Facebook ups ante in war against Google+
Facebook seems to be on a feature addition overdrive. The social networking site bellwether has now introduced ticker and improved 'news feed'.
Facebook is the world's No.1 social networking service, with more than 750 million users. The company has rolled out a series of improvements to its service recently, many of which seem designed to match features Google has used to set apart its rival social networking service, Google+.
Facebook also revamped the service's main news feed to flag important items -- such as a new baby announcement -- for Facebook users who have not logged on for a few days. Facebook also changed the way photos are displayed on the site, increasing the size of pictures that appear in a users' news feed.
Now, the news feed will let users see the important updates at the top. All of the user's news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If a user hasn't visited Facebook for a while, the first thing he/she will see are the top photos and statuses posted while they were been away. They will be shown marked with a 'blue corner' that indicates 'top story'. But, if the user logs on more frequently, he/she will see the most recent stories first. Moreover, photos will also appear bigger while scrolling through.Now, when a friend comments, asks a question or shares something, the user will be able to join the conversation right away. Click on anything in ticker to see the full story and chime in – without losing your place.