I know a lot of people are complaining about the new Facebook. I’m also one of them. However, I did just figure out something new today. I watched the video on this Facebook blog post and it explains some of the new “features” (also known as “bugs” in my opinion!).
I now understand what the Ticker is for. It used to frustrate the heck out of me when I was catching up on my Newsfeed that the entire screen would refresh to let in the new (real time) feed. I might have been scrolled down 3 or 4 times (when you click “load more” at the bottom of a page) and it would all disappear in order to refresh the real time feed. But with Ticker, that won’t happen anymore. So if I’m playing catchup on my Newsfeed, it’s no problem!
But wait, you’re wondering, where’s my Newsfeed? Facebook tossed it & replaced it with the Top Stories crap, right? Yup, they did. But did they? There is a loophole in this issue (which I found out by watching that video). Facebook is now using lists. Well, they 
were always there before – they just didn’t do anything. But they created a new one called “Close Friends”. It’s over on the left side. Click on this and it gives you the option to add friends to it (it provides suggestions). Eventually the suggestions run out, but then you can click on the list to select from your entire friends list. Just keep adding until you’ve added everyone you want to see in your pseudo Newsfeed.
Then the next time you visit Facebook, if it’s not already selected, click on Close Friends and that will become your feed.
The downside is that now you’ll receive a LOT more notifications. But I figure that’s a pretty good trade off to be able to see everyone’s activity in chronological order instead of the Top Stories that Facebook selected for us.
I do most of my Facebook-ing on my iPhone which still allows me to see things in “Status Update” view (which I always preferred over their old “Top Stories” Newsfeed anyway). But the new changes had kept me off the web version of Facebook. Glad to know I can jump back in when I want to!
Hope this helps others. It’s always a bummer when our free service screws us up and we’re forced to complain and whine…and then get on with our lives. ;o)
UPDATE: I figured out how to turn off all the notifications (there’s a button in the upper right corner, don’t know how I missed it since I kept going that direction to use my account settings!). I created a link to take me directly to my Close Friends feed, it’s still working great (Oct 11). Also just upgraded my iPhone app and it’s using my Close Friends feed instead of the Top Stories feed. I can’t find any way to change this and I’m fine with this (it’s just that someone else I know is stuck reading Top Stories, she’s hoping if she uses Close Friends it will change for her on the app).
