September 6, 2006
Facebook adds features. Oh no!
Facebook recently unveiled new features which fundamentally change the whole purpose of the website. Or do they? Many users were upset with some of the changes, namely a “News Feed” on every user’s profile page which gives them a run-down of recent activity throughout their friend network. Why should this cause an uproar? Well, it totally throws away the idea of privacy and lets anyone see anything! Well this isn’t true either, though some would have you believe it is. However, it is much “easier” to get this information now so those who already had little else to do are probably upset that their favorite pastime can now be completed in a few clicks.
In getting “more web2.0″ (as I like to claim) 90% of the users (I just made that number up) can now retrieve all the information they need with a simple visit to their homepage. No clicking through and looking at everyone’s profile to see who put new pictures up, who joined a new group, and of course, who is dating who… Online petitions have been sighted and groups within Facebook itself are rising up against the new changes. One group has over 10,000 members already. It’s hard to breathe when I try to consider how out-of-their-mind bored ten-thousand people must have been to protest new enhancements to their favorite website. Of course… I can also recognize the fact that 10,000 people is only a fraction of the notorius Facebook-stalkers who had their favorite game ruined. I can imagine it’s like being told the cheat codes to a new game or the ending to a movie when no one asked if you wanted to know. They just can’t handle how easy it is to know what all of their friends are doing, what music they listen to, what their political views are even… what they are thinking. (If I were in a movie, this would be the part where the overly dramatic DUN-DUN-DUN blasts you back in your seat).
Seriously. Stop whining. Facebook is not trying to be like MySpace. They haven’t lowered the privacy level of anyone. If anything, these changes will make people realize that other people see what they do on social networks. Imagine that, thinking before you post those pictures from your party last night. Speaking of which…
Ah for crying out loud! No one has done anything since the last time I hit refresh… now what the hell am I gonna do with my time.
