9 Comments »In a strange twist of events, Facebook has apparently removed preferences and comments from the newsfeed. I can only assume that this is a temporary error as it doesn’t make much sense to remove comments at the least. Facebook for iPhone still seems to work with comments but the feed that appears is different then the one which appears from the web which is somewhat confusing.
Facebook has flipped back and forth between displaying the preferences settings in the newsfeed over the past year months. Perhaps the additional ranking variable made the newsfeed over complicated. Whatever the case is, the setting has disappeared once again. I think more significant is the lack of commenting features from the newsfeed.
Just in the past month I have seen a sharp increase in the number of comments on my newsfeed items. Removing the commenting feature from the main newsfeed will most definitely reduce the overall number of comments to my profile. Do you think this is a permanent change? Do you prefer the comments in the newsfeed or did you dislike them? Did you find the newsfeed preferences to have any impact on the stories that were displayed?
Update
Facebook has put the preferences and comments back. Apparently it was a temporary glitch as Ari points out in the comments.
I imagine it's only temporary since facebook has seemed to have issues with both the news feed and live feed since the switch.
I doubt they would eliminate one of the few features of the “new facebook” that has actually been praised.
On that note though, I can't understand how after months of rolling this new software out, they are still struggling daily with said features. They should have worked that out before forcing everyone to switch.
Hey Nick! Ya I refreshed a few times in confusion. I hope it's just an error. I agree with you. Commenting is key!
Also most comments are still available on the profile page so hopefully, that also means it's temporary.
Whew, glad it wasn't just me that noticed the change - I thought something was buggy with the way my browser was pulling in Facebook today and hit refresh a few times!!!
Lack of options in the News Feed was the first thing I noticed! I use that setting every single day to fine-tune what stories I want in my feed. All-of-a-sudden, FB starts blasting my feed with only a small handful of peeps and not a wide cross-section that I'm used to. Very weird. I totally hope it's only a temporary glitch.
As for comments in News Feed - that's one of the most powerful features of the new Facebook design. I can't imagine why it's turned off. Again, probably just temp.
Thanks for keeping your finger on the FB pulse, Nick!
Cheers,
Mari
@marismith
Hmmm…. I don't know but I can see Options and Comments! I don't see comments in new friendships but in Status Updates and Notes I can see them normally … Strange!
nick, there were some feed issues this morning that caused this problem. of course we love the comments in feed and don't intend to get rid of them.
How did Shervin Pishevar get so lucky only to have Obama-supporters as friends?!
I checked and I still have the ability to add comments. not to say it wont disappear soon but at this time I can still comment.
slow news year, huh nick?