Facebook test merges news feed and Stories, so you swipe not scroll
That would definitely be a change.
- She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville's communication department.
Facebook's interface may look different soon.
It took awhile for Facebook users to warm up to Stories, but the social network seems to be ready to take them to a new level, testing a combination of its news feed and Stories features.
Researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who is well known for reverse-engineering social media apps, spotted the test and tweeted about it Monday. Aside from the hybrid feed itself, the most dramatic change would be swiping left and right, instead of scrolling up and down.
Facebook wasn't immediately available for comment.
Facebook is testing to turn News Feed into Story Feed pic.twitter.com/83H7VWcgmD
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 15, 2019
"This integrates Posts and Stories into one, allowing users to consume both within the same reel of content," Wong tweeted.
Judging from the animated gif that Wong posted, it looks like the content itself would remain essentially the same: a few posts from friends, sponsored content and then a Story.
Here's an example of how Stories are shown together with regular Posts
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 15, 2019
The left side is a regular photo post of my friend changing profile picture. The right side is my friend's Story. And both of these are shown within the same UI pic.twitter.com/Fi2Mfqg2rX
Wong noted that, for now, the timer in the interface won't pause if you're reading a long post, so you'd have to finish your friend's lengthy Facebook rant in about six seconds.
The timer in this UI won't pause while reading a long post, so I have to finish it within six seconds
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 15, 2019
Hope this is a bug not a feature :P
The way Facebook currently is laid out on its mobile app, Stories live between your status update box and your news feed.