You know those status updates that say that someone is watching “Game Of Thrones” or eating McDonald’s? Now users can post these updates from mobile. Sister site Inside Facebook reported Tuesday that Facebook recently allowed users on mobile web (not the native Facebook application) to post these more visual status updates.
In the digital age, businesses must get social or they'll get left behind. Learn how to give your business an extra edge over competitors at AllFacebook Marketing Conference, June 5 in San Francisco. You'll hear from social media strategists and brand managers at Toyota, UNICEF, and Starwoods Hotels & Resorts. Register today. 
If you’ve noticed more friends posting colorful status updates and more descriptive emoticons in comments, you’re not alone. Facebook announced Wednesday that it is adding more support for emoji — a standardized set of emoticons and picture characters.
Facebook appears to be testing expanded availability of emoticons in status updates independent of those available via the menu of emoticons and actions it began rolling out to users last month, as some users are finding that they can add their own emoticons to status updates, independent of the menu, but those emoticons are only appearing on their Timelines, and not on the News Feed.
Facebook officially confirmed that it will roll out the addition of emoticons and actions in status updates, which many users already have access to, saying that U.S. users will get the new feature “in the coming weeks.”
Facebook wants to know how more of its users are feeling and what they’re doing, as the emoticons and actions it began testing in status updates in January are being rolled out to more users.
Facebook has been trying to rethink emoticons. First, it placed them in status updates, but now it wants to go a little deeper. BuzzFeed reported Friday that Facebook has turned to a Pixar artist (as well as the work of Charles Darwin) to create new emoticons that really get in touch with how people feel.
In the past few months, Facebook has been using the status update box to ask about users’ favorite Halloween candy and to inquire about their holiday plans. Now it’s taking that process to the next step, as TechCrunch reports that Facebook is testing emoticons within the status update prompt. Now when users say that they’re feeling happy or chowing down on pasta, they can have smiley faces or forks accompanying their posts, and detail more specifically what they’re doing.
The developer behind Timeline Remove and Restyle Timeline, Italy-based Secuna, is leaving timeline alone for the time being and taking aim at chat.
Users asked for it, and Facebook has responded. The social network announced Thursday that the native applications for iOS and Android devices now include a share button. Both apps also got an upgrade Thursday, with emoticons coming to Apple and better photo tagging coming to Android.
Facebook announced in August that it was overhauling its messages feature, and, according to a post on the Facebook page of digital marketing agency Interactive Swim, that overhaul appears to have kicked into high gear.
