Facebook is testing a new News Feed that puts your timeline on a carousel

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Feeling the squeeze of 20-percent of its stock price being wiped out recently, Facebook is reportedly testing a terrible hybrid of News Feed and Stories.

The new feature lets users swipe horizontally through a mix of Stories and News Feed content. It’ll also include sponsored ads, just like your News Feed already does. Yep, you just can’t escape the advertising machine of Facebook. With users not scrolling through their feeds anymore due to the number of spammy ads, it’s clear to me that Facebook needs another place to put revenue-earners.

Making a hybrid feed like this keeps the ad bucks rolling in, while also shaking things up which might rekindle users’ attention spans.

The likely reasoning behind this is the huge popularity of the Snapchat-like Stories feature, which is taking the social media world by storm

Facebook predicts that Stories sharing will surpass feed sharing sometime this year, based on data from the 300 million daily Stories users on Facebook and Messenger, 500 million on Instagram, and another 450 million on WhatsApp Status.

First spotted by eagle-eyed app-delver, Jane Manchun Wong, the feature that seems to be in testing right now inside the Android version of Facebook’s main app. Tapping on any News Feed post’s header makes the post go full-screen, which then lets the user swipe left through their feed instead of having to scroll. Maybe Facebook could add a “swipe right” action to “Like” the posts?

That carousel consists of News Feed posts, News Feed ads, vertically-orientated Stories, and also Stories ads

Tapping while in the carousel lets you Like, react to, or comment on posts without leaving the interface. I have a few concerns here. Facebook has a fake news problem. Mixing in Stories to the News Feed containing potentially fake posts will likely make it harder for users to decide if what they’re seeing is genuine or not. I also can’t see any way to report posts while in the carousel view, something that Facebook will have to add in if the feature does go public.

I can see this change working if implemented, Stories have taken over every social media app in recent years. Turning the News Feed into a carousel will help Facebook retain younger users, which have been gravitating to Instagram and other apps. All it needs for success is for advertisers to get used to the new format.

What do you think? Do you like how this feature looks or do you prefer the old way? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.