After the emergence of Google Plus this year, many people were wondering if Facebook had finally met its match. Maybe that’s so, but Facebook has upped the ante once again over the past few weeks. During that time, Facebook significantly scaled up the amount of information it tracks about you – and many millions of other people. The once humble status update field has been expanded to include 6 types of “life events.” You now automatically share data about what you’re reading or listening to. There are more ways to follow and filter people. Those are just a few of the changes.

The big Facebook re-design has caused a predictable user backlash and media frenzy. To help you get a handle on what has changed, in this post we’ll summarize the new Facebook and explore the major implications.