#F8 Facebook to redesign the UI, will keep Communities at the centre

As the F8 Developer Conference kicked off on Tuesday, a bunch of new features were announced for Facebook and its-owned platforms and how they are going to address privacy and data security-related issues, at the same time developing the platform to build an engaged community.

From the last 15 years, the company has built Facebook and Instagram focusing on mass communication amongst friends, family, businesses and users. Now for the first time in 5 years, Facebook has attempted to redesign the UI of the platform, keeping Communities in the centre and is also revamping the logo to give it a fresher look.

"I'm sure we're going to keep unearthing old issues for a while, so it may feel like we're not making progress at first," said Mark Zuckerberg.

"I know we don't exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly," said Mark, acknowledging skepticism around the company. "I am committed to doing this well."

Here is how the platform will look different now onwards -

New Design:

Facebook is rolling out FB5, a fresh new design that’s simpler, faster, more immersive and puts your communities at the centre. Overall, making it easier to find what a user is looking for and get to the most-used features.

Here's a closer look at FB5, including Dark Mode for web, coming soon. pic.twitter.com/Z55iUOdekr— Facebook (@facebook) April 30, 2019

People will start seeing some of these updates in the app right away, and the new desktop site will come in the next few months.

Also, Dark Mode will come on web soon!

Putting Groups First

This redesign will make it easy for people to go from public spaces to more private ones, like Groups. There are tens of millions of active groups on Facebook. When people find the right one, it often becomes the most meaningful part of how they use Facebook. Today, more than 400 million people on Facebook belong to a group that they find meaningful. That’s why we’re introducing new tools that will make it easier for you to discover and engage with groups of people who share your interests:

• Redesigned Groups tab to make discovery easier: Platform has completely redesigned the Groups tab and made discovery even better. The tab now shows a personalized feed of activity across all your groups. And the new discovery tool with improved recommendations lets you quickly find groups you might be interested in. 
• Making it easier to participate in Groups: Platform is also making it easier to get relevant group recommendations elsewhere in the app like in Marketplace, Today In, the Gaming tab, and Facebook Watch. User may see more content from the groups in News Feed. And, will be able to share content directly to the groups from News Feed, the same way they do with friends and family.
• New features to support specific communities: Different communities have different needs, so the platform is introducing new features for different types of groups. Through new Health Support groups, members can post questions and share information without their name appearing on a post. Job groups will have a new template for employers to post openings, and easier ways for job seekers to message the employer and apply directly through Facebook. Gaming groups will get a new chat feature so members can create threads for different topics within the group. And because people use Facebook Live to sell things in Buy and Sell groups, Facebook is exploring ways to let buyers easily ask questions and place orders without leaving the live broadcast.

Also Read: #F8: Facebook to update Messenger app, create Lite and Desktop version

Shipping on Marketplace
People will soon be able to ship Marketplace items anywhere in the continental US and pay for their purchases directly on Facebook. For sellers this means reaching more buyers and getting paid securely, and for buyers this means shopping more items — near or far.

A New Events Tab
This summer Facebook is introducing the new Events tab so that a user can see what’s happening around them, get recommendations, discover local businesses, and coordinate with friends to make plans to get together.

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