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Facebook just got a lot more personal.
The ubiquitous online social network, which boasts 800 million subscribers worldwide, introduced new features Sept. 22 at its annual developers conference that allows users to let their friends know what they are doing in real time.
It also debuted "Timeline," a revamped profile section for users in which you can include important stories and events in your life on one page.
Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, introduced the new features during the company's annual F8 developer's conference in San Francisco. He said Timeline will roll out over the "next several weeks" though a beta period begins now. New apps that take advantage of Timeline will be introduced soon after Timeline is implemented.
The major changes come a day after the company debuted a new "ticker" and other minor adjustments on Facebook that have riled many users who aired their complaints on the Internet.
But Zuckerberg said the new features allow fans of the social network to get better connected with what their friends are doing at that instant and to get a fuller picture of who they are.
At the center of it all is "Timeline," which will be a one-page profile of the user that features a scrolling timeline in the middle of the screen displaying all the important points in his or her life.
"[It's] the heart of your Facebook experience, completely rebuilt from the ground up," Zuckerberg said.
Along the timeline, you will be able to enter a photo or album with a single click. You'll also be able to connect it with the Facebook apps you use daily and have the timeline updated with whatever important moment happens.
"Timeline is for you to express who you are. You have complete control over Timeline," Zuckerberg said. "[It's] an important next step to help you tell the story of your life."
Zuckerberg said that Timeline must work with a whole new library of apps, which he called "Open Graph." The apps allow users to, say, listen to music, watch a movie, eat at a restaurant, or go for a hike, and tell their friends about what they are doing that instant.
This is where the new ticker that Facebook introduced on Sept. 21 comes into play. The new ticker in the righthand corner of the Facebook page introduces what Zuckerberg called a "lightweight" stream of posts from friends of what they may be doing at that moment. The new class of Open Graph apps would feed that ticker as well as update the user's timeline if they want it to.
A big beneficiary of this new feature will be new music service Spotify, which was introduced in America two months ago. So if a person is listening to a particular song, at that instant a post is sent to his or her friends' ticker. Those friends can then call up the song and listen to it at the same time. The same could happen if they are watching an online video through Hulu.com or Netflix or are reading a news story online.
Users also will be able to look at the pattern of listening and viewing habits from their friends by seeing which songs they've liked or what movies they've seen recently.
While privacy concerns have been a particularly sticky issue between Facebook and its users, Zuckerberg says that all of the new features will allow people to adjust who sees what information or if at all.
Zuckerberg said he's also made changes to the online Facebook gaming apps. Now, a player's achievements will automatically go to their friends' tickers instead of calling up a prompt first. And you will be able to see the real-time moves a player makes and even join in on the game instantly.
So far, reaction to the first changes Facebook made to its network on Sept. 21 were met with mostly hostile reactions from users who found them confusing or unnecessary.
But the Palo Alto, Calif., company has been pressed to make redesigns in its service, particularly after search engine giant Google introduced its rival Google+ social network earlier this year. That service garnered 20 million registered users in just the first three weeks of a closed beta.
Twitter: @ohmytech
Google+: +Vincent Horiuchi Question & Answer: Facebook's changes
What is the scrolling, Twitter-like list of my Facebook friends' activities doing on the right side of the new layout?
Facebook calls this the "ticker." The idea is to show a live feed of everything going on with your Facebook friends and pages you follow as it is happening — songs your friends are listening to, news stories they are reading or, eventually, movies or TV shows they watched on Netflix.
How do I go back to the "Old Facebook"
There are some website plugins, such as "Better Facebook" that try to enhance the way your Facebook page looks and feels. Using the mobile application will also give you a more simple Facebook experience.
How does Facebook determine what my "top news" should be?
The "top news" feature has already existed on Facebook, it just didn't automatically appear on the top of your news feed. This is stuff Facebook thinks you will be most interested in. It's not an exact science, so you can uncheck a top story by clicking on a tiny triangle on its upper left corner. The site will try to remember, and a box will pop up saying "we'll try not to pub more stories like this at the top of your News Feed."
Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press