Update 11/30/09: Well, that was odd. I had JUST posted this entry then went back to my own Facebook account to discover this Mashable post in my news feed that explains what's going on:

5 Big Changes to Watch in Facebook’s Upcoming Redesign

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And that's saying something!

I'm used to getting questions from readers about annoying problems they're having with Facebook—privacy issues, missing friends, posts disappearing... But when reader Kim sent me a note last Wednesday saying that a bunch of thngs in her FB interface had moved to other positions, I had trouble imagining what she meant. So she sent me this screenshot (identifying info removed).

As you can see, the left-hand nav bar no longer has the normal list of filters. Instead, a list of applications and bookmarks that normally appear at the bottom left of the screen have moved there (making it impossible for her to change any application settings at the same time). The normal links at the top left for Home, Profile, Friends, and Inbox have moved over to the right-hand side and a new link, called Account, has also shown up there with a dropdown list that includes Privacy and Account Settings (but not Application settings unfortunately). The Search box has moved to the left, etc.

Well, color me stymied! We tried a few standard potential fixes—logging out and back in again, using a different browser, etc.—and no luck. We did determine it was specific to her account because when she logged into a test account I have, everything was back in its rightful position.

Kim has tried contacting Facebook several times to report the problem but, as of yesterday, hadn't received any responses so far. She's also had her page revert to normal a few times since this started, but it always seems to break again shortly thereafter.

The only thing I could think of is that the Facebook development team is testing a new design (oh, yippee) and somehow she's become an unwitting guinea pig. Sure enough, I came upon this post in FB's "Help" Center from several months ago that includes a response from FB to a related problem:

- your user id (fb account) is in an A-B test which is testing new features and layouts for the site. this is rare, and explains why you are seeing the bookmarks on the left instead of the bottom bar, and your son is not. your settings will be restored once the A-B test is over, or if we decide to move forward with the feature of the test.

Both Kim and I also found a couple of threads that seem to indicate that new code gets pushed out on Tuesdays, which may also be related since her problem started on Wednesday.

So if something like this happens to you, I'm not sure there's a lot you can do but wait it out. But I thought I'd post it in case you come upon the same thing so you won't think it's just you. (And, of course, if you happen to know an actual fix for it, I'd love to hear it!

Posted in Bug Alert, Facebook, Reader Questions, Social Media, User Interface