Facebook Testing Revamped Notes Feature to Rival Blogging Websites

After concentrating on its Live Streaming, video tools and Instant Stories features, Facebook is now keen to attract bloggers on its social website. The company has revealed it is testing a new Notes feature, one that is seen to resemble popular blogging platform Medium with its clean UI that's ideal for longer-form stories.

The new Notes feature that's under testing includes large cover photos, wider pages, user tagging, and a clear headline. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the test to the The Next Web, and said, "We're testing an update to Notes to make it easier for people to create and read longer-form stories on Facebook." The spokesperson added that users would be able to share their Notes with select audiences on Facebook, as they can currently do with their statuses. Facebook has not yet started rolling out the new Notes design to everyone yet, and it is still in testing phases with select user groups. While most users across the world will not be able to create the new form of Notes, users can check out how it looks with an already live redesign.

By bringing a new blog-like interface to its Notes feature, Facebook can be said to be hoping more users to write blog posts or long notes on the social network, simultaneously catering to the platform's large audience and also offering the incentive for fast loading on its mobile apps.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg in the company's latest earnings call also announced that the website's Events section is now 450 million users strong. The firm is planning to add more features in the Events section in the coming weeks, making it an all-in-one events list for users. The firm is also testing LinkedIn-like profile tagging feature.

The firm last week said it was expanding its advertisement formats for apps under the Audience Network programme that would help developers monetise their apps.