Facebook gives users option to hide Ticker

Some Facebook users are seeing a new option to hide Ticker, the real-time activity feed in the right sidebar of the homepage.

Although the feature can be distracting, it is a key component of the new Open Graph ecosystem that lets apps continuously publish lightweight stories to Ticker and larger aggregate stories to News Feed and Timeline. Facebook may have found that users are rarely clicking on Ticker stories, but by seeing if users hide the module completely, the company can determine what improvements might be necessary.

Currently Ticker includes many of the same stories that end up in News Feed, giving the feature little value (see image below). The social network found that the ticker on canvas app pages was not driving significant traffic to games or apps so it has removed it for now.

Ideally when more users are using Open Graph apps, Ticker will be filled with actions like “watch,” “run,” or “cook.” The module will show what your friends are doing and News Feed will be for posts they actively share or aggregate stories like “10 of your friends posted about the Super Bowl.” The social network might also consider a layout change to make the page feel less cluttered. News Feed could ultimately appear more like Timeline, with two columns of content and different boxes for different types of activity. Either way, Facebook will need to find a solution to provide the discovery channels apps and pages need to reach their audiences.

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Facebook tests ‘games only’ activity feed, might drop games ticker

Facebook is testing a games-only activity feed that groups all friends’ game stories in one place. The social network is also considering scrapping the games-only ticker that appears along side canvas apps.

As detailed on the developer blog, the new games-only activity feed is actually a sub-menu option under the apps and games dashboard called “Friend Activity.” When selected, the view condenses all friends’ game stories into one feed organized by most recent stories first. This effectively creates a one-stop destination for games on Facebook — which is something the social network has tried to avoid in the past even as Google+’s rival games platform embraces it.

Meanwhile, Facebook is deciding whether or not to keep the games activity ticker. The blog reports that the feature hasn’t been a significant driver of traffic and that Facebook is looking into other options “improve and simplify” the games experience. Games bookmarks are here to stay for the time being, however, as Facebook reports they do drive significant traffic and re-engagement. Both features have been updated several times since launching over the summer.

Other discovery features announced include the News Feed and Timeline units we’ve seen this month, both of which play into the theme of social discovery. The current unit that appears for games in News Feed not only shows recent game activity for friends, but also identifies games by genre. The “recent games activity” section in Timeline currently only displays game achievements, but the new unit (pictured, right) adds high scores and a bookmarks section for most-played games. It’ll be interesting to see if the unit can also display friends’ comments or Likes on individual game stories.

Lastly, Facebook reminds developers that app profile pages will be discontinued on Feb. 1, which means all Likes and vanity URLs need to be migrated to an existing Facebook page before the change goes into effect.

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Facebook tests ‘games only’ activity feed, might drop games ticker

Facebook is testing a games-only activity feed that groups all friends’ game stories in one place. The social network is also considering scrapping the games-only ticker that appears along side canvas apps.

As detailed on the developer blog, the new games-only activity feed is actually a sub-menu option under the apps and games dashboard called “Friend Activity.” When selected, the view condenses all friends’ game stories into one feed organized by most recent stories first. This effectively creates a one-stop destination for games on Facebook — which is something the social network has tried to avoid in the past even as Google+’s rival games platform embraces it.

Meanwhile, Facebook is deciding whether or not to keep the games activity ticker. The blog reports that the feature hasn’t been a significant driver of traffic and that Facebook is looking into other options “improve and simplify” the games experience. Games bookmarks are here to stay for the time being, however, as Facebook reports they do drive significant traffic and re-engagement. Both features have been updated several times since launching over the summer.

Read the rest on our sister site, Inside Social Games.

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Clicks of the Facebook Games Ticker Now Reveal Popovers That Could Hurt Growth

Facebook’s status popover box has been added to the games live ticker app for what could be additional virality — or additional clicks between player and game.

The popover feature was part of the news feed’s Ticker added to Facebook during the f8 conference. When mousing over the stories in the Ticker, a popup window appears next to the story — from which the user can view the story in greater detail, and Like or comment on the activity. The idea here is to show users abbreviated stories about a large volume of content, and allow them to mouse over to view the full story and leave feedback without losing their place on the site.

Until today, we hadn’t seen the popover feature added to the Games Ticker, which was introduced back in August with updates to Canvas Page and new APIs. The idea behind the Games Ticker is to encourage social discovery of new games and reduce the friction of joining a new game. Before the popover, players would see stories in the Games Ticker on a game’s Canvas Page and if they clicked, they’d immediately be taken directly to that game.

With the popover in place, a new layer of viral sharing occurs around social games where players can comment on each other’s games stories without leaving their active game. This is because Likes and comments can get a game activity story promoted to appear on the home page’s news feed.

However, the popovers may lead to fewer installs for social games in the long run because players get a second chance to reconsider before being brought to a new game. Additionally, players may feel as though they “participated” in the story by the act of commenting or Liking without ever having to click the story that would take them to the game. To that point, those who do click through will probably be more likely to become engaged players.

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Facebook Combines Most Recent and Top News Into a Single Feed, Adds a Real-Time News Ticker

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Facebook Tries Replacing “Most Recent” with a “Ticker” Real-Time Feed Atop the Chat Sidebar

For the past few months, Facebook has been testing several home page redesigns that add a second, real-time news feed to the right of the central Top News feed. In the latest tested design, Facebook has removed the Most Recent tab of the news feed and replaced it with a real-time activity feed that is displayed at the top of the Chat sidebar.

This design may feel more familiar to users since it leaves birthdays, upcoming events, and ads in their traditional place to the left. However, the design reduces above-the-fold real estate for the buddy list such that might have to do more scrolling to find friends to Chat with. It also makes ads less prominent and thus less valuable than a previous real-time feed design that kept ads visible no matter where on the home page a user scrolled.

Facebook has long been rumored to be searching for a design of the home page that would do away with the two tab news feed, as some users never click away from the default Top News feed to view the Most Recent real-time feed. By showing both feeds at the same time the site could make sure the home page always displays both highly compelling older stories as well as fresh content, drawing more time-on-site from both those just quickly checking Facebook and those who’ve already read all their Top News.

In June we spotted the first of the new two-feed designs called “Happening Now”, which replaced the right side of the home page’s upcoming events and birthdays with a feed of text-only real-time activity stories about the actions of friends, such as “Eric Eldon posted a link”. These entries could be clicked to reveal an overlay displaying the full, rich media news feed story. Some users complained about losing easy access to birthdays, upcoming events, and the rich media Most Recent feed that helped them find posts related to the social games they played.

Later that month, we saw another design that kept the left navigation sidebar and the right live-feed sidebar fixed but let users scroll their central news feed, which itself first showed Top News stories and then further down showed Most Recent stories. Similar the the previous design, this could help Pages get more impressions for their news feed posts, but would also give more exposure to ads and let users access the top and left navigation bars at any time. However, users might have been jarred by only being able to scroll the central feed.

Facebook has confirmed the tests multiple times over the last couple months, saying “We are currently testing a feature within News Feed that gives people the ability to see what their friends are commenting on and ‘liking,’ as these actions are being taken on Facebook. This test includes a small percentage of Facebook users, just a fraction of a percent. In the coming weeks, as we learn more from this test, we’ll keep making improvements and may expand it to more people.”

Now, Facebook has combined elements of the previous design with the Chat sidebar it launched last month, which dynamically morphs Chat from an unfoldable button to a ever-present sidebar to the right of birthdays, Events, and ads when a user’s screen has enough space. This “Ticker” feed design also mimics the new “Games Ticker” which appears while users are playing games and displays stories about game usage by friends.

A screenshot from user Robert Dickbert shows the real-time feed taking up the top half of the Chat sidebar, leaving less room for the online statuses of friends and in some cases forcing users to scroll down the sidebar to see their whole buddy list. In the tests, users didn’t have a Most Recent feed, only a “Highlights” or “Stories From The Last 5 Day” feed similar to Top News. This would make it difficult to quickly consume a large volume of rich media real-time updates.

I believe a version of the home page that offered the Ticker and Top News but also provided the Most Recent feed would be optimal — basically how it is now, plus the Ticker. It would preserve all the old functionality and make a real-time activity feed visible to all users as the currently tested design does, but also let power users read the Most Recent feed’s full, rich-media versions of news feed stories without having to expand each from the sidebar individually. This design wouldn’t reduce the clutter of the home page, but a two-tab central feed with a real-time second feed could give gamers, casual users, and power users what they want.

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