Creating new CSS element everytime database updates
Set the return datatype to html and update the DOM in the success callback:

function updatestatus()
{
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "statusupdate.php",
        data: $('#statusupdater').serialize(),
        dataType: "html",
        success: function(data, status, xhrObj){
            $('#statuscontainer').prepend($('&lt;div id="stat"&gt;').html(data));
            $("#statusupdater")[0].reset();
            $('.statuspop').fadeOut(300);
            $('#opacify').hide();
        }
    });
}


You could also update the DOM using the error and statusCode callbacks if it fails.