"The update will happen slowly, so everyone should have the new home page over the coming days," Facebook product manager Peter Deng wrote in a statement.

The California firm has received more than 30,000 email messages from users about the new home page since it revealed the planned changes a week ago, according to Deng.

Changes include making the status update question "What's on your mind?" building on a theme in a Facebook home page redesign last year.

Home page upgrades include a Publisher tool making it easier to post photos, video or other content to profile pages and share developments with Facebook friends.

Facebook updates are sent in real time from the new home page and emphasise the freshest information.

"As more and more is shared, we want you to be able to find out everything that is going on in the world around you at any given moment, or shape the stream of information most relevant to you," Deng wrote.

Filtering tools on the new home page let people be more selective about who they want to get news from, according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.