Facebook has been making lots of changes lately. Could it be that the king of social networks is feeling pressure from the likes of other social newcomers? Or, perhaps, Facebook wants to show investors that the company has both innovation and a great game plan. Whatever the reason may be, it’s clear that Facebook is all about moving forward. Recently, the social media giant tested a new photo viewer on a few lucky fans.

Still in beta, the new Facebook photo viewer takes its cues from Google Plus. Seemingly, the way that Google has chosen to arrange photos and photo comments on Google Plus is something worth emulating (many Google Plus users agree that Google’s photo commentary spaces are superior). If the new photo viewer ever hits all Facebook accounts, here’s what you can expect to see.

It’s All About the Comments

The new Facebook photo viewer doesn’t leave room for photo comments at the bottom of a photograph. Instead, the new photo viewer opens up the side of the screen for comments. A side comment placement is strategic and intelligent, since (currently) users have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen to see any photo comments (a hassle, at best). The new photo viewer provides a much easier way to comment, like a photo, and to see other comments. If you use Google Plus, you might be familiar with this layout, since Facebook has obviously borrowed the concept from Google.

Interestingly, Facebook isn’t shy about the company’s policy of borrowing from other sites. While Facebook hasn’t come out and said that the new photo viewer idea was taken from Google, Facebook development teams never shy away from being accused of borrowing ideas. While some have an issue with this type of idea sharing, it should be mentioned that no idea is an original idea – well, not entirely anyway – and that all ideas are shared to some extent. Facebook simply learns from its competitors, and that’s the way that most successfully businesses are run. That said, those who enjoy Google Plus’ current photo comment layout will also like the look of the new Facebook photo viewer.

Who Gets to Test it Out?

Facebook rolled out the new photo viewer beta in silence this past week. In fact, few tech blog actually picked up on the changes. Facebook’s silence could be due to the fact that the company isn’t sure whether or not to go with the new photo viewer or it could be that Facebook simply wanted to test out this change without drawing investor attention. Either way, Facebook allowed some anonymous users to view photographs in a different manner. Are you one of the lucky ones?

The new Facebook photo commentary layout seems to make a good deal of sense all around. If the testing period proves to be a good one, you might see some changes coming to your Facebook profile very, very, soon. If not, you’ll have to deal with commenting beneath photographs for now.