The discussion of the changes at Facebook have pretty much run their course, in my opinion. Yeah, the new look has problems. Yeah, they should just leave a good thing alone. All that rings true, but those things aren’t the real problem with Facebook. The New York Times did a nice story on the site this weekend, and the real problem became readily apparent.
People like Liz Rabban are the real problem with Facebook.
Ms. Rabban, 40, a real estate agent and the mother of two from Livingston, N.J., joined the site in November 2007, quickly amassing 250 friends and spending hours on the site each day.
But these days, she spends less time on the site and posts caustic comments about Facebook’s new design, which turns a majority of every user’s home page into a long “stream” of recent, often trivial, Twitter-like updates from friends.
“The changes just feel very juvenile,” Ms. Rabban says. “It’s just not addressing the needs of my generation and my peers. In my circle, everyone is pretty devastated about it.”
Devastated? Really, Liz? Devastated by changes in Facebook. And not just you, but “everyone” in your circle. Facebook hurting the feelings of you and 250 other people qualifies as devastation?
Devastation is the death of a parent, a diagnosis of a fatal disease for a child, the destruction of a house via tornado, the sudden loss of a job in a bad economy. Those things devastate people. Changes in Facebook are annoying, not devastating. Like Inigo Montoya said, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
I agree, Liz, the home page can be a pain in the butt, but they have already instituted a few changes. In the meantime, I suggest you get some perspective, deal with it and look into starting your own social networking site if someone else’s vision of how Facebook should work doesn’t meet your personal needs.
They have not yet fixed the real problem which is the inability to screen out 3rd party apps. I have 125 fiends and anything over 30 or so amplifies the application noise such that real messages are missed. If this continues FB will no longer be viable to use for its original purpose: the care and feeding of an online posse.
Oh, and I’m shocked that someone from Livingston, NJ would publicly whine about something so inconsequential.
A mother of two who spends hours on Facebook?
Why don’t you pay attention to what your kids are doing instead of playing Mafia Wars or taking the Which Grey’s Anatomy Character Are You? Quiz, you stupid cow!
Given that today marks the 13th anniversary of my father’s death and I am seeing some people I know go through some pretty brutal stuff, this hit pretty close to home. I hope the worst part of my day each day is limited to problems with Facebook.
It’s a great time waster, a good way to reunite with old classmates and stay in touch with family and friends and, to quote Bluto from Animal House “don’t cost nuthin”.
If it went away tomorrow, Bill would not be too broken up by the disappearance of Facebook…
Amen…Too many people with no perspective on life and total inability to clearly understand what’s really important!
Cheers
It is Iñigo
Why didn’t I think of that first?
My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my Facebook. Prepare to die.