Facebook is testing a new discovery tool for the iPad users in the U.S. that displays information such as trending topics, videos and popular games in a side panel.
Facebook, the largest social networking site, is currently testing an updated Facebook app for iPad that features a side panel on the right side of the tablet that will suggest trending topics, videos and popular games.
The Discovery panel appears when users flip their iPads to the landscape mode. The dedicated panel will display games the user has played in the past, possibly an attempt to keep players engaged over time. The suggestions will display notifications for multiplayer games that it is your turn to play or requests from friends playing the game. Facebook's decision to put game suggestions on the spotlight comes after a survey from the company showed that 70 percent of users have played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, Facebook's software engineer, Victor Medeiros, wrote in a blog post, Monday.
In a bid to monetize its efforts, Facebook will soon include ads from game developers to engage more users. As of now, the promotion using iPad sidebar is free but in future Facebook plans to sell the space for ads.
"There will be ad units somewhere down the road," Facebook's Dan Morris told TechCrunch. "We definitely envision allowing developers to promote their apps with some ad element. But for now we're just trying to do good for mobile developers and mobile gamers."
In addition to the game suggestions and trailers, the sidebar will feature "Trending topics." The feature, which was first launched on desktop in January, shows the most popular subjects across the social network. The side panel will also feature trending videos of interest to the user.
