Facebook rolled out an update to group pages that implements tabs underneath the cover photo and makes the about section and search option harder to find.

When the social network redesigned groups last month to include a cover photo, the image would appear slightly transparent, and colors would be restored when users hovered over it. This action would also temporarily hide links to photos, docs, events and the list of all members. Now the transparency is gone and those links have a permanent place as tabs. This is more functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Two aspects of the design that don’t seem to be improvements, however, are the change to the page’s “about” section and search feature. Previously, there was a section on the right-hand side of the page that displayed information about the group. Many groups used this post rules or helpful links. Now, users won’t see this unless they click the “about” tab. Similarly, there used to be a search bar beneath the cover photo, but it’s currently hidden behind a small magnifying glass icon. This means users will be less likely to use search to find out if a topic has already been discussed in a group. It’s possible that users didn’t take advantage of this feature much before so Facebook made it less prominent, but that seems counterproductive.

The social network is likely to continue to tinker with the design of groups to maintain consistency across the site. Currently, groups look more like News Feed than profiles or pages. This is useful for groups that function as discussion boards or collaboration tools, but might not be right for groups of family members, friends or teammates. These people might want Timeline features like posting milestones and displaying large photos. We’ll be interested to see what direction Facebook takes. So far the company hasn’t shared any information about the number of active groups or how the product is most commonly used.

Previous design for groups

Many Facebook groups got an update Wednesday night that displays members’ profile pictures in the header and allows admins to add a cover photo like they can on Timeline.

When we first saw this feature three weeks ago, the top panel included smaller thumbnail images of several more group members. Now, only up to eight members are featured at a time. The order seems to be based on which members were most recently active on the page. Clicking on a thumbnail leads to the person’s profile.

Group admins can decide to add a cover photo instead of showing members’ pictures. The maximum size allowed appears to be 800 pixels wide by 200 pixels high — smaller than Timeline cover photos. Cover photos can be changed by hovering over the top right corner of the group page, which might not be intuitive for some users. There is no prompt in the group creation flow or in the ‘Edit Group’ dashboard. And unlike with Timeline, group cover photos do not show in the mobile version of Facebook.

We expect the social network to announce Timeline-like features for fan pages at the end of the month.

Some Facebook groups now have cover photos, making them more consistent with the new Timeline design.

The default image is a collage of the group members’ profile photos, which link to individual profiles. The image is slightly transparent, but colors are restored when a user hovers over it. We’ve heard that any member has the option to change the cover photo, though we haven’t been able to test this ourselves. It is surprising that non-admins would be able to change the image, but there may be a setting that allows or disallows this.

[Update 2/23/12 9:06 a.m. - We've been able to interact with the new group  design ourselves and have not seen the option for non-admins to change the cover photo.]

The group’s Wall has not been changed to the Timeline format. This is likely because the order of posts changes based on activity. When a member comments on an old post, for example, that post is moved to the top of the page.

This is the first instance of Timeline-like features being added to another area of Facebook. Many page owners wonder when their business or fan pages will get the Timeline treatment. We previously assumed pages would get similar two-column reverse chronological presentation, but the minor change to groups suggests that pages might not get a complete overhaul either.

Facebook has not provided details how or a date for when pages will be redesigned. “We hope to make Pages more consistent with Timeline in the future, but we have nothing further to share at this time,” a Facebook spokesperson says.

Thanks to Denis Baranov for the tip and screenshots.

Facebook is testing a form of its groups product that restricts access to users with a designated .edu email address, reminiscent of the way networks operated when Facebook began in 2004. Students are being prompted to create groups for different aspects of their college experience, whether its classes, dorms, intramural sports, student organizations or parties.

The test is limited to Brown and Vanderbilt universities because they provide different email addresses for students and alumni, according to a TechCrunch post by former Inside Facebook lead writer Josh Constine. This prevents former students from infiltrating the groups, as many early adopters did when Facebook first launched.

Facebook’s existing groups product allows users to create closed and secret groups, but the company must be interested in determining the demand for even more limited groups. University groups could be a start to a broader initiative to get more people familiar with Facebook’s offerings around small-group sharing, which has been an increasingly popular topic since the launch of Google+. Facebook’s updates to groups, friend lists and privacy controls this year all promote the idea that Facebook is still a safe place to share information about yourself with your friends.

For the company whose mission is to “make the world more open and connected,” there is an ongoing question about how to balance public and private. One day they launch the subscribe feature to broadcast your status updates to a public audience. Another they bring back university-only groups. How Facebook optimizes for both openness and exclusivity in coming years will determine how much marketshare it can maintain as competing networks add new features and users.

Facebook has changed the interface of its Groups product, relocating several navigation buttons from the center of the right sidebar to the top of each Group page. The subtle redesign frees up space in the sidebar to show more ads and Facebook’s own modules such as People You May Know. This could help Facebook better monetize time spent on Groups.

Groups launched in October 2010 with the goal of creating designated spaces where a limited set of friends could share private information, such as family, a sports team, or a group for friends organizing a vacation. Since then, Facebook has revamped its privacy controls to make it easier to share with specific Friend Lists, reducing the need for Groups. Many strong use cases remain, though, such as facilitating sharing between non-friends around an interest topic.

In April, Facebook has made a few changes to Groups. It added an in-Group search bar for finding specific posts, began allowing users to upload whole photo albums, and added Questions to the Publisher. It gave admins of closed and secret Groups the option to require administrative approval for all new members. This can help keep Group content from being exposed to unauthorized users by one of the Group’s members, and also helps admins control the size of their Groups. It also launched the Send button, a social plugin that publishes content from an external website to a specific Group.

Now, the top center of each Group displays the number of photos and docs that have been uploaded there, and users can click though to view them or add their own. Previously, links to view photos and view or create Docs were somewhat buried down in the right sidebar and took up a lot of space. By relocating their links to the top of Groups, Facebook is reminding users that rich media can be shared to Groups and making it easier to access this content.

Links to create a Group event, and edit or leave a Group have been relocated into a settings drop-down menu in the top right corner. The edit Group interface tabs have been combined into a single screen. A Group’s description is now shown in the right sidebar. If a Group has a long description, it will be folded into a “See More” link, but will still occupy much of the room freed up by the other changes.

Except for Groups with long descriptions, these updates to the interface create enough additional space in the right sidebar to show roughly two more ads or Facebook modules above the fold. This will allow Facebook to derive more ad revenue, content engagement, and encourage more connections between users from Groups traffic.

ZipShare is an application from WinZip that quickly and easily allows users to share up  to 100 megabytes worth of data on Facebook, either to their groups or on their Wall. The app brings you through Facebook Connect, asks you to upload your files and where you want to post  them (group or Wall). The app then converts this data into a zip file and publishes a download link.

In order to retrieve the information users simply click on the link on Facebook, which goes back to the ZipShare website, download and they’re done. While this isn’t the only file sharing service that utilizes Facebook, ZipShare distinguishes itself for being so quick to use,and be being free of ads, delays and pop-ups.

Prescott Lee of ZipShare said this was all intentional. The app was meant to be simple, and to fill a gap that exists on Facebook, which allows for easy sharing of video and photo files but not things like Excel files or PowerPoint presentations. ZipShare even allows for a package of multiple types of files to be bundled into a zip file at once with the app.

Currently ZipShare allows for a 20 MB limit per upload, with users capped at a total of 100 MB. The files stay on the servers for 7 days, then expire and the space frees up again. “this is really the first foray into social [for WinZip] but there are other things we are thinking about right now,” Lee said. He added that, in the week prior to its release, hundreds of folks took advantage of an email invite signup to be among the first to use the app.

A week into its release the app already has several thousand users, he added. People today often connect with friends primarily via Facebook rather than email or old instant messaging clients, so there’s a need for socially-focused file sharing services like ZipShare.

Facebook is rolling out a new feature that makes it simpler for developers to assign multiple people to a role within one or more apps. In the Roles section of the Developer app, every member of a selected Facebook Group can be simultaneously assigned to a role: Developer, Administrator, Tester, or Insights User. This will make it significantly faster to add sets of team members to a role within multiple apps. It will also familiarize developers with Facebook Groups which could encourage them to use the microsharing tool both professionally and socially.

The Groups product was released in October to help users share with specific subsets of their friends. Application roles were introduced in January to improve app security by allowing developers to give certain team members limited privileges rather than full access to edit or even delete their app.

Now these features have been combined and developers will gain access to the new Developer Groups tool over the next few weeks. To use it, developers can go to the Roles section of the Developer app and click the “Add” link next to one of the role types. They’ll then be given the option to add an existing closed or private group of people to that role, or create a new Group within that role that can also be reused later.

Adding a Group to a role will generate a post to that Group and notify its members. Note that only closed or private Groups can be used to assign roles, not open groups, because otherwise unauthorized users could add themselves to a role-assigned Group and gain access to the corresponding privileges in the application.

Along with speeding up role assignment, Developer Groups may be intended to increase usage of the Groups feature in general by exposing it to more Facebook power users. In April Facebook said 50 million Groups had been created, and in July it said 50% of all users were in a Group and that the average Group had seven members.

While these are impressive stats, Facebook probably still wants higher penetration. The nature of Groups is such that one user often does the legwork of creating a Group and inviting friends, and then all members get to benefit. By making usage of Groups a component of application management, Facebook can expose the feature to developers. These people are probably more likely to be Facebook power users, and therefore be willing to take the time to create and populate Groups, increasing overall usage.

Facebook is showing some users a module in the right sidebar that highlights one of the Groups they’re a member of and asks them to share something to it. The module, titled “Groups” displays the name of one of a user’s Groups, when it was last updated, and options to either post or leave the Group.

Facebook’s attempt to spur reengagement with its micro-sharing product could be a response to competition from Google+, which is centered around sharing to specific groups of people called Circles rather than sharing with all of one’s contacts.

At the product announcement for ad hoc group chat and video calling last week, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that over half of Facebook population use Groups. He noted that part of the reason for decoupling group chat from Groups was that many wanted to chat with multiple friends at once, but not all users were sharing to their Groups.

The new Groups right sidebar module may be aimed at changing that. It appears to users as they’re browsing the site, similar to other modules Facebook employs to engage uses with products, such as “Discover New Games” and “Friends’ Photo Albums“.

Groups are usually accessed via small bookmarks in the dense left sidebar. By occasionally showing users larger, more prominent links to their Groups in the right sidebar, Facebook may be able to encourage users to post more often.

Since posts to Groups generate notifications for all members, reengaging one member can kickstart participation by others. The screenshot we received of the Groups module showed it highlighting a Group that hadn’t been posted to in two weeks. The sidebar module could be an effective way to awaken Groups that have fallen dormant.

The sidebar module could also remind users experimenting with Google+ that they have microsharing options within Facebook. Google+ requires that users choose a subset of friends to share each piece of content with. Facebook shares content with all of a user’s friends by default. It requires a long series of clicks to limited a status update to a specific friend list, but just one extra click to share with a Group.

If Facebook can get users more engaged with Groups, through this new sidebar module or otherwise, they may have less reason to join and become active users of Google+

[Thanks to Brittany Darwell for the tip]

CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced that Facebook would be launching several new features, including ad hoc group chat, a new design for its Chat interface, and a Skype integration to allow for video calling. These features are already live for some users, and the global roll out to the rest of the user base will happen quickly.

Ad Hoc Group Chat

Users will be able to choose multiple friends and begin a Group Chat instantly, without previously having created a Group with those friends. While Chatting with one friend, a drop down will allow users to “Add Friends to Chat”. This opens a type ahead, with each entered friend being added to the conversation. This way, rather than having to purposefully start a group chat, it can organically grow out of a standard one-on-one chat.

If added users are online, they’ll see messages as Chat. Otherwise, the group chat messages will appear in their inbox. Group chat also works with Facebook’s mobile interfaces, in the sense that mobile users can be added to a group chat and see messages from all other participants, though they won’t be able to add new people to the conversation.

Facebook has taken precautions to alleviate privacy issues that could arise from one user adding others to a private one-on-one conversation that might contain sensitive content. Project Manager Peter Deng tells us that, “When you take a one-on-one chat and turn it into a Group chat, you don’t bring over the Chat history. You have a clean slate. People can add to that, but by then they know they’re not talking one-on-one.”

Facebook explained that 50% of users are already using its Groups feature, with an average of seven users per group. The pre-made group chat feature was apparently very popular, and the company figured that making the feature available ad hoc between friends who weren’t already in a Group together would further increase usage.

New Chat Design

“It’s been hard to start a conversation before”, says Deng. Now, Facebook will snap on a Chat sidebar if there is enough room in a user’s browser, making it easier to browse Facebook while Chatting. “This makes it so users who have wide enough screens will have an easier time initiating conversations” says Zuckerberg.

Deng tells us that the goal was to make Chat more a part of the browser. “As you’re browsing Facebook, conversations with friends will always be one click away.”

The new sidebar Chat design also includes a more prominent iteration of an older feature called “Limit Availability on Chat”. This allows users to select which of their friend lists they appear available for Chat to. They can select to appear available or unavailable to different lists.

Previously, users had to select which lists to show in chat, and then click on a green pill icon to become available or unavailable to friends in that list. With how buried and difficult to understand this feature was, it probably wasn’t used very often.

The new design presents users with a clear “Limit Availability” option within the Chat panel. The added prominence of this form of privacy settings may be able to combat a major issue with the Chat product – – the desire to not be interrupted. Users can Chat with close friends without being interrupted by those they’re less familiar with. Alternatively, users can Chat only with their professional contacts or co-workers during the day. By being able to select exactly who one appears available to in an intuitive way, users may be more comfortable leaving Chat on.

Skype Video Calling

The Facebook Skype video calling feature will require users to download a plugin. However, if a user hasn’t installed the video chat plugin, they’ll be able to receive an invite to a video call, download the plugin on the spot, and begin video calling. This is different from traditional Skype where both users need to have downloaded Skype before hand.

Video calling can be reached from a new Call button on a friend’s profile or from the Chat panel. Users see a “Set up video calling” prompt within Facebook, click to accept, and the 29 kb plugin downloads and installs within the browser. Users can then begin their video call. A recipient receives an alert that they’re being called, and can then accept or decline.

The video call window is a separate browser window from Facebook, meaning users can browse around Facebook or other websites while carrying on a video call. Users can select to mute themselves or change their audio input options.

Update: Facebook has set up a landing page for video calling that allows users who haven’t received the roll out of the feature to gain access. A Help Center article about video calling also includes some more details:

• If  a user video calls a friend who has a microphone but not a webcam, they’ll be able transmit video and audio to them and just receive audio back. If you have a webcam, you can’t turn it off to make an audio call.
• A log of the time and date of a video call appears in the inbox conversation between two users, but audio and video are not recorded.
• Video calling works with a variety of browsers, but only Mac and Windows operating systems. Linux is not supported.
• If a user calls a friend who isn’t available at the time, they can record and send them a video message that will appear in their inbox, and a log of the missed call will appear there too.
• While video calling with a friend, users can also text chat with them and other friends. However, users can only video call with one friend at a time

Zuckerberg says that Facebook will begin with one-on-one video calling. However, there may be potential for group video calling in the future. Tony Bates, Skype’s CEO, says that his company is ”considering having Skype paid products within the [Facebook] product.”

In fact, Skype’s consumer head head of consumer product Neil Stevens says that soon users will be able to click on highlighted phone numbers within Facebook to initiate a Skype voice call with them. This will be a paid service, though its unclear whether users will pay Skype directly or purchase calling minutes with Facebook Credits. Other features in the works include Facebook to Skype client calling and group video calling.

Previously, Facebook had worked with Skype to add features from the news feed into Skype’s desktop software. This new partnership between Skype and Facebook worked such that Skype built the downloadable plugin, and Facebook worked on the user flow and getting two people connected as quickly as possible once they’ve sent a video call request.

Phillip Su, the feature’s engineer, tells us it should not present a traffic issue that could cause Facebook to load slower because 95-98% of the traffic of a video calls passes peer-to-peer, and not through Facebook.

Su tells us that the majority of Facebook’s web users connect via broadband, so video calls should run at relatively high definition most of the time. However, Skype’s technology will degrade video quality when necessary but always maintain the audio feed in order to “preserve the impression of continuous connection” says Su.

The video call feature has been in development since before Microsoft moved to acquire Skype. It was also being prepared before Google launched its video call feature Hangouts. Deng tells us “we’re in the business of giving users the best features we have available”, and that this was ready, so the company launched it. However, we’ve heard rumors that the feature could have been even better if given more development time, so perhaps launch was accelerated to prevent Google from gaining a lead in the space.

Deng tells us that Facebook will be watching the level of adoption and user behavior for all of the new products, and will then determine where to go next in terms of features and presentation.

Today, Facebook launched the Send dialog, which allows apps and websites to display a prompt for users to share content by sending a Facebook Message or email, or posting to one of their Facebook Groups. The Send Dialog takes the functionality of the Send button, which lets users initiate microsharing of stable web content, and allows developers to proactively ask users to microshare as part of their app or site’s flow.

The Send dialog will help drive referral traffic to apps whose content is too private to be shared with a user’s entire friend list. Facebook says it will be especially helpful for developers of ecommerce, travel, and event websites and apps, and it’s already active on Airbnb, Gogobot, Keepsy, Jetsetter, SniqueAway, and Viagogo.

Facebook released the Send button on April 25th to complement the share-to-all-friends Like button, take over functionality of its now deprecated Share button, and replace email buttons used on some sites. Today the company notes that 100,000 sites integrated the Send button in the first month, indicating the need for the private sharing capabilities that will be expanded through the Send Dialog.

Developers can now begin building the Send dialog into their flows using the code found in Facebook’s documentation. Similar to the Like button, it does not require extended permissions from a user, though this dialog does not currently support mobile usage. A Facebook employee tells us “Currently the Send Dialog activity is not available in Insights; we are planning to add this functionality in the near future.” This means developers should soon be able to see metrics about Send dialog views and clicks, and views and clicks of inbox Messages sent through the Send dialog, similar to data reported by the Send button.

Facebook says “the Send Dialog is appropriate when a person might otherwise send a personal email” and shouldn’t be used to communicate impersonal content such as of in-game status or to deliver invites. Facebook apps should instead use the Requests channel for that type of content.

Photo book site Keepsy is using the Send dialog so that users can share the photo books they’ve made from a combination of private photos and Facebook photos with the friends tagged in those photos. Rather than use the less customizable Send button, Keepsy displays a tab when you finish creating a photo book that says “Tell your friends” and shows the faces of tagged friends. When clicked, a Send dialog appears pre-populated with those friends as recipients.

The Facebook Message sent through the dialog could lead those friends back to the Keepsy site where they could buy the photobook. In this way the Send dialog generates traffic and sales without forcing users to share a link with all their friends that might lead to private photos.

By providing more ways for developers to access the microsharing functionality of the Send button, Facebook may be able to drive more traffic to niche and private content without filling the news feed with stories that are irrelevant or not suitable for all of a user’s friends.