Didn’t we just get a redesign? Yup. But Facebook has done it again and now users have yet another new interface to get used to.
The changes are mostly to the home page, which should be easier to use for those who have massive amounts of friends.
Facebook has abandoned the haphazard newsfeed of old and migrated to a more status update-centric approach. Let’s just say it: It’s more like Twitter. Of course, the two sites have very different philosophies and purposes, but this probably drives a nail into the coffin of the “Nobody cares what you’re doing!”-crowd’s thesis. Apparently we do care… at least when it comes to our friends.
I don’t know about your Facebook network, but my friends took to the ability to comment on status updates (unveiled last year) like ducks to water. Facebook is infinitely more fun now that you can have a real conversation on it, though people seem less enthused about the live chat feature. It’s handy occasionally, but it doesn’t replace existing services like Yahoo, MSN and AIM.
Perhaps more important for heavy FB users is the other big new feature: Filters! Now you can narrow your newsfeed down to specific friend groups, like your work network, your school network, your city/regional network and so on. It also promises to make it easier to organize your friends into groups that you create (family, old school pals, people I barely know, etc.) and then view the newsfeed with only those people who fit the filter requirements. Click on the Friends button at the top of any FB page to create friend groups.
You can also sort the newsfeed by links, photos and videos. That makes for a handy way to catch up on all the latest stuff people have posted over the last couple days and you don’t have to worry about missing it because Facebook didn’t decide to display it for whatever reason. Facebook is making each of us a personal-publishing powerhouse, but I wonder if segregating links and photos to the side will mean less views?
All in all, it’s a pretty solid update. I haven’t noticed any glitches yet on my end of things, but the wonderful thing about Facebook is that we each see a completely different network when we log in, so things might be different on your end. What are you experiences? Is this update a winner?