Coruscation

So three big changes:

1. The new Live Feed is linked-to at the top of the page and shows a number of new items since your last visit.

2. Highlights plus hot status updates are now the default, the new News Feed.

3. Birthdays and other important events have taken the place of the old Highlights section; they are of particular interest to users and will now be easier to see.

What It Means

Facebook says that after viewing your new News Feed, you can go check out the raw Live Stream of all the most recent updates from your contacts. That's the opposite of the way FriendFeed did it and neither strategy should be taken for granted. Decisions like this impact a major method of communication for hundreds of millions of people around the world.