Facebook Home on HTC First Available Today, 5 Things You Need to Know

Last week Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook Home for Android. It's not a Facebook phone, it's not an operating system, and it's not an app. Zuck says it's a way to "put people first instead of apps."

So, what is it?

I'd tell my grandma it's a Facebook screen saver.

When your phone is resting, photos and status updates from your newsfeed are visible, and even if your phone is locked, you can still like and comment on posts.

Facebook will now be at the core of your mobile experience (as if it's not already dominating social in so many ways). And today, you can buy the HTC First, which comes pre-installed with Facebook Home for $99 with a two-year contract. Nothing is in the works for iOS.

The 5 things you should care about:

Your Newsfeed (and your friends baby pics) will be everywhere: From the moment you turn on your phone, you'll see your newsfeed, status updates, and all - not just FB - notifications (new email, Twitter mentions, Instagram likes)Chat heads: Functionality allows you to seamlessly keep chatting with friends from any app. Data: Since Facebook Home is constantly downloading status updates and photos, consider changing your image quality setting to "low" so that you're not draining monthly data. The default setting is "medium" but you can also change to "high." Privacy: If you want to try Facebook Home and then decide you don't like it, you can turn it off in your Home Settings. And If you like Home but don't want it to appear as your lock screen, you have that option too. Other Droids: Not in the market for a new HTC First? Users who own the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III or the Samsung Galaxy II can download Home for free from the Google Play store.

So, are you gonna go get Facebook Home? Tweet us @StephaniePaige and @SELFMagazine.

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Image Credit: Courtesy of Mashable

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