Sunday, February 21, 2010

The New Face of Facebook

Facebook has changed again. It begins with a message welcoming you to the simpler version of Facebook. At least they are accurate about it being simpler, or as some call it, “dumbed down”.


The new interface of Facebook is missing a few key components. For instance, they have taken away the option of only seeing status updates. All that is available is the “News Feed”. This shows you EVERYTHING that your friends are doing.


You can see what status they liked that day, or who they became friends with. Of course, the most important thing that you can see is what your friends are doing in Mafia Wars (or Farmville, or whatever game they play) and what gifts they accepted.


Holy cow! There is no way that I could make it through my day without knowing that!


Before this last abomination, you could choose how much information to receive about your friends. Now Facebook has taken that freedom away from you.


There is no doubt that social networking is a very important part of today’s society. Whether you use it for catching up with friends that you haven’t spoken to in years, or to promote your self for work, it can be a powerfully addictive habit.


Facebook knows this and also knows that they can change anything without fear of people deleting their accounts, even with cries of, “This new setup sucks!”


Perhaps Facebook should have offered the opportunity for people to choose. Instead of shoving this new setup down the throats of the users, have a way for them to decide how much information they get. This is a way of pleasing the masses and keeping people excited about your product, instead of enforcing the fact that you run the monopoly on this deal.

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