MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook announced Thursday a substantial redesign of its News Feed, the front page that users see when they access the service.
Mark Zuckerberg described the new News Feed as a “personalized newspaper" that is more visual and allows users to choose the topics they’re most interested in. The images and links to articles are bigger, making it easier to see on mobile screens.
“This design reflects the evolving face of News Feed," Zuckerberg said at a news conference at the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
The redesign does not change anything about the filtering algorithm that Facebook uses to select what shows up on a user’s News Feed.
But users will now be able to drill down into topic-specific news feeds — one for music, another for photos, another for the publications, celebrities or brands they follow. That choice is aimed at addressing a concern raised by advertisers and content publishers such as news sites: Under the old system, it was difficult for their followers to see everything the companies had posted.
Facebook executives did not directly respond to whether this would mean more advertisements in the News Feed, but the redesign stands to benefit advertisers because the space for ads is bigger.
Facebook said it would begin rolling out the changes to the Web version immediately, with mobile apps to follow.
