Money Matters, Simplified.
Facebook rolls out restructured homepage
by Jaspreet Virk - October 24, 2009 - comments
The News Feed will include the items that Facebook thinks are most interesting and could be of most value to the users, while Live Feed will provide users a track of real time updates from their network
New York, October 24 -- Users will no longer miss birthday or event alerts, the most interesting things or the top stories from their friends list, claims Facebook.
The social networking site has revamped its home page yet again in an attempt to make its site more user-friendly and simplify the process of finding information.
With the new changes rolled out Friday, Facebook members will see a new the home page, which will feature separate tabs for News Feed and Live Feed.
Changes incorporated
The News Feed will include the items that Facebook thinks are most interesting and could be of most value to the users. These will include photos, status updates etc. Even the Highlight feature appearing on the right hand side of the page has been integrated to the News Feed.
"News Feed picks stories that we think you'll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story," Facebook wrote in a blog post.
On the other hand, the Live Feed will provide users a track of real time updates from their network like when a friend added a new friend etc.
If the highlight section becomes redundant, everything will shift higher to the page, meaning birthdays or event alerts will become more prominent.
End users voice discontentment
Majority of the users are not really convinced with the new design. Though there are some who have welcomed the change, the redesign is facing a lot of user backlash.
A user named Cory Roush commented on mashable.com, “I think it's the best redesign yet. Facebook can finally be divided into those who want to know EVERYTHING about everyone, and those who just want to stay connected and in touch.”
Another user named Mary Witter posted her view on searchenginewatch.com, “Stop it, stop it, stop it! No more changes and "improvements". Are you guys bored...just coming up with something to do? Has anyone actually asked for this? I, too, don't care who added who, who became fans of who or who joined what.”
“Whoever had this idea should be fired,” stated a user named Emmanuel on thenextweb.com.
A user named Jess commented on the same forum, “The worst part is that it’s Facebook just guessing what you want to see. If you want to see more you have to look at all these things that didn’t show up in the feed before, like who your friends recently friended. It would be a good idea if the USER chose what they saw and didn’t see.”