Facebook Testing New Feature in News Feed to Encourage More Conversations

Advertisement
By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 6 September 2016 13:50 IST
Highlights
  • The feature is showing up for select users currently
  • It collates updates from friends and family
  • There is no word on commercial rollout of the feature

After testing the new auto-play video with sound feature on Facebook, the company has now been spotted testing another feature in the News Feed. Apparently, this new feature collates all the big updates from your friends and family, and shows them in a separate box in the News Feed. The feature is called "What friends are talking about" and it relays all the missed updates from your friends and family since your last login.

This feature was spotted by a few users in the Android app, and no official confirmation has been given by Facebook about this feature. Mashable reports that the feature shows up a little bit down from the top of the News Feed, and it essentially collates all updates from friends.

Advertisement

The "What friends are talking about" feature shows up in a small dialogue box the size of your image post. It shows posts from your friends, and highlights the comments it has received. This feature looks to encourage conversations among users, and show missed updates back on top of the News Feed.

This feature is still in test mode, and there is no details on when (and if) it will launch commercially. Facebook is known for killing features in test mode, and this could be one of them as well. Facebook recently killed a Snapchat-like Quick Update feature in test mode itself, and decided to never launch it commercially. This new "What friends are talking about" feature seems to be heavily inspired by Twitter's "While you were away" feature that pretty much does the same thing.

 

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Itel Zeno 200 With 5,000mAh Battery Arrives in India at This Price
  2. Google Launches Fitbit Air as a Competitor to Whoop
  3. iPhone 17 and These Devices to Get Price Cuts During Flipkart's Sale
  4. Anthropic Releases Claude Add-Ins for Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word
  5. Here's When Sony's Next Xperia 2 Series Phone Will Launch
  6. Lumio Vision 9 (2026) Review
  1. Bumble to Kill Swipe, Replace It With Something ‘Revolutionary’: Report
  2. Sony Xperia 1 VIII Launch Date Seemingly Confirmed as Sony Teases Launch of New Xperia 1 Series Phone
  3. CMF Watch 3 Pro With Dual-Band GPS, Up to 13 Days Battery Life Goes on Sale in India: Price, Specifications
  4. Samsung Refreshes Mini LED TV Lineup in India With NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor, 144Hz Screens: Price, Features
  5. Netflix Is Reportedly Testing an AI-Powered Voice Search Feature
  6. Itel Zeno 200 Launched in India With 5,000mAh Battery, 13-Megapixel Rear Camera: Price, Specifications
  7. Nintendo Switch 2 Gets Price Hike in US, Canada, Europe and Japan; Nintendo Blames 'Changes in Market Conditions'
  8. Flipkart Sale: Deals on iPhone 17, Apple Watch SE 3, Redmi Pad 2 Pro and More Devices Revealed
  9. Sony Forecasts Lower Gaming Business Sales Amid Memory Price Surge
  10. WhatsApp Launches Business AI With Automated Customer Support for Small Businesses in India
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.