Facebook's News Feed: Revamped Home Page Tries To Remedy Information Overload

NEW YORK — Worried about missing a birth announcement, or details on what your portly uncle had for lunch?

Facebook is tweaking its home page yet again in hopes of making it easier to find information. Among the latest changes is a list of items you might have missed during those rare moments spent away from the online hangout.

The changes are being rolled out Friday.

When you log in to Facebook you will see what the site deems the most interesting things that happened in the past day in the "News Feed." These could be photos, status updates or other items. As has been the case previously, what Facebook deems interesting to you will be based on what updates are popular with your friends or how close you are to the person giving the update.

"If the content has comments or 'likes' by 10 of your mutual friends, it's something that is important to you," said Peter Deng, a Facebook product manager.

After you've caught up, you can click back to the "Live Feed" you've had before and read updates from everyone on your friends list in a constant stream.

In another change, Facebook is integrating its "Highlights" feature from the right hand side of the page to the "News Feed" in the middle. The space it frees up will be used to feature birthdays and events more prominently – something Facebook says users had asked for.

And the site is restoring some features it had gotten rid of, such as posts on when your friend adds a new friend or becomes a fan of a brand or a celebrity.

"Nothing is going away," Deng said. "We are just moving things around."

That's important, because if past redesigns are any indication, change doesn't always go over well at Facebook.

Facebook has more than 300 million active users worldwide and about half of them log in every day. For many people, the site is becoming an important social hub for keeping up with friends and family.

Comments

[dlo2zen]

07:05 PM on 10/27/2009

I wondered what happened to the programmers that invented Vista. Now that I have seen the new FB changes I know where they are.

[Camm s]

04:20 PM on 10/26/2009

I hate the new changes hate hate hate....

[Itsmyland2]

03:41 PM on 10/26/2009

They didn't change much - I didn't even notice any changes till people started griping about it

[farley1]

03:10 PM on 10/26/2009

How could 300,000,000 people be so dumb?

[luvangelHussein330]

02:28 PM on 10/26/2009

If you do not like the new FB, here is a way you can change it back. Look to the top left menu and click on MORE. Then click and drag STATUS UPDATES to the top. Click on it and that becomes your default and it is like before. Pass it on...it works!!!.

[GirlOutWest]

02:22 PM on 10/26/2009

I'm on FB but don't care much for the whole concept. Too much inane personal information...kind of creepy. I don't mind the one to one comment part too much but the stupid games and every thought stuff is so childish. I do think that it's a great way to reconnect with old friends though. Maybe I'll like the new format better.

[Camm s]

04:21 PM on 10/26/2009

Or you could always hide the games and childish things you don't want to see.... You know just an option!

[middleoftheroad]

02:08 PM on 10/26/2009

For such smart people, this is really a stupid move. People don't want to flip back between two screens. Some of the things are on both screens, some are not....who came up with this?

[billy59]

01:46 PM on 10/26/2009

Go to the top left of the page and click on the more button. Find the staus updates and drag to the top.
After dragging to the top click on the status update and you will default back to the old FB.

[TexasAnne]

02:10 PM on 10/26/2009

But that doesn't return the things I liked on the right side of the window... I don't like the new look so much...

[thegirlnextdoor]

01:23 PM on 10/26/2009

Well, in my facebook world this change is unpopular. I don't necessarily only want to see what my friends like. I do have a mind of my own.
And I miss the convenient right hand highlights. There was plenty of room for both those and the birthdays etc.
One other thing it now does is offer suggestions. Stupid suggestions. Like "suggest friends to Gordon", who is my uncle Gordie and happy with 13 family members as friends. or "write on Cardwyn's wall" I'll write on her wall when I have something to say.

[Camm s]

04:23 PM on 10/26/2009

Or having to constantly see who my friends have become friends with.

[pangurban]

12:06 PM on 10/26/2009

It creates a lot of CLUTTER that you have to comb thru to see what you really want to follow. Like listening to music thru a lot of pops and static. They should go back or offer opt outs for the egregious irrelevant material.

[Freakpower]

04:52 AM on 10/25/2009

The interface changes are one thing , but the FB's deciding which content I(we) want, and don't want, and FB choosing the my 4 "most important" contacts that I is obscene.
There IS a FB group with over 300,000 members that are not happy.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=155541434951

[EminemsRevenge]

01:20 PM on 10/24/2009

THEY must've missed me...still looks like the same ol' facebook page i've always had!

[thegirlnextdoor]

09:23 AM on 10/24/2009

The changes are annoying. And I miss the highlights on the right hand side. Now I have to search around for friends posts of videos or photos. It was better for me before. I prefer my friends highlights to what facebook thinks I should prefer. It is very wearysome.

[suigeneris]

06:01 PM on 10/23/2009

Ugh. Every time all the users bother to get used to the last non-intuitive, ergonomic-free change they made, Facebook changes the content or layout all over again. Please Stop, Facebook.

[Martin McKenna]

12:17 AM on 10/24/2009

you got red on u

[UncleJimbo]

05:18 PM on 10/23/2009

This Friday or Next Friday?

[jscherb09]

05:55 PM on 10/23/2009

today, it's actually already changed