Facebook rolled out much of the new look tonight that they've been previewing in their preview group for the past few weeks. I like it. It looks a bit sleeker, but all-in-all not really that much different.

To me, the biggest move is the placement of the status section to the immediate right of your Facebook profile picture. Facebook is clearly wanting more people to use this feature - kind of like how a lot of people are signing up and using the very similar (though singularly focused) Twitter.

Don't look now, but here's the Facebook Status Updates page - a simple river of updates with square icons that is starting to look a lot like Twitter. Oh, you can get mobile status updates on your friends as well? Hmm, sounds familiar...(you've actually been able to do this for a while though there is a much clearer emphasis on the Status Update page now).

They've also beefed up the usage of drop-down menus to ensure that all the new features they keep adding stay organized while maintaining a sleek, clean look. The Facebook Blog has more about the changes including the move to a 'Inbox' and Network Pages. You can also take the redesign tour here.

The updates look very nice and I think Facebook made the right call this time by previewing everything with the community beforehand and getting some feedback before going live with changes.

Look out Twitter, there's a new Status-aholic in town.

New Facebook Status Page:



Twitter Status Stream:



Find more of my thoughts on Facebook moving towards Twitter here.