Finally, Facebook will get a much needed face-lift. The message page will be getting a dual-pane layout.
Facebook announced the update to Facebook messages on Wednesday. In the new feature, the left side has the recent message list and you can see the whole set of previous conversations to the right, unlike in its current version where users have to open a separate tab to view the conversations. The company said that conversations can be brought to life with the help of "multiple photos and emoticons."
For now the change will be only for a small set of users and will eventually expand to worldwide users. Apart from the visual upgrades that the networking giant introduced, it has also tweaked its search and navigation process in hopes of making it easier.
Messages can be searched using a message keyword or using sender's name. According to PC World, Facebook has added "several keyboard shortcuts," allowing users to "compose, reply, and navigate through their messages."
Facebook drew negative criticism when they changed "user's default email address to @facebook.com address". The company said it was due to a bug in the API causing "email syncing glitch." The company has set out to expand its tagging feature to third-party "open graph" apps.
"Starting today, we're rolling out improved features and a new look for messages," Adam Wolff stated in a Facebook engineering post. "Behind the scenes, we've also been improving the reliability of messages across the site. To address issues with disconnection, incorrect message counts, and missed and duplicated messages, we recently undertook an effort we called the 'mercury project.'"
Any change from Facebook will be a good sign as rival Google+ has been gaining more in popularity.
