The real-time homepage underwent major changes earlier this year, but the updates we're seeing this time around look to be minor, albeit intriguing.
Upon inspection of the images (included below), you'll notice two interesting changes: the Facebook Publisher has been drastically minimized and there's a new prominent filter for News Feed stories, called Top News.
The screenshots clearly depict a user homepage where the Facebook Publisher, the status update box that currently resides at the top of your home page, is surprisingly absent. It's where you can share text, photos, videos, URLs and the like on Facebook. But in a rather strange move, it appears as if the Publisher has been minimized and pushed to the side of a page, as a less intrusive button.
The addition of a Top News filter, on the other hand, would be a new and useful feature. It appears to take top billing atop your News Feed, meaning that you could quickly click on the "View Top News" option to filter for activity in your Facebook network that is popular amongst friends. Top News reminds us of FriendFeed's Best of Day feature, and it looks as if you'll be able to toggle between real-time recent stories and the rising hot stories with comments and likes.
The experimental homepage design seems like a logical next step for the site as they continue to test new ideas, like Facebook Lite, and evolve towards a more user-friendly interface.
Do you like the redesigned homepage? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Facebook Homepage Photos
