The winds of technological change are upon us again, as Facebook have rolled out a new update to their interface.
The social media networking platform for you, your friends and your aunt’s dog is getting a revamp that will make your news feed look very different.
The folk at Facebook are testing new text bubbles – that look suspiciously like the Facebook Messenger format – on the comment sections of all your posts.
As the company push their messaging platform on its users, they are planning to get rid of the rectangular boxes we’ve all become accustomed to and replaced them with text bubbles instead.
Supposedly, the change is to encourage more engagement and make each comment appear like the jumping off point of an entirely new conversation, splattered with Trash Doves and Shia LaBeouf memes.
Some users have shared screengrabs of the new format on Twitter:
A Facebook rep explained the change, saying:
We are always working to make Facebook a more visual and engaging place to have conversations.
So we’re testing multiple design updates in News Feed, including a more conversational way to comment on posts.
Hardened traditionalists will surely complain about the update, likely quoting ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ in the comments section of Facebook without a hint of irony.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will mourn our square comment boxes, along with the Apple headphone jack and iPhone home screen button for about two minutes and immediately forget about the whole short-lived outrage when a new meme comes along to distract our attention.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.