Facebook unveils changes to news feed: What does it all mean?

“How we are sharing is changing,” Zuckerberg told an audience of reporters at the company’s Menlo Park, Calif. Headquarters. “The design of news feed needs to evolve.”

The grand unveiling, which we had predicted would put at least some emphasis on brands’ use of Facebook, focused mainly the individual user’s experience. Here’s how the changes will affect your Facebook experience, and how it might affect your business or brand’s presence on the social network.

Stories through images

As is evident by the popularity of social sites such as Pinterest and Instagram, images are all the rage. Facebook’s new design takes this into consideration—in a big way.

“News feed has become primarily about content,” Zuckerberg said during the event. “Nearly 50 percent is visual content.”

Julie Zhou, director of design at Facebook, elaborated saying, “Outside of news feed, the rest of the content is just clutter [to users].”

Here’s how this will play out: Facebook users can expect much larger, richer images in the news feed. This includes profile pictures of people in their timeline (which will include a cover photo image) and the ability to add the person as a friend directly from the news feed.