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I tried really hard to figure out how to “fluff-up” this announcement. After all, Microsoft went to the trouble to pre-brief me, but I just can’t say it any better than I can show it. So here goes. MSN is going from this: To this: Yes, one of the most popular destinations on the web–600 million monthly users no less–is getting a face-lift. Here are some of the key things to note: There’s a new MSN logo to go with the redesign. There are 50% fewer links on the page. The Bing search box is better integrated, because MSN already drives 45% of searches to Bing–something this design will take further advantage of. You can view and update Twitter and Facebook. There’s more focus on Local–there’s even a new MSN Local Edition. As you use the site, MSN will learn your content preferences and customize accordingly. The new page design will start rolling out today, but most of you won’t see it as the default until early next year. If you’re anxious to use the new design now, you can head to http://preview.msn.com . That’s all!

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The New MSN.com: Less Links, More Social

Back in July, Yahoo premiered the latest version of their homepage . The two biggest differences were the ability to personalize apps to add content to the homepage, and ditching dozens of links to less popular Yahoo services. And after three months, Yahoo’s ready to report their progress: time spent on their homepage is up 20% . Speaking at Yahoo’s annual Analyst Day today, senior vice president Tapan Bhat also reported that pageviews were up 9%. By Yahoo’s measures, the redesign is a success—they were going for greater user engagement (what Bhat dubbed “PageYield”). The big changes—specifically personalization, but streamlining the links probably helped—contributed directly to the increased engagement. The personalized widgets in the page were well received by Yahoo-ers. Says TechCrunch: According to Yahoo consumer surveys, 75 percent of users love the applications area and 40 percent are using between 6 to 11 apps. Usage of that feature is up 8 percent over the past three months. And that’s not the only good news: the “Today” module, showing targeted top headlines, sees click-through rates of 76%, while the ad on the homepage has seen a 10% CTR increase. However, the reduced number of ads on the page is still going to hurt Yahoo’s bottom line. What do you think? Are these measures accurate ways to count user engagement? Is the redesign a success? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Yahoo’s Time on Homepage Up 20% Since Redesign

As we’ve heard before , Facebook is gearing up for yet another redesign. As we saw in leaked screenshots two weeks ago, Facebook is going to start sorting news feeds by Recent Activity and Top News stories (the ones with the most comments or likes). That change is supposed to also reduce load time, and relegates the Publisher box to an “Update Status” button. So the new news in the latest leaks: Mashable has a four-page PDF from Facebook to its advertisers that outlines the changes they’ve made, and why. In addition to the aforementioned changes to the news feed, they’re adding back a lot of the friend activity information that was filtered out after the last redesign. Facebook redesigns are notoriously unpopular . Of course, most people resist change, and it’s tough to please hundreds of millions of people. Other important changes come from the Engagement ads and fan pages. As the PDF for advertisers explains, Facebook is working to help its advertisers receive good placement, so they’re adding fanning, RSVPs for events and virtual gifts to the news feed. (I know, just what you were waiting for.) This will move these events out of the right-hand column, which would also make ads placed there more prominent. FB says that their new pages will increase fan signups: The opportunity to acquire Fans increases with this new home page design. This is due to several reasons including the migration of Fan stories into the center stream, and the increase in “Suggestions” from one to two connections. They’re also premiering new layouts for Groups (and this one has already rolled out). In a blog post Monday, Facebook said that they’re revamping Groups pages to make them more like profiles and fan pages, and to surface more info to make it easier for members to keep up with group activities. You can also sort your news feed to show only stories from your groups (which isn’t a new feature, I believe, just a reminder). In all, this “redesign” is more of a tweak to the last one. While no change will ever be well-received 100% by a group as big as FB’s user base, the “less is more” approach will probably lead to less opposition. What do you think? Will this redesign go over well? Will there be as much protest this time around? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Facebook’s Facelift (and Changes for Groups)