Facebook makes some changes to compete with Twitter

It's not a risk Facebook can afford. In an age where users' obsession-turned-irritation with social networking sites begins to resemble a bad marriage, functionality in professionals' everyday work-lives is key. As much as Facebook owners enjoy reading that their sister's son just fed his dog, the site that best shares articles, issues invites, and provides constant, concise news feeds has the best chance of survival. 

Follow the home page tour link above your page, and you'll see Facebook's new plan laid out in a neatly-structured graph. The site's main changes include dropping the distinction between private profiles and public pages and removing the 5,000 friend limit. Facebook is also changing the news updates to real-time, rather than updating them every 10 minutes or so. 

Zuckerberg explained at a press conference that Facebook is not attempting to simply mimic Twitter, but to become an all encompassing, private and public networking tool, implementing what he calls a "philosophical change." 

So the real question becomes, will this work? A plethora of NBC shows, like 30 Rock and Lipstick Jungle love to explore exactly how much space there is between modern workers' personal and professional lives, so it's not a new concept. But are Facebookers really comfortable sharing the same  information with their families as with their co-workers? Are they really okay with inviting all of their gchat and AIM PR acquaintances onto their personal page? Of course, Facebook is making some allowances for this discomfort, creating filters for different sets of friends and family, but it's still a complex gray area.

Will this be a fight to death? Or will Facebook and Twitter go their separate ways, one for friends and family, one for work contacts, never the twain to meet? Your move, Zuckerberg.