With Pinterest’s rising popularity, Facebook takes note. Facebook has been testing a new look to their open graph app stories so they appear similar to a Pinterest board. This change would make stories appear larger and picture dominant. App developers would benefit the most from this by being able to use larger photos.
Open Graph apps allow users to share things they are reading, watching, listening, and other custom activities on their timelines. It was introduced back in September 2011, but wasn’t widely developed until January 2012 when integrating third parties became more acceptable. Open Graph plays a crucial part in Facebook’s growing platform, where Zuckerberg says: “the platform is bigger than most people perceive.” Zuckerberg hopes that it will extend beyond the web, thinking of ways to integrate it with buying new cars. With the future in mind, he wishes to be able to log into Facebook to have the car populate with your favorite music, friend information, restaurants you like as well as frequently visited places.
So what exactly is Facebook changing and testing? Inside Facebook further explained, “Clicking on a photo takes users to the third-party app page or website. When users hover over a photo, they have the option to comment on the item, which wasn’t available in the old layout. Also on hover, users can take in-app actions without leaving Facebook if the app has created custom action links.”
It is still a mystery as to how widely they are testing this look and it will be applied to all stories from games and other apps. One thing that isn’t a mystery is where they came up with the look. Pinterest has noticed this, so they have integrated Open Graph on their platform, making the latest news feed change apply to Facebook stories from Pinterest as well.
sources: insidefacebook and social media today