Facebook are gearing to launch a huge upgrade to their friends list feature after CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that less than 5% of Facebook users use the feature.

The friends list revamp will now include Smart Lists, consuming content from two new lists: 'Acquaintances' and 'Close Friends'.

The two new lists will prioritise your friend's posts so your 'Close Friends' posts will feature predominantly on your news feed whereas your 'Acquaintances' posts will only feature if they are important news, i.e an engagement.

The new feature will automatically curate Friends Lists on behalf of the user after it was realised that users don't want to take the time to organise their friends into lists such as Google+ Circles.

Facebook's friends list will now automatically create lists for work, city, family and school from Smart Lists. Another example of how Smart Lists work is you can create a list of your friends that live in a 20 mile radius of your location and use that list to find out what's happening in your area, with your local friends without bugging acquaintances in other cities.

The new feature will also automatically suggest friends may belong to certain lists, for example depending on their location.

You can also add to Friends Lists directly from a friend's profile page.

With the new feature, Facebook is hoping that with the use of more Friends Lists and more friends in those lists, the Facebook friends feature will be used more. Facebook is hoping to roll out the new changes in the next few weeks. The new friends lists are integrated into the News Feed and are also more prominent in Facebook Publisher, making it easier to see what your close friends are doing and sharing news with them.

However, Facebook claim they are not creating Friends Lists in competition to Google+ Circles, Facebook are claiming the concept has been in the making for over four years.

What do you think to the idea of Facebook Friends Lists? Will you be using them?