Facebook Testing Twitter-Like 'Happening Now' Feature

Soon, Facebook may be just a little bit more like Twitter.

The company has just begun to test a feature that displays a real-time feed of what a user's friends are doing, like sharing and liking links, adding friends and more. The feature, called "Happening Now," is displayed in a bar on the right side of a user's homepage.

Facebook provided the following statement to The Next Web, explaining that the feature will eventually roll out to more people.

We are currently testing a feature within 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.

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.

The feed looks, and feels, a lot like real-time network Twitter, though curiously, the feed does not contain status updates. It displays news that has traditionally been seen in the standard News Feed, though with less information, lacking the comments and link descriptions usually present.

Check out an image of the feature here (via The Next Web).

Comments

[lakid3]

10:22 PM on 07/21/2011

no one asked me if i wanted to be a tester...i do not...do i like the change? NOT ONE BIT! i don't twitter...i don't care what someone is doing at any given moment...watching the "what's happening now" feature makes me dizzy as it scrolls continuously and unendingly...and it has usurped features i DID like...i'm not the only one who feels this way...but there's no way to let the powers that be at facebook know that...and i doubt they care...pretty sad...i know i don't pay for the service, but i do have to look at the ads they run ad nauseum...maybe facebook should have asked for volunteers...oh wait, these "new" features are SO BAD no one i know would volunteer to test them...especially with no way of sending feedback (who runs a "test" without a place to give feedback?)

[Terence Towles Canote]

08:09 PM on 06/17/2011

As one of their victims of their testing of Happening Now, I can say it does not work and is a waste of energy on FB's part. Happening Now does nothing that the Most Recent filter on the News Feed did not do, and better. Indeed, Happening Now should be called This is What Has Happened Sometime Today, as it does not display post in anything resembling a chronological order. Worse yet, maybe I am the only one affected, but the Most Recent filter and every other filter has disappeared from my news feed. As a result my news feed is an absolute mess. I do hope Facebook fixes this and leaves well enough alone.

[Susan M Sanders]

09:12 PM on 06/12/2011

Dear FB: I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF THIS TEST! This feature is useless and you took away a valuable tool in the process. I want my EVENTS section back on the right-hand side of my home page - and I WANT IT NOW! Most of all, I want you to quit making unilateral changes that your CUSTOMERS have no say about - and can't fix or get you to fix! If I wanted to TWITTER, then I would be on TWITTER - not FB!

[mattygore]

05:46 AM on 06/13/2011

You wrote a whole paragraph and only 2 sentences had to do with this article. Facebook doesn't care at all about the updates. They can get annoying but they only roll them out because the users who tested the updates liked them. If you hate it so much, sign up for friendster.

[Susan M Sanders]

07:28 PM on 06/14/2011

So are you the Huffington Police?

[maigoro]

11:14 AM on 06/13/2011

You do not pay a single cent towards the use of Facebook and therefore have no say in what changes they make to their site.

[Susan M Sanders]

07:29 PM on 06/14/2011

That's pretty obvious.

[Taidje De Vore]

02:44 AM on 06/17/2011

If they keep wanting me to login to view their stupid little advertisements that helps to pay their bills then they better listen to what we have to say.

[gokulram arunasalam]

08:01 PM on 06/12/2011

Gokulram Arunasalam
It is quite amazing what the likes of google and facebook that already dominate in their own areas can do by introducing additional functionality. If facebook for example adds the tweeting function, why would people have accounts on both facebook and twitter.

[Jfrd63]

02:56 PM on 06/12/2011

Hopes there is a way to block this

[Keyop]

09:38 AM on 06/12/2011

Counting the days until Facebook is is MySpace. A colossal waste of time and I don't care that you just ate some shrimp somewhere and you like it....please.

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

01:39 AM on 06/12/2011

Soon Google will own Facebook. {{-_-}}

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

01:39 AM on 06/12/2011

If Facebook is gonna copy Twitter (a generally BAD idea), they need to implement hashtagging. {{-_-}}

[WSAY]

10:02 PM on 06/11/2011

Of course. Once Apple endorsed Twitter and ignored Facebook with their new OS, it is time for Facebook to change its ways. (And people wonder why Flash is dying...)

[Victoria Millinship]

07:51 PM on 06/11/2011

I'm one of the testers, apparently. I really hate it. I'm hoping if I comment on enough news articles about this, the Facebook gods might take pity and relinquish this from me. I like knowing when people's birthdays are :(

[Tanrioldu]

07:33 PM on 06/11/2011

Great... yet another source of information that no one cares about

[jess jessjess]

01:21 PM on 06/11/2011

I have been landed with this bloody irritating feature, I wish it would go away NOW because I can't see my events any more (and I care about them considerably more than someone liking the status of someone I don't know). Most of the time it's telling me the exact same thing as my newsfeed anyway. Totally and utterly pointless. GET RID OF IT FACEBOOK.

[El Chingaso]

12:57 PM on 06/11/2011

No mo' Twitter type-stuff. Go away FB...

[FaceTheTruth00]

07:15 AM on 06/11/2011

I guess I miss the point of Twitter completely and why anyone would want to make their program "more like Twitter'.

No offense to anyone who uses is, but do people really care what someone else is doing at every minute of the day? Do people actually think that other people care what they're doing every minute of the day?

Is what someone had for lunch or what they're listening to on the radio some kind of vital information?

Who is actually narcissistic enough to think that other people want or need to know the most minute details of their lives?

I tolerate facebook, but barely, because I have been able to catch up with some people I otherwise would not have. But twitter just seems completely pointless. I don't even need to know what my boyfriend or best friend is doing every moment of the day; much less a bunch of acquaintances.

[AlexAntonetz]

11:36 AM on 06/11/2011

Well, at least you realize you miss the point of Twitter if you're one of those people that think it's about reading what people are doing at every moment of the day. Can't stand how annoying it is hearing people clueless about Twitter keep stating the ignorant "I don't care what someone had for lunch" comment because nobody uses Twitter for that.

[OSIconic]

11:55 AM on 06/11/2011

Eat your words for lunch then tweet about it why don't you ;-)

Trending NOW on Twitter:

"Just finished our team shootaround. Picking up some lunch togo, then hoppin in the sack to kill the afternoon b4 #gametime"

"Doba for lunch, Chipotle for dinner.. I'm ok with it."

"...your lunch makes me want to get taco bell"

"Just cooked some steak! ... and then ate it!"

"I ate a steak bagle from mickey Ds at like 5am.."

"Jus ate breakfast and it was good it was an appl strottle or how ever u spell it"

@AlexAntonetz (lol) You were saying....

[Jack Daniels Esq]

06:45 AM on 06/11/2011

Oh Lordy - thank you for giving me a real & decent life .....

[AlexAntonetz]

11:36 AM on 06/11/2011

You should also thank the lord for the high horse he gave you.

[Jack Daniels Esq]

11:58 AM on 06/11/2011

Warsh ya mouth with soap - its spelled with a Capital "L"