Facebook redesign coming to take on Twitter

Facebook caused a mini revolt among some of its users last time it redesigned, but there are far bigger changes coming in terms of how it handles the connections between normal non-famous users and public figures and organisations.

What were previously known as Pages will become much more like regular profiles - so if you're a fan of President Obama, Oprah Winfrey or, for some reason, U2 you'll soon find their updates trickling into your very own newsfeed.

Make friends and influence people

The new look Pages are already being rolled out and they now behave much more like regular profiles – not only has the layout changed but the Wall area has been updated so you can post photos as well as messages.

Further down the line, updates and changes posted by celebs or organisations to their revamped Facebook profile will start to show up in the newsfeed of normals, right next to info about their actual real friends. It'll feel like you're BFFs with Jordan and Peter Andre.

This will give Facebook similar functionality to Twitter, which allows people to follow their favourite celebrities and brands without the relationship needed to be a two way thing.

Need to know, now

Facebook is also changing the speed at which updates occur to your homepage – starting from next week you'll see updates appear as they happen, which again is similar to Twitter.

If you're worried you'll be overwhelmed by all that new info, fear not – unlike Twitter, Facebook will let you keep up the façade of reciprocal friendship, without having to actually hear about somebody's dull little life. You'll be able to remove people from your newsfeed that are just plain boring or only hear from certain groups all without hurting anyone's online feelings. Bonus.

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