Facebook Now Has 800 Million Users

Facebook opened its F8 conference in unconventional fashion  on Thursday, with Saturday Night Live actor Andy Samberg parodying Mark Zuckeberg on stage.

His parody did include on very real stat though: Facebook has passed 800 million users (which Facebook measures as users that have logged in during the past 30 days). That means Facebook has added about 50 million users since July. Zuckerberg took the stage a few minutes after Samberg and offered another stat, noting that Facebook had recently seen its first day in which half a billion people logged into the site.

Zuckerberg is expected to reveal a number of major features during today’s keynote, including media sharing and an overhauled user profile. You can follow the latest updates on our live blog.

1. Top Stories

Facebook's new design highlights posts that you'll likely find important, and prioritizes them at the top of your feed when you log in. The top stories are designated by a blue tag in the upper left corner of the post. From what we can see, however, top stories don't regenerate much throughout the day -- especially if you keep Facebook open in your browser like your Twitter ticker.

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2. New Posts

Above your top stories you'll find the option to expand more recent posts, much like Twitter's "47 new tweets" real-time notification bar.

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3. Recent Stories

However, the new post notification bar doesn't refresh as often, but instead automatically expands new stories much like the older version.

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4. Hide Posts

In the drop-down tab on the upper right of every post, you still have the option to hide posts (whether to delete the individual story or to hide that person's updates altogether). In the new version, you also have the option to mark a post as a top story, thus increasing the likelihood that that type of post or friend will appear in your Top Stories feed.

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5. Ticker

The new ticker on the upper right of your homepage condenses real-time posts. Hover over any story to expand and view likes and comments.

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6. Ticker / Chat

If you expand your chat sidebar (whether or not you're online), the ticker attaches to the top. That way, any page you navigate away from the home feed will still display real-time updates. Adjust chat/ticker proportions by hovering over the gray bar between chat and the ticker.

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7. Album Layout

Last but not least, Facebook has made album design a bit more aesthetic. Albums that appear in your newsfeed stack three photos for a more creative viewing experience.

What Do You Think of the Facebook Changes?

Mark Zuckerberg has announced big Facebook changes — now it’s your turn to react. What do you think of the new Timeline, showing all your stories and all your apps? Is it really a new way to express who you are?

How do you like the Open Graph innovations? How about the new integration of music, movie, TV and news apps?

SEE ALSO: Facebook Adds TV & Movies to the Stream

Yahoo Hooks Up With Facebook for Socially Curated News

Yahoo is betting the farm on Facebook with the launch of a completely new and social way to consume news.

The new Yahoo News feature, whose release coincides with the launch of the new Facebook Open Graph, is an attempt to infuse social into the news curation and discovery process.

“Yahoo has always had amazing content and amazing editorial ability,” Yahoo Director of Product Management Jonathan Katzman says. “Now users can discover the content through their friends.”

Once a user opts into the service (via the new Facebook permissions screen), she will be able to see what news stories her friends have read on both Facebook and Yahoo News. This simple two-way stream of information makes it possible to discover news content through your friends.

The crux of the Yahoo News-Facebook integration is the “facebar,” a row of your friends’ faces that appear above any article you read. Clicking on any of these faces will bring up their recent activity. There is also now a “You on Yahoo News” widget that sits to the right of the content. This widget lets you see a history of what you’ve read and gives you options for removing different stories from your Yahoo News feed and turning the social features off altogether.

This is only the beginning for Yahoo, though. The digital media company is also integrating Facebook withIntoNow, a mobile app that “listens to” and tags TV shows (the company acquired IntoNow earlier this year). “What we’re trying to have happen, and Facebook is trying to do as well, is to be the river of information flowing around your activity,” Katzman says.

Other Yahoo products will roll out with Facebook integration in the next few months, thanks to the additions the social network has made to the Open Graph. Yahoo believes that Facebook integration is good for business as well — it will lead to higher engagement, the struggling Internet giant argues.

The new Facebook integration in Yahoo News is simple, but it’s just the beginning for what the the company has planned. Facebook is about to become a whole lot more prominent on Yahoo.

Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed

Facebook is driven by a single, unique goal. Its priority isn’t to gain more users (it already has 750 million of those), nor does it feel compelled to find stupid ways to increase pageviews. Its primary goal right now isn’t to increase revenue, either — that will come later.

No, Facebook’s goal is to become the social layer that supports, powers and connects every single piece of the web, no matter who or what it is or where it lives. On Thursday at its f8 conference in San Francisco, the world’s largest social network will take a giant leap toward accomplishing that goal.

I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching, I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed. The news that will come out of Facebook during the next few weeks will be the biggest things to come out of the company since the launch of the Facebook Platform.

SEE ALSO: Facebook Reveals Major Updates at F8 [VIDEO]

For Facebook, it all boils down to one problem: emotion. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and spectacular levels of engagement, but it is a platform that has lost its emotional resonance over the years. More and more people visit Facebook out of necessity rather than desire. It’s a platform people prefer to hate, but won’t leave simply because all their friends are there.

It’s a relationship gone stale. After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.

That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and thesubscribe button. Friend Lists lets you share content with just your closest friends (with whom you have the strongest emotional connection), and the ticker lets you have real-time conversations with your friends as soon as they do anything. Subscribe lets you fill your News Feed with people you admire and respect, fostering a different type of emotional connection.

But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook. These changes will make Facebook a place where nearly everything in your life is enhanced by your social graph. These changes will make it so you know your friends better than you ever thought you could.

On Thursday, developers will be elated, users will be shellshocked and the competition will look ancient. On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn. Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking.

UPDATE: Facebook has rolled out a number of major changes, including a major overhaul of user profiles, new apps for playing music and watching video on the site, and social news apps. See some of the highlights in the gallery below: