Facebook's Android app used to be one of the most bloated, heavy and unoptimized applications available on Android. Over the years, the team at Facebook has worked to optimize the app and make better attuned to the needs and demands of its customers. While the app is still heavy and bloated, at least it works better than what it used to, even though there is still a lot of fat that could be trimmed out. Facebook has been testing and incorporating changes like better Background Location settings and an upcoming white UI recolor; and now, the company has announced that Facebook for Android is getting a dedicated gaming tab.
According to Facebook, more than 700 Million unique monthly active users either play a game on Facebook through Instant Games or web games, or watch a gaming video for at least a minute, or participate in a gaming discussion. Facebook now wants to make it easier for people to find and connect around their favorite games, streamers, groups and other related areas, and hence, is rolling out a dedicated Facebook Gaming tab in the main navigation bar.
The main navigation bar in the Facebook for Android app provides personalized shortcuts for people to easily access the content that they interact with the most. Providing a dedicated Gaming tab will allow users to quickly find content, play games, watch gaming videos and connect with gaming groups.
This tab is rolling out to a small subset of the aforementioned users, and over time, this will be expanded for more people. Facebook is also beta testing a standalone Facebook Gaming app on Android, which incorporates even more features than the Gaming tab. It remains to be seen how effective exactly are these feature and app rollouts in pitching Facebook as a serious competitor to sites like YouTube and Twitch.