Facebook is celebrating its recent 6th birthday by rolling out a dramatic redesign of its homepage. This new layout places a new emphasis on search and allows Facebook users to sort through much more information without ever leaving the homepage.

What additional changes have taken place?

• The search bar is now much larger and more prominently placed.
• Many of the items (like groups and events) that were kept in the Applications Menu have been moved back to the left sidebar on the homepage and rather than taking users to a new page, these now open within the main window where the news feed usually appears.
• Instant messaging and e-mail-like message inbox have been moved out of the periphery. Not only can users check their inbox from a dropdown menu at the top, they can send messages from there as well.
• A user’s IM contact list is no longer hidden in a popup menu in the bottom right hand corner of the site; is it now in the left sidebar.

Facebook is currently in the process of rolling these new features. The entire Facebook Community should have access to the new homepage shortly.