Facebook testing new Pinterest-inspired design for app stories in News Feed
Facebook appears to be testing a layout for Open Graph app stories that is similar in design to Pinterest, with boxes for individual items that allow Likes, comments and other app-specific actions.
Context & Ripple Effects
The test lands mid-run of Facebook's 2012 platform iteration: days earlier, coverage flagged how a platform tweak had already destroyed a billion-dollar third-party industry built on its ecosystem, and analysts described the company as operating in 'permanent beta' with changes that stifle niche businesses dependent on its formats. The same week Facebook launched Sponsored Results, its first search typeahead ads, sharpening its monetization push.
The Pinterest-inspired box layout matters because Open Graph app stories are the distribution channel for third-party apps inside News Feed — reshaping that unit's design changes what developers get for building on the platform. The story traveled unusually wide for a UI test, picked up by PandoDaily, CNET, Mashable, VentureBeat and Techie Buzz on or about July 19, 2012.
First-order effects
- Open Graph app developers gain a denser, more visual story unit in News Feed, with Likes, comments and app-specific actions attached to individual item boxes rather than flat text links.
- Facebook gets a cheap A/B read on whether grid-style presentation lifts engagement and click-through on app stories before committing to a full rollout.
Second-order effects
- Pinterest's card-grid design language stops being a differentiator once the largest social graph absorbs it, pressuring Pinterest to compete on product depth rather than layout.
- Developers optimizing for News Feed distribution must re-tune creative and metadata for boxed, item-level formats, shifting effort toward visually rich objects over plain shares.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, News Feed becomes a canvas Facebook redesigns at will around whatever presentation performs best — reinforcing the permanent-beta dynamic where third-party businesses built on any given feed format carry recurring redesign risk.
- Borrowing proven rival interfaces inside the core feed points toward consolidation of social design conventions under the platform with the largest user base, raising the bar for smaller networks to stand out.
The trend: Facebook is iterating News Feed presentation by absorbing competitors' proven design patterns, keeping Open Graph app distribution central while treating the feed as a permanently experimental surface.