Facebook is hoping to refocus its content efforts by subtly reimagining its dedicated Notes app, but with Medium already firmly established as the go-to content platform for those in tech, will Facebook face an uphill struggle in bringing Notes back up to speed?
“Facebook Notes has been one of the sprawling social network’s least looked after features. It has sat there for years largely unloved and useless, like Facebook’s appendix, serving no purpose yet apt to explode and spill its toxic contents everywhere.
“In fact, Notes is so unloved that it took some time to actually find it in order to test it discover if we’ve got access to these new features. However, it looks like Facebook is now testing out new features and layouts. As Dave Winer noted, the new-look Notes looks an awful lot like Medium, the popular blogging platform.
Facebook "notes" have a new Medium-like appearance. (See comments on this note.) https://t.co/e8QQwWEXeN
— Dave Winer (@davewiner) August 17, 2015
“With Facebook now spending a lot of time and money on video, the ‘Instant Stories’ platform and live streaming, it makes sense that it would put more effort into enabling individual users to publish longer contributions. Fixing Notes could do just that.”
To read the full article, visit The Next Web.
Facebook’s decision to redesign Notes may well be a direct attack at Medium
“The new design is cleaner, much like Medium’s ultra-white interface, and makes Notes look much more like blog posts rather than extended Facebook statuses. It features a cover photo and a new look for the headline and body text; notably, it doesn’t include a sidebar with ads and other suggestions as older versions of Notes do.
“A spokesperson from Facebook confirmed: “We are testing an update to Notes to make it easier for people to create and read longer-form stories on Facebook.”
“As with most of Facebook’s experiments, the changes are being tested among a small group of users who are able to access the new features from Facebook’s website. The company isn’t saying whether the feature will ever be available to a broader audience, but it could be a sign that more changes are coming to Notes, which hasn’t been significantly updated since 2010.”
To read the full article, visit Mashable.
Above all, Facebook would just like you to publish your blog posts via Facebook Notes, rather than submitting your content elsewhere
“Facebook Notes has pretty much sat dormant now for a number of years. A while ago, Notes let Facebook users post blog-like entries on their Wall (back when Walls were a thing), but that hasn’t really been necessary since Facebook started raising the character limit on statuses. Notes are still around, but you have to go a bit out of the way to make one; they also don’t stand out very much from a normal status message.
“This update to Facebook Notes should make content far more prominent.
“Facebook will be hoping hoping to get people writing longer blog posts (or just blog posts, full stop), which would be native to the site and presumably faster to load through its mobile apps. Though Medium already seems to be the platform of choice for journalists and many professionals in media and technology, Facebook has a huge built-in audience who may be eager for a new way to share their thoughts, and see them spread through the site.”
To read the full article, visit The Verge.
Breaking News co-founder, Corey Bergman believes Facebook is already in prime position to dominate content on the web
“Too many publishers are defining their mission too narrowly. They look at it as keeping people informed, but that’s hard in a world where Facebook, Google and other platforms are the first sources people turn to for information.
“The real world of competition is Facebook’s app, Twitter’s app, Flipboard’s app,” Bergman stressed. “These apps force everyone to take a step back and think of what problems they’re solving and recognise the competition is much, much broader.
“You can’t just extend what you do in desktop to a mobile world and expect to succeed any more,” he added.”
To listen to the podcast in full, visit Digiday.
Mozilla is also venturing into the busy content market with its new app, Webmaker
“It’s now feasible for many to access the web, but actually contributing to the web? That’s harder, since you usually need money, know-how or both to create more than a Tumblr page. Mozilla thinks it can help, though. It has built a new app, Webmaker, to empower first-time smartphone users and mobile-first users to become active participants on the web.
“It focuses on basics like text, links and pictures, but it’s sophisticated enough that you can create photo galleries, guides and other web content that’s easy to share. The aim is to not only democratise web creation, but to improve the online representation of non-English languages that are usually pushed to the margins.
“Too often, individuals around the world experience a “read-only” mobile web, passively consuming content and unable to actively contribute. But when consumers become creators, they’re introduced to social and economic opportunity. And when everyone can contribute equally, the web becomes a much better place.”
To read the full article, visit Engadget.
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