Facebook News Feed Changes: Say Goodbye To The News Feed You Know (PICTURES)

Scroll down for pictures.

On Tuesday, ahead of Facebook's massive F8 developers conference, the company's Engineering Manager Mark Tonkelowitz took to the Facebook Blog to announce some big changes to the site's News Feed feature.

This redesigned News Feed introduces a revamped feed that delivers updates based on how long you've been away. A week? You get a summary of the top stories in your feed. Five minutes? You get the most recent stories.

Until now, the News Feed was split into two sections: Top News and Recent News, both of which displayed updates in chronological order. But people who visit the site rarely aren’t necessarily looking for the most recent news; they’re more likely looking for the most interesting and engaging updates that have been posted since the last time they logged on.

"Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won't have to worry about missing important stuff," wrote Tonkelowitz. "All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, the first things you'll see are top photos and statuses posted while you've been away. They're marked with an easy-to-spot blue corner. [...] If you check Facebook more frequently, you'll see the most recent stories first."

What's more, the new Feed will now display larger photos, letting you view comfortably as you scroll.

Facebook will also roll out a Twitter-like feature called the Ticker, a mini-feed that sits in the top right corner of your screen, above the Chat column. The Ticker constantly updates what your friends are doing and allows you to comment in real time no matter where you are in Facebook.

Tonkelowitz explains the Ticker thus:

Ticker shows you the same stuff you were already seeing on Facebook, but it brings your conversations to life by displaying updates instantaneously. Now when a friend comments, asks a question or shares something like a check in, you'll be able to join the conversation right away. Click on anything in ticker to see the full story and chime in – without losing your place.

Visit the Facebook Blog to read more about these updates.

Facebook recently made two other big changes to the News Feed.

On September 13, the social network announced "smart lists," a feature that automatically sorts the users' friends into lists for easier and more relevant sharing. (Check out screenshots of the new News Feed, below.)

On September 14, Facebook announced a subscribe button, which lets users view updates in a totally new way--without having to friend each other. To learn more about this new relationship category, take a look at our slideshow of the top five things you need to know about Facebook's Subscribe Button.

TICKER:

TOP STORIES:

NEW STORIES:

Comments

[Jaimin Rajani]

06:44 AM on 09/27/2011

Here's a quick overview at all the recent Facebook additions - http://www.tech.nolicio.us/2011/09/facebook-introduces-timeline-ticker-and.html

[Adam Martin Aguiar]

11:58 AM on 09/25/2011

I like it!

[Tammyalou]

08:36 PM on 09/23/2011

I am not apposed to changes, all web pages and sites are constantly updating and fixing things. I am apposed to the lact of respect to the users. FB did not prepare its users for the upcoming changes, so when it happened everyone reacted negatively, including me. I am also upset that the changes did have negative outcomes to the site and fb won't even comment on why. For example: I created a group for a select few of my friends and I. When the changes happened, the group disapeared and I no longer had access to it for three days. Another problem was that several of my family members disapeared off my friends list and they have said they did not delete me. My events page has some how lost half of my upcoming events and I had to call those people to find out when the upcoming events where happening. There is also no longer a feed telling you when your friends birthdays are so you can give them a happy birthday shout out. A forwarning for all these problems would have only taken a short time and would have cut down on all the negative reactions that they are having to deal with now. Of course they probably don't care since they are such a big company, but if there not careful and keep treating the users this way, then the users will delete there own pages and move on to something else. Thanks.

[Eric Hutcheson]

07:28 PM on 09/22/2011

The new News Feed Sucks!

[Doris Hochman]

12:48 PM on 09/22/2011

WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAID: BUT DOES IT MATTER ANYMORE

[Larry Waters]

11:24 AM on 09/22/2011

One's privacy is ultimately determined by WHAT one shares on FB more than anything else. There are large parts of my life I keep private by never talking about it in the FB world, I put the the minimum amount of personal information on my profile, and I'm very careful with the people friend (43 after two years, most of those are family members) and how much of the site I give each one access too, AND I have the FB privacy settings (for the most part) at their highest levels.
This morning after the Top Story everything else was in chronological order.
There is a lot of misinformation about the new updates. The two problem here are that FB does not prep its users and many FB users over react every time there's a change, instead of taking a little time (really it doesn't take much) to learn how to use the new features, and let the inevitable glitches (it's a complicated system) get worked out.
FB's lack of consideration of it's users and the human proclivity to hate any kind of change are at the root of all the uproar. The site itself, if used wisely, can be a great tool for staying in touch with far flung friends and family.

[aqcheryl]

02:01 AM on 09/22/2011

The people who dont see that there is a problem are thinking everyone else uses FB just like them. We are not all clones. With every update, we have lost more and more privacy, its a fact. And we shouldnt have to hide a friends comments altogether because we dont want to see that they commented on something else.
Yes, FB users complained last time... and now they are fighting to keep the feed the way it was -but this is apples vs oranges. The last time was due to the news feed showing up altogether. But it turned out to be useful. This time, its not. Its not a new feature, in fact, its REMOVED features and quite the opposite of useful.

Thats the crux of the problem. An algorithm cannot dictate what are the important posts - we decide this. People PREFER the chronological order. It would be one thing if the new layout affected only the old "Top News" section, but we had the "Recent News" section we could click on, and subsequent filters.

If you like it how it is, fine, go be happy with it in your own little corner. But dont mock the people who are unhappy with it.

Also, last time people complained, they didnt have another place to go to.. MySpace was not it. Now, Google is competition. FB better watch out, or it will follow the path MySpace took.

[Dee Amschler]

10:38 PM on 09/21/2011

I wouldn't mind half as much if it weren't for the following:
1. No warning AT ALL until it suddenly loaded all funky (which turned out to be the "new" FB)
2. Their own help is (as always) less helpful than talking to a brick wall
3 Since THEY think it's "helpful" and "better" they don't give the north bound end of a rat flying south for the winter what WE - their USERS have to say about it
4. There isn't nearly the functionality of the prior arrangement or if there is, nobody seems to know where to find it.

[Larry Waters]

08:46 PM on 09/21/2011

Don't want to see a friend tagged on someone else's potos in your news feed? Hover mouse cursor over their name (or go to their profile) when menu appears hover "subscribed" and deselect "Other Activities"

[Larry Waters]

08:41 PM on 09/21/2011

Don't want to see a friends comments & Likes on someone else's post? Hover mouse cursor over their name (or go to their profile) when menu appears click "subscribed" and deselect "Comments & Likes"

[MusicMaker53]

12:31 PM on 09/22/2011

But what if you want to see a friend's comments on another FRIEND's post? I just don't want to see their comments to people I don't know. I don't want to see photos a friend has been tagged in if it is all people I don't know. I DO want to see the pictures THEY post. I don't want to see a friend make a dinner date with someone I don't know - it's none of my business. Is there a way to manage this stuff selectively?? So far, FB is striking out 100% of the time in the stuff THEY think I want to see.

[Papamitch]

07:48 PM on 09/21/2011

If you refresh the page 2 or 3 times, facebook will assume you've seen/read the "top stories" and will revert to the recent feed. Bit of a pain if you have a slow connection, but seems to be a viable workaround.

[onlythetruthcounts]

06:28 PM on 09/21/2011

I remember when email was the deal, then im's, now we have instant updates with twitter and fb. I would much rather make one post on fb that all my friends can see than cc an email.

[onlythetruthcounts]

06:17 PM on 09/21/2011

Seems like these are some useful features. For the haters: at least they are trying to improve the service instead of letting it go the way of myspace.

[pcflamingo]

06:39 PM on 09/21/2011

The 5800 plus commenters on the Facebook blog would beg to differ with you. The vast majority of them are saying basically - put it back the way it was, this new way sucks.

[Larry Waters]

06:53 PM on 09/21/2011

That's what they said about the previous change that they are now clamoring to have reinstated.

[onlythetruthcounts]

07:20 PM on 09/25/2011

I can't tell that much has changed besides making wall posts and activities public, which I'll admit is a big deal and requires users to go out of their way to make it all private again. Besides that the news feed is an improvement for me and I still don't know what that "ticker" is. I don't have a "ticker."

[prddem]

04:33 PM on 09/21/2011

Hate it.......screwy.

[JustinP213]

03:39 PM on 09/21/2011

Terrible layout.