Facebook wants notifications to be one-stop info source

Your Facebook notifications are set to include a lot more than just who liked your latest profile picture or wrote on your wall.

Facebook has announced it will be transforming the notifications tab into an information hub of sorts, allowing users to access a customisable list of info on sports scores, movies playing nearby, the weather and good places to eat.

Most of this information will initially be tailored through what pages you’ve liked on Facebook, while many of them also rely on users having location services turned on. Facebook says all the information included in the new tab will be fully customisable.

“Every day people use their notifications to keep up-to-date with their friends and family,” Facebook says.

“We’ve heard feedback that people wanted to add important information that they can easily see, all in one place.”

Most of us already check the notifications tab regularly across the day, and now Facebook wants it to become a one-stop shop for local information and services, aiming to combine a number of different apps in one place.

But it could also become a bit cluttered and turn into just another News Feed rather than a highly personalised centre for notifications only relating to you, and will no doubt lead to more advertising opportunities.

The new notification tab will be rolling out on platforms in the US in the coming days and around the world a bit later.

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