Last week, Facebook launched its new camera-focused update that brought along "Facebook Stories" into the main iOS application. Like Snapchat and Instagram Stories before it, Facebook Stories let users post a picture or video onto their feed, which disappears 24 hours later.
Facebook Stories at launch
Unfortunately, adoption of Facebook Stories appears to have been fairly low and users have begun to notice that the social network company is making a slight UI tweak to the feature in an attempt to boost usage (via The Verge).
When it launched, Stories showed a circle with "Your Story," a Facebook bubble that explained how to use the new feature, and then listed your friends' Stories, if there were any to show. If there were none, the top of the Facebook app contained a lot of white space (as seen in the image above).
Facebook Stories now, via @Kantrowitz
Now, the company has begun to fill out this white space in the event that none of your friends are posting to Facebook Stories with ghost-like, grayed-out profile pictures. When tapped on, the bubbles simply remark that "[Blank] hasn't added to their Story recently." Adding to your own Story remains the same, with a tap on your own profile bubble.
Although the update could be a simple UI clean-up to address the white space issue when not many Stories were up on the app, users online are looking at it as Facebook's attempt to draw their eyes to the new section of the app with pictures of their friends, convincing more people to post a Story of their own. On Instagram Stories, friends' Stories are grayed out only after you've tapped through their most recent posts. If no one has posted anything, the space remains empty.
Since Instagram Stories and Facebook's energetic push into video content, Facebook and Snapchat have remained rivals in the mobile app space. On April Fools' Day this past weekend, Snapchat finally responded to Facebook's recent glut of "Stories" updates with a copy of its own that allowed users to snap a picture using a filter that looked just like a post on Instagram.
Unfortunately, adoption of Facebook Stories appears to have been fairly low and users have begun to notice that the social network company is making a slight UI tweak to the feature in an attempt to boost usage (via The Verge).
When it launched, Stories showed a circle with "Your Story," a Facebook bubble that explained how to use the new feature, and then listed your friends' Stories, if there were any to show. If there were none, the top of the Facebook app contained a lot of white space (as seen in the image above).
Now, the company has begun to fill out this white space in the event that none of your friends are posting to Facebook Stories with ghost-like, grayed-out profile pictures. When tapped on, the bubbles simply remark that "[Blank] hasn't added to their Story recently." Adding to your own Story remains the same, with a tap on your own profile bubble.
Although the update could be a simple UI clean-up to address the white space issue when not many Stories were up on the app, users online are looking at it as Facebook's attempt to draw their eyes to the new section of the app with pictures of their friends, convincing more people to post a Story of their own. On Instagram Stories, friends' Stories are grayed out only after you've tapped through their most recent posts. If no one has posted anything, the space remains empty.
Since Instagram Stories and Facebook's energetic push into video content, Facebook and Snapchat have remained rivals in the mobile app space. On April Fools' Day this past weekend, Snapchat finally responded to Facebook's recent glut of "Stories" updates with a copy of its own that allowed users to snap a picture using a filter that looked just like a post on Instagram.
Tag: Facebook
40 comments
Last month, software engineer Naveed Golafshani created an unofficial Apple Music web player that allowed users to sign into their Apple Music accounts and listen to music on a laptop or desktop...
Apple has shared a new feature on its Newsroom that highlights its workforce's charitable and volunteer efforts.
Apple says that its internal Giving program has raised more than $365...
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, a federal holiday commemorating the American civil rights movement leader.
Apple today has honored the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,...
Over the weekend, serial mobile leaker Evan Blass shared a leaked image of Samsung's forthcoming Galaxy S10 lineup, confirming earlier rumors that it will initially consist of three models to...
Apple Maps today gained comprehensive transit directions for Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, in the largest single combined update to its European coverage thus far.
The coverage...
Apple has shared a new "Shot on iPhone" video on its YouTube channel that presents a portrait of Eddie Siaumau, a 17-year-old athlete from American Samoa who has just accepted a full-ride...
Four months after Apple stopped selling the iPhone SE, the beloved device has made a sudden return to Apple's online store.
Apple is offering the iPhone SE with 32GB of storage for...
Apple today uploaded a new series of iPad Pro videos to its YouTube channel, showing off the different features and capabilities of the new devices.
There are five videos, focusing on taking...
