Facebook seems to want you to know if your friends are not actively using the giant social network.
According to The Verge, Facebook is testing a new sidebar feature that would allow users to show their current status — and, by extension, see if their friends are online or away.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1697710,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,social,","session":"A"}']Facebook told VentureBeat that the new features are being tested in Taiwan and Australia. Users will be able to see their friends’ most recent updates, either a post to News Feed or a new sidebar status.
Users will have up to a dozen or more small picture icons that they can use to accompany their status messages. They will expire after 12 hours or whenever a user posts a new status. The default privacy setting, Facebook said, is Friends, although users can choose who will be able to see their sidebar statuses.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More