Is the new Facebook for you?

Facebook has rolled out tons of features over the years, sometimes publicly and sometimes subtely. Some have been very popular and some have been pulled out due to user backlash. But the Facebook we use today has remained more or less unchanged for the last few years. The only sign of Facebook expansion has been the proliferation of Like buttons everywhere we go. This week at their annual developer conference f8, Facebook unveiled the next generation of Facebook features- one that will remake Facebook as we know and use it.I will refrain from listing all the new features rolling out over the next few months. It is listed here and the video of the launch is here. Here is what you need to know and expect.Facebook wants to be your scrap book, diary and life chronicle- all in one place. It wants you to share what you read, what you see, what you listen, and what you experience. Timeline is the way it will happen.If you thought sharing was getting out of control, this will be downright painful for you. There are now choices such as Moved, Bought a Home, Broke a Bone, Had Surgery, Lost a Loved one- and I am not kidding.You can now share music you are listening to with your friends. A veritable list of who's who is on board to make this happen. This has the potential to be big as I had mentioned a few weeks earlier.Your profile now looks completely different. It has a timeline of everything as described above in addition to a blog like feel. Tumblr- look out!Apps and how you give them permissions is going to change. Gone is the question every time you want or think of sharing. Permissions are asked once and remembered. Once you allow, it is open. This may prove to be a divisive feature. Some people will love the convenience. Others will miss the fine-grained control.Like with music, video sharing is also happening. Netflix is aboard as a partner as is Hulu.And then there is the already rolled out restructuring of the news feed with its rapidly updating ticker on the right.There are a lot of changes. And Facebook as we know it will not exist in a few months. Friends will be around but everything else will look and feel different. As with past changes, people will learn to get along with the new Facebook. Is this revamp good enough to put away the threat from Google+ which is still at its infancy or will it take more?For the consumer, Google+ is a win-win. It offers an alternative to Facebook. But more importantly, it will not force Facebook to up its ante and serve up new features. Undoubtedly, Google+ will only get better with time and so will Facebook. For the social network loving user, things are going to get a lot more interesting.