After monitoring the regular usage of Apple iPad owners, Facebook has decided to update the iPad-specific app and add a sidebar on the right hand side. This sidebar is similar to what one sees when logged into Facebook from a desktop browser. It will have a contact search box, upcoming events, birthday reminders, popular games and trending news.
Engadget got an early preview of the new Facebook for iPad update where it notes that the trending news module on the sidebar showcases news articles from sources that Facebook thinks are relevant to you. It does this by picking up articles from news pages you've 'liked' on Facebook, from other sources related to these news pages, pages liked by friends, the city you live in and your favourite sports team. Engadget also notes that the module consists of four different sections and you can scroll through different articles by swiping from left to right.
The birthday reminders, upcoming events and games were already rolled out as a test earlier this year. With respect to the games module, it is split into two sections on the Facebook app for iPad. The 'My Games' section, which shows the games that you are currently playing so that it becomes easier for you to jump into them directly. On the other hand, in the second section, Facebook pushes details about games your friends are playing just to entice you into playing them.
Talking about what inspired Facebook to add a sidebar to the iPad app, Chris Struhar, the product manager for Facebook for iPad, told Engadget, "We see that people are using the iPad more in the evenings, more to consume media, more to play games. We wanted to take the essence of Facebook and build a right version for that specific interface."
All said and done, one must note that this sidebar also allows Facebook to push ads to the user, which may or may not be a deterrent to the user experience depending on your preferences.
We were eager to test this big update from Facebook to its iPad app, but at the time of writing this report we hadn't received it yet. Although, it is expected to be available from Thursday. There is no word on a similar update for Android tablets yet. What are your views about this update? Do you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.
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