Facebook have given their left-hand navigation bar an overhaul that includes changes to how users can view bookmarks and notifications for Pages, Apps and Groups. Originally rolled out last week, the latest changes are part of Facebook’s continual efforts to make the Apps more engaging from a user perspective.
Divided into four groups, the new version of the navigation bar consists of Favourites, Pages, Groups and Apps. The Favourites will be populated with links to everyday Facebook features such as News Feed and Events, while the Pages and Groups section contains the two most popular Pages and Groups that you use, as well as a notifications number to the right hand side. There isn’t a whole lot of change tp the Game Requests and App Requests, with these two features looking much the same as the previous incarnation of the navigation menu.
Users familiar with the ‘More’ button nestled beneath items in the left-hand navigation will notice that this has disappeared. But if you hover over Groups for example you are able to then click through to a new page where you can add different Pages and Groups to your Favourites section for ease of access.
Not everyone is happy with these new changes, with a lot of people claiming that Facebook are continually tinkering with things that don’t really need changing in an effort to stay ahead of the curve with regards to other social networks. Some presumed that there has been a drop-off in revenue due to users moving to Google+, and this was an attempt to free up more space on the right-hand side that would allow for more advertising, and thus balance the books.
To see what the new left-hand navigation looks like, check out Ben Parr’s posting on Mashable, and you can also get a feel for what users think of the changes by reading the comments.