Facebook is testing a new homepage design that keeps advertisements and menu navigation visible when you scroll up or down the page, a departure from all previous incarnations of Facebook’s homepage and borrows design elements found on Twitter and Gawker Media blogs. This facebook feature allows ads, app bookmarks and the top navigation bar to remain visible no matter how many news feed stories a user scrolls through. Facebook’s redign isn’t only beneficial to advertisers, since bookmarked apps are highlighted in the new design, developers could see higher retention rates and an increased number of users in their applications……….
Facebook is reportedly testing a new homepage design that allows the news feed to be scrolled independently of the rest of the page and once you scroll down past about six News Feed stories, you cannot see ads, bookmarks, nor the navigation bar. The Facebook homepage hasn’t seen a major redesign in 16 months, which is very long given how quickly and often the company tends to change it. This proposed change to the News Feed would not change much visually but would be more so aimed at the site’s functionality. The new design could theoretically increase click through rates for advertisers, improve user retention for applications, and save you the hassle of scrolling back to the top of the page, according to Inside Facebook. In addition to improved navigation, an independently scrollable News Feed could have an impact on Facebook’s revenue. Since ads would receive much more time in front of users per impression, this could increase click-through rates, boosting the value of Facebook ads in general and possibly raising average bid prices. Developers would also benefit, as their bookmarks in the left sidebar would be visible to users for longer, encouraging more visits to games and apps.
Facebook doesn’t just want you to look at its ads, it wants you to talk to them. According to AdAge, the social network is launching a new ad unit called “Comments,” the brainchild of ad agency Leo Burnett. The unit will use comments from users to appear as sponsored stories. Brands will be able to ask questions on their Facebook pages and the questions will appear as a display ad on the right side of the screen. Once a user comments, the resulting discussion will appear on that user’s news feed so that friends can jump in. “Unlike in other advertising, we’re not telling people how to think about the brand,” Leo Burnett’s chief innovation officer, Mark Renshaw told AdAge. “We’re just asking them to participate in the conversation.” The new ad feature will be offered to premium accounts only and other types of ad units include Like, Poll, Event, Video Comment, Application, to name a few.
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