Facebook makes 'immediate' changes

Facebook now wants to notify you in an instant
Facebook now wants to notify you in an instant

Those who want Facebook to never change and stay exactly as it is, we have some bad news – the site's developers have started to tweak things again.

The latest changes are subtle but significant ones. First up is with online chat. You now have the ability to group friends, so that it looks like you are online for some but not for others.

What this essentially means is you can chat at work without your boss sneaking on to the site to see if you are online. Not that we would ever condone that sort of behaviour.

To display and modify the lists, just click on Friends List in the Chat window.

Immediate notifications

The second change is with notifications. Essentially, Facebook are trying to play the Twitter game and let you know what is happening on the site at any given minute.

These real-time notifications will appear in your chat window, so if someone comments on a picture or status, or if you've been tagged in an image, you can know about it quicker than ever.

Interestingly, Facebook are pushing the gaming aspect of this, stating on its official blog: "A common use of notifications with applications on Facebook is for multi-player gaming.

"For example, when you're playing a game and take your turn, your opponent receives a notification so they know to take their turn. The immediate notifications can help you play a game faster."

Essentially, the site wants to keep you online and coming back for as long as humanely possible. Oh, and make sure that you don't get distracted by the constant Tweeting of its latest rival, Twitter.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.