Facebook unveiled its new News Feed today, and some users are already getting to play around with it. Developers will be pleased to know that the new News Feed has the potential to make their content more engaging, but it will require a few changes on your part to really have an impact
The first thing you’ll notice about the new News Feed is that the images are larger. This is no mistake as Facebook wants to engage users with images instead of text. Likewise, developers would be wise to update their apps to display larger images that take advantage of the increased screen real estate. The recommended size for all images is now 600×600 pixels, though Facebook says that image size can be reduced to a minimum of 200×200. For more on image size, check out Facebook’s documentation.
These images will be of particular importance to game developers as Bookmarks will become more important in the News Feed. For those unaware, a Bookmark is the image that accompanies a shared story about a game. The larger image size means may just be what it takes to convince new and returning players to check out your game.
Here’s an example of what Bookmarks should look like in the new Games Feed:
The new News Feed is slowly rolling out over the next few weeks so there’s no need to rush on implementing any changes in your app for now. That being said, it’s important that you update your app to better reflect the more visual oriented design of the new News Feed.