Facebook tweaks home page based on feedback

October 23, 2009 By BARBARA ORTUTAY , AP Technology Writer
Facebook logo

(AP) -- 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 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.

©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Rank not rated yet
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Need help reading 3-D
    created18 hours ago
  • A way to send and receive wireless data
    createdFeb 11, 2012
  • Calling function with no input argument
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • Force free body diagram problem on gym equipment
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • Empirical data regarding shower heads and water
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • feed hold button on CNC lathe
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

More news stories

Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Technology / Internet

created 6 hours ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast report

Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic

He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.

Technology / Internet

created 7 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Europeans protest controversial Internet pact

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.

Technology / Internet

created 22 hours ago | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 1

Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 11, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (11) | comments 34 | with audio podcast weblog

Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher

The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...

Technology / Engineering

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (16) | comments 93 | with audio podcast


Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation

Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.

Explained: Sigma

It's a question that arises with virtually every major new finding in science or medicine: What makes a result reliable enough to be taken seriously? The answer has to do with statistical significance -- but ...

Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study

More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists

US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.

New power source discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and RMIT University have made a breakthrough in energy storage and power generation.