Facebook changes its pages and Instagram tests new Stories format

2021 started with new features announced by two of the most used social networks in the world.

Seeking a more streamlined design, Facebook has announced some changes to its pages for 2021. Facebook Pages allow companies, artists, and public figures to create a space to update their followers and interact with them. The new changes aim to bring the experience of managing a Page a little closer to that of a standard profile. These include a new layout, the introduction of a dedicated news feed, improved spam filters, and a new Q&A format to engage fans. Another important point is the removal of the “like” button, shifting all focus to the action of following. The changes have already been implemented and will continue for the next few months.

As pages receive their own news feed, they will be able to participate in conversations as a public figure/brand, follow trends and interact with their followers. The feed will also suggest other public figures and brands in an attempt to create a network between them, as already happens on other social networks.

The new question-and-answer format, inspired by the interactive dynamics of Instagram, also aims at greater engagement between pages and followers. The latter will be able to ask questions to the pages and the answers will be kept together, and may even serve as a kind of FAQ for brands.

The exclusion of the “Like” button happened because the likes did not show the users’ real interest in the pages’ content. It was common for users to like the pages of friends, for example, as a way of encouragement, and then stop following them, for lack of interest in receiving their content in the feed. For Facebook, page followers will be a more accurate metric about a brand’s fans.

Instagram, meanwhile, is testing a new format for viewing stories on desktop. For users who have participated in the tests so far, according to Engadget, the new format better displays the stories carousel on the desktop, resembling the viewing of Spotify songs on Smart TVs, as opposed to the current version that provides a single Stories taking up all the browser space.

Example of what would be the visual result of the new format:

These tests started in December, and there is no release date yet.