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A few weeks ago, we caught wind that Facebook was testing a new homepage design. Screenshots revealed a few interesting changes, such as a decrease in size for the Facebook Publisher box and a new, Friendfeed-like “Top News” filter for the news feed.

Yet that’s all of the details we could discern from the screenshots. We didn’t know when it would launch, the philosophy behind the changes, or its impact on advertising. But now, thanks to one of our readers, we have an exclusive inside look into the new home page, engagement ads, and more. Below, we provide a detailed explanation of the new Facebook home page, as well as the document sent to brand advertisers.

Changes to the Home Page

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In this four page document, Facebook outlines the benefits of the redesign to advertisers who will clearly be affected. First, Facebook states its goal for the new homepage: “simplifying the user experience on the home page by introducing Top News and Recent Activity streams.”

Here’s Facebook’s full explanation:

“Facebook is simplifying the user experience on the home page by introducing Top News and Recent Activity streams. Now, when users log on to Facebook for the first time in a while, they will see the most important stories that they missed while they were away. From there, users can navigate to the real-time stream and toggle between both views throughout their sessions. In addition to making it easier for users to view content that is most relevant to them, this change also speeds up the time it takes for the home page to load and makes birthday reminders more prominent.

Ultimately, Facebook believes these changes will increase engagement on the home page by surfacing more relevant stories to users.”

Summary: The new home page emphasizes on toggling between views and feeds in order to personalize the experience. It also decreases Facebook’s load time, which will likely have a major impact on time on site and bandwidth costs.

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News Feed Changes

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Facebook then details the changes to the News Feed. There are two different ways to view it: the summary view (Top News) and the real-time view (Recent Activity). The first filter is a prominent feature of FriendFeed () and likely the FriendFeed team had something to do with building Top News. It also looks like Facebook is removing the Highlights section on the right hand sidebar of the home page in favor of the Top News filter.

Oh, there is one more doozy: Facebook is bringing back a lot of new information to the News Feed. From Facebook’s document:

“Facebook has also put information back into the stream that people have asked for, including photo tags, friend acceptances, relationships, Event RSVPs and group memberships. In addition, birthdays are now viewable above the fold.”

We’ve heard complaints about losing these news feed items from the last redesign, so it’s a plus that the world’s largest social network is bringing them back.

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Engagement Ads and Fan Pages

Facebook believes the upcoming changes are a boon for brand advertisers. 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 right column of the homepage is also stripped down, which will make ads on the home page more prominent.

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