation for reading posts. When users click into a post, they can still see whose posts they are commenting on, reacting to, or just reading while they're in the post. There's also a new back button.
The redesign is slowly rolling out to all 2 billion of Facebook's monthly active users over the coming weeks. So if it's not there yet, embrace your square profile picture before it disappears forever.
Topics Facebook Social Media
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
