14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is testing an interesting new feature that should create a much more engaging experience for heavy users especially. Some users have noticed a real-time feed on the right-hand sidebar displaying the actions of their friends - likes, newly added friends and so on - as they happen, similar to the way the Twitter stream works.
Facebook has confirmed the test, but said it is fairly limited at this point. Depending on the feedback, Facebook may expand and tweak the feature.
It's unclear whether the social network will roll out the feature to everyone, that's why it's testing it, but it seems like a worthwhile update.
"We are currently testing a feature within the news feed that gives people the ability to see what their friends are commenting on and liking, as these actions are being taken on Facebook," a Facebook spokesperson told The Next Web as reports of the new feature, spotted by users, started showing up.
"This test includes a small percentage of Facebook users, just a fraction of a percent. In the coming weeks, as we learn more from this test, we’ll keep making improvements and may expand it to more people," Facebook added.
The new feature, titled Happening Now, adds a real-time stream from your friends in the third column, the right sidebar, below the space regularly reserved for ads.
This new stream is different from the News Feed, in both the Top News and Most Recent mode, as it contains pretty much all of your friends' interactions as they happen, with little if any curation and filtering.
Even the Most Recent view of the News Feed, only shows items that Facebook has determined are more relevant to you from the friends you interact with the most, displayed in chronological order.
Of course, some of the entries in the Happening Now column and in the Most Recent feed are duplicates and it's unclear if this will change. On the one hand, the same info showing up twice is not a great idea, but if you may miss it if doesn't show up in the News Feed at all since the Happening Now feed would change a lot faster.