Over the month of September, Facebook will transition all of its’ users over to the new Facebook, and the classic Facebook will no longer be available. That being said, we are here to help you on how to navigate through the new Facebook and update you on the new features it has to offer!
The new Facebook is an interface update with a modern look and easier navigation. It is meant to place more emphasis on Groups and Events, as these are the two biggest reasons people visit Facebook everyday.
New Facebook Features:
More minimalistic and contains more white space.
The new Facebook has a more modern and minimalistic look meant for easier user navigation.
Top of your Facebook home page will no longer have the blue banner.
Instead of the blue banner which sat at the top of your page on the classic Facebook, the new Facebook will have a banner at the top of your page which consists of three sections.
- Left Section: The left part of the top banner will consist of the Facebook icon and the search bar. Anytime the Facebook icon in the upper left corner is clicked, it will take you to your news feed.
- Middle icon bar: The middle part of the banner will consist of an icon bar which includes Home, Pages, Watch, and The Marketplace icons.
- Right Section: Lastly, the right section of the top banner will consist of shortcuts to commonly used Facebook features. These include:
- Create Icon- When clicked on, gives you the option to create either a new Post, Story, Life Event, Page, Ad, Group, Event, Marketplace Listing, or Fundraiser.
- Messenger Icon
- Notifications Icon
- Dropdown Arrow Icon- When clicked on, gives you account setting options.
New Group news feed and new Group recommending tool.
As mentioned before, one of Facebook’s focus for the new interface was to place more emphasis on Groups. That being said, Facebook has created a whole separate news feed just for Groups. You can access it by clicking on the Group icon found on the middle icon bar at the top of your page. Once clicked on, you will be able to see a whole news feed of activity occurring within all Groups you are apart of as well as Groups suggested for you.
In your Groups section, you will also see a “Discover” tab. When this is clicked on, you will be able to discover different groups by those popular near you, suggested for you, and other categories.
New hashtags.
Another feature part of the motive behind the new Facebook, is hashtags. Facebook has placed more emphasis on hashtags, so that when a certain hashtag in a post is clicked on, a whole news feed of that hashtag will appear. You can also use the search bar in the upper left hand corner to search for hashtag news feeds.
Message windows on new Facebook.
The new Facebook also brings a clean, easier way to use Facebook messages. To start a new message on the new interface, you just click on the chat icon in the lower right corner of your screen. And, when you minimize a chat with a friend, the chat will go to a thumbnail on the right which displays as a circle with your friend’s profile picture on it.
Dark Mode available.
With the new interface, there is also a “Dark Mode” available. This mode can be easier on the eyes as it allows for lower brightness, alongside contrast and vibrancy. To enable dark mode, click the drop down arrow at the top right of your screen, you will then see an option to turn dark mode on.
Save your spot in the News Feed.
Say you are scrolling through your news feed, and find something which sparks your interest and want to click on it. With the new Facebook you can do so without having to worry about losing your place in the news feed. Should you decide to click on something from your news feed, you can always go back to the place you were at when scrolling through your feed by clicking the Facebook icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
Pages and Groups.
With the new Facebook, comes a bit of a different layout for your Pages and Groups. Not only will you see account options for your Group or Page in the left hand corner the home page, but also underneath the Group or Page name.
New Facebook Post.
There is a new look when creating a post on the new Facebook. When you click in “What’s on your mind”, the post box displays an option to choose your audience at the top, and then the bottom bar allows you to choose between various backgrounds for your post. Classic options for inserting photos, gifs, tagging people and places, or emotions are still available.
A Bit of a Warning: Bugs with new Facebook.
The new interface also brings some bugs which Facebook is still trying to maneuver around. When you click on some page tabs, this message pops up, “This page hasn’t been designed for the new Facebook.com yet” or you may see “This page isn’t available right now. This may be because of a technical error we’re working to get fixed. Try reloading this page.” An example of when messages like these has popped up is when trying to save a page note as a draft on the new Facebook. There have also been reports on the “create new note” button disappearing from some pages.
In conclusion, the new Facebook is meant to be simpler and easier to use. We hope this information helps in familiarizing yourself with the new platform!
Sources:
“The new Facebook 2020. How it looks and works?” Serwer, https://serwer.io/en/blog/new-facebook-2020/.