Facebook recently made some modifications to its home page that are undeniably more advertiser-friendly; ads are now much more prominent on the site and enable brands to expand their reach across the network.

Not surprisingly, many Facebook users are less than enthusiastic about the changes. As has also been the case after most major Facebook redesigns, various groups, including one with more than 1.2 million members called "Change Facebook to Normal!!," have sprung up on the social networking site begging and demanding a return to the previous look.

In one protest post on the above-mentioned group's page, a member implores Facebook to switch back to the old look: "Change it back," she wrote."It was fine the way it was, it really did not need to be changed. MySpace is looking better and better."

Facebook Offers Option

Facebook, as it happens, is offering users a way to change their homepage's look if they don’t like it, and does explain how in a small blog post. It is banking, however, on most users overcoming their initial resistance to change and ultimately accepting the redesign, much of which, the site claims, has been based on user feedback and focus groups.

The site now offers users two different feeds: a main one that features updates determined by Facebook to be most relevant to the user, and a live feed that aggregates all of the real-time updates from the user's network. The main feed is the first feature a user sees when he or she logs on now. Toggling back is required to get to the live feed.

SocNet Experts Weigh In

In the most basic terms, the latest round of changes to Facebook's homepage gives users the ability to choose between conversations that are most interesting and those that are most active, a move that is a coup for those marketing on the site and a huge win for motivated advertisers, according to Stephanie Agresta, EVP and global director of digital strategy and social media at Porter Novelli (via TechNewsWorld).

"If status updates evoke more responses and conversational activity, they will get more exposure," she said. "This is a definite incentive to provide real value to the community - for individuals and brands. While some people will still continue to post what they ate for lunch, those with creativity and storytelling skills will bubble up to a larger audience."

Facebook's Pitch to Advertisers

Agresta's impressions of the changes follow a similar train of thought Facebook developers took when they set out to revamp the page. Tech blog Mashable published a document it claimed Facebook has sent to its brand advertisers about the changes before they appeared.

"The first piece of news: fanning, RSVPs for events, and virtual gifts will reappear in the social stream organically, which makes it easier for brands to expand their reach across Facebook," the document read. "The right column of the homepage is also stripped down, which will make ads on the home page more prominent."

The document also boasted that, because the right column of the page is now less cluttered, the home page ad becomes more prominent. Furthermore, "the opportunity to acquire fans increases with this new home page design," Facebook said. "This is due to several reasons including the migration of fan stories into the center stream, and the increase in 'suggestions' from one to two connections."