Some of the links seen on Facebook now have enlarged images from the ones previously available, reportedly, they are also increasing the size of text description that are linted with the link.

This change is definitely welcomed and is aimed to increase CTR(click-through rate) and make the site more visually appealing.

Certain preview images load larger in size than they did previously, with more room for descriptions. However, the fact that other links in news feeds are loading with the smaller image size, suggests that this is an early test perhaps a beta test to measuring CTR to determine whether large preview images encourage more clicks from Facebook users. Equally, the more visual approach may increase Likes, comments and other engagement on posts.

The larger images will definitely drive people to click more on the links, but what about the visibility of links as compared to images which is determined by Facebook’s Edge Rank.

Facebook has been criticised for prioritizing advertising updates and hiding some ‘organic updates’, this looks like a move in the right direction.

Update 1: This will be rolled out to everyone, globally by today, 18th January 2013.

The DNetWorks Team