Facebook’s testing a new feature wherein users can quickly catch up on each others’ activities on the platform via a new Notifications tab.
This new addition to the interface attempts to combine recent posts with Stories, which is Meta’s equivalent of smashing one’s action figures together. That metaphor works in two ways because action figures are also tools that someone else built and you decided to use for yourself. We’re just generally more accepting of kids calling plushy toys theirs since they’re kids, and adults paid for them. Pretty sure I don’t remember Meta owing even a dime or a nickel to Snapchat for Stories, despite it being a feature that both Facebook and Instagram heavily rely on. But maybe that’s just me: after all, social media features are by no means copyrighted. If Vine made shorts, that doesn’t mean TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can’t profit off of the same concept.
At any rate, Facebook wants users to be able to keep track of their friends, much like the third party advertisers and governments that keep track of the platform’s community. Okay, I promise that’s my last jab at Meta for this entire article. Instead of encountering posts in their timeline, which will still continue to occur from the looks of it, users can opt to catch up on relevant friends via clicking on their profile in the Notifications tab. Profiles will be featured in the same way as they are in the Stories tab: circular impressions of the user’s profile photo will show up, with users being able to scroll between different ones by swiping right to left or vice versa. Clicking or tapping on the picture will then reveal the user’s most recent posts.
Screenshots posted by social media researcher and journalist Matt Navarra reveal space for more than one post to be featured as well; perhaps a user’s recent posts will be displayed in order (time-wise) or by engagement and popularity. At any rate, the feature seems useful enough since it allows users to circumvent scrolling through a number of irrelevant posts in order to get to the friends, family, and loved ones that they actually care about. Perhaps that seems cold of me, but here’s the thing: if an entire generation of people would rather ghost each other over texts than respond, maybe such a feature isn’t a bad thing. Also, hey, I haven’t specified which generation. That’s up for y’all to decide.
Read next: Meta Slows Down Facebook’s Hiring Process After App Faces Slow Growth Amid Inflation Concerns
This new addition to the interface attempts to combine recent posts with Stories, which is Meta’s equivalent of smashing one’s action figures together. That metaphor works in two ways because action figures are also tools that someone else built and you decided to use for yourself. We’re just generally more accepting of kids calling plushy toys theirs since they’re kids, and adults paid for them. Pretty sure I don’t remember Meta owing even a dime or a nickel to Snapchat for Stories, despite it being a feature that both Facebook and Instagram heavily rely on. But maybe that’s just me: after all, social media features are by no means copyrighted. If Vine made shorts, that doesn’t mean TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can’t profit off of the same concept.
At any rate, Facebook wants users to be able to keep track of their friends, much like the third party advertisers and governments that keep track of the platform’s community. Okay, I promise that’s my last jab at Meta for this entire article. Instead of encountering posts in their timeline, which will still continue to occur from the looks of it, users can opt to catch up on relevant friends via clicking on their profile in the Notifications tab. Profiles will be featured in the same way as they are in the Stories tab: circular impressions of the user’s profile photo will show up, with users being able to scroll between different ones by swiping right to left or vice versa. Clicking or tapping on the picture will then reveal the user’s most recent posts.
Screenshots posted by social media researcher and journalist Matt Navarra reveal space for more than one post to be featured as well; perhaps a user’s recent posts will be displayed in order (time-wise) or by engagement and popularity. At any rate, the feature seems useful enough since it allows users to circumvent scrolling through a number of irrelevant posts in order to get to the friends, family, and loved ones that they actually care about. Perhaps that seems cold of me, but here’s the thing: if an entire generation of people would rather ghost each other over texts than respond, maybe such a feature isn’t a bad thing. Also, hey, I haven’t specified which generation. That’s up for y’all to decide.
Read next: Meta Slows Down Facebook’s Hiring Process After App Faces Slow Growth Amid Inflation Concerns
