newsfeed

Facebook recently announced more details about their upcoming profile changes, which include some massive overhaul to the visual interface as well as some significant changes to infrastructure for app developers.

Teresa wrote earlier about what these changes might mean for developers. Now that we have some more detailed information, I think it’s worth looking at the newsfeed in particular.

When the newsfeed first launched, it was a great channel for spreading viral information. However, very few people grant their applications access to the feed anymore.

I was at the Seattle Facebook Developer’s Garage this past Monday, and when one of the speakers asked how many people let apps put stories in their feed, only about 10 or 15 people in 200 raised their hand.

The redesign introduces some new rules for developers around the feed, and it might be an opportunity to reopen some viral channels that have been disappearing.

When you break down the description on the developers wiki, the changes to the feed are as follows:

• The feed will present one line, short, or “full” stories to the user
• Full stories will have access to a robust set of FBML tags, like wall posts
• Applications can publish one-line stories to mini-feeds without needing user approval
• Users can toggle between each form of story in their feeds

What this means for virality is, I think, subtle but important: Facebook is stressing the importance of being engaging as opposed to just “showing up.”

What mattered most when the newsfeed first started popping up is that you were in it, because then there’s a chance that you might get noticed.

Now what you’re after is interaction within the feed, because that’s where Facebook wants to move a lot of user activity. What’s good is that making app developers focus on this is that it’s going to make for a better user experience, too.

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