Facebook just changed the way you read your private messages. Again

GETTY • FACEBOOK

Facebook has changed the layout of its online Messenger app

Facebook has changed how users read private messages as part of a new shake-up to the messaging service.

The latest update appears to have completely eradicated the previous layout, replacing it with a new look that resembles the Facebook Messenger mobile app.

The redesigned Messenger was first spotted by TechCrunch, and brings uniformity across the Facebook user experience.

Following the update, your Facebook inbox is now the same on the web as it is within the standalone Messenger mobile app, and the designated Messenger website.

The updated Facebook Messenger now includes in-built emoji, stickers and GIF buttons, as well payment options to transfer money to contacts, and causal video games.

Chat windows on the homepage will remain the same for now.

FACEBOOK • EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS

The Inbox logo has now been changed to the round Messenger icon

Each conversation still gets its own pop-up windows, which appear in the lower right-hand corner of the web browser.

In fact, the only change to the Facebook homepage is the Inbox icon has been swapped out with Messenger's circular blue logo.

Click on the new logo and you're immediately taken to the new Facebook Messenger page.

As with any dramatic change, user response has been a little shaky at best.

FACEBOOK

The new Messenger redesign brings it in-line with the standalone Messenger website, pictured above

Earlier this month, head of Facebook Messenger David Marcus shared a post detailing what users could expect to change over the next year.

The public post was quickly inundated with complaints about the loss of the inbox layout.

Mr Marcus replied: "1st and foremost: all of the 1 billion+ people using Messenger use it primarily on mobile, and occasionally on desktop.

"One of their main request has always been feature-parity on desktop. That means that you can now video chat from desktop, send stickers, GIFs, and way more.

"We basically want to satisfy the ask of harmonizing the user experience and the capabilities of Messenger across all platforms." (sic)

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The news comes as Facebook is hard at work developing tools that would allow people to communicate via brain waves using new ‘brain-computer’ interfaces.

And it seems that Facebook is edging ever closer to making this technology a reality sooner than you think, as the company is ramping up its recruitment of next-generation specialists in a number of key areas.

A report by Business Insider found that Facebook is looking to expand its secretive Building 8 group.

Building 8 was set up by Facebook last year, but little is known about the organisation.

Now, however, several job postings for the division have been uncovered which hint at just what could be in store.

These revealed that Facebook is looking to recruit someone with a PhD in neuroscience to work on this “brain-computer interface” project from inception to final product over a two-year period.

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