Daily Times

Facebook is testing a new feature that could bring its stable of social media properties closer together.

The new feature displays notifications from Facebook-owned social networks such as Instagram and Messenger inside the primary Facebook app.

The feature was first spotted by social media analyst Mari Smith, who posted a screenshot of the new notifications setup on her Facebook profile.

In the image, the Messenger icon that normally appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen has been replaced by a profile picture and notification number.

Tapping on this will bring up a tray at the bottom of the screen, displaying the number of notifications from each social media account inside a red circle.

This is as far as the integration goes at this point. Tapping on any of the red circles will launch the app in question, so that users can see their notifications as normal.

Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp doesn’t appear to be included in the test.

“We are conducting a very small test to make it easier for people to discover and connect with the people and things they care about,” Facebook told TechCrunch in a statement.

“We’re exploring ways to help people switch more easily between their Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram accounts.”

The new feature could help Facebook keep users clicking around inside its ecosystem of apps, reducing the risk that they will be distracted by other apps when they return to the Home screen.

However, it is likely to rankle some users, who prefer to keep their various social media profiles and personas separate.

As the feature is only a test, it’s highly possible that it may never be launched on a larger scale – we’ll just have to wait and see.