It may be its mortal enemy, but Facebook doesn't mind borrowing a couple of tricks from Google's playbook once in a while. Google is well known for the tests it rolls out for even the smallest features before integrating them with the proper product. It's not the only company doing this, but Google has taken the practice to the extreme. Apparently, Facebook thinks that it's a good idea and has adopted the practice to test out new design features and tweaks which we've been seeing a lot of lately.

The latest test to roll out for a handful of people involves a couple of changes mostly previewed about a month back. TechCrunch has managed to get its hands on several screenshots of the new design and, for the most part, they confirm the direction Facebook has said it would take. There are a couple new things, though, like the bigger search bar which now takes a more central position.

This time around the changes are pretty insignificant, nothing like the news feed / live feed thing which got most people all worked up. Undoubtedly, a lot of people will still hate them but they'll get over it like they always do. The top bar gets all the attention and things get shuffled around hopefully for the better. The 'Home,” “Profile,” and all the other sections, which are now on the left side, get pushed to the other corner, while the things that require the user's attention and are more 'action-oriented' take their place.

Just after the Facebook logo and 'home' link, there are now three icons for invitations, the inbox and notifications and right next to them is a big new search box. The idea is to group together all the notification and communication tools to make them easier to access and to manage. Apart from this there is a clear emphasis on search, in line with the social networks more open approach of late. It's unclear what changes, if any, will make it on the site eventually, but the test is a good indication of the direction Facebook is headed.