Big revamp of Facebook

Palo Alto, California - Facebook on Wednesday unveiled a redesign that gives users instant updates about friends and provides a platform for stars, politicians and others to reach mass audiences.

Facebook will begin shifting users to a new home page design on March 11 and posted a preview at the popular social-networking website for its famously change-wary users to check out.

"Our intuition is this is the right direction," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in disclosing the changes at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

"This isn't the last time we are going to change this. As long as the amount of people sharing information is going up, we know we are going in the right direction."

Facebook lifted a 5 000-friend cap at the website, essentially providing a stage for people with large audiences to have their virtual voices heard instantly by an unlimited number of fans.

Facebook still lets users filter which friends get access to profile pages that typically hold personal information such as family photos, intimate thoughts, and private phone numbers.

Those signed up for the new Facebook stage at its launch Wednesday include US President Barack Obama, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and rock bank U2.

The change also positions Facebook to try to make money with a feature that provides an online platform for people with brands to promote or messages to spread.

Facebook playfully named the new feature after TechCrunch blog founder Michael Arrington on the basis he has long been asking for the 5 000-friend limit to be raised.

"There is a philosophical change; we want to converge all these different kinds of people on the website," Zuckerberg said.

"Bono, the New York Times, public figures and more have messages and want their voices heard by their audiences."

- AFP