THE NEW FACEBOOK. YES OR NO?
There was a mild hysteria in the house yesterday and it wasn’t because gale force winds were threatening to blow the roof off.
No, there was much screeching and shaking of heads over Facebook (I can’t believe it either) because, suddenly, it was strange and unfamiliar.
“What have they done to my Facebook” was the resounding cry, not only in our house but on the social network site itself. It became a trending topic on Twitter with #thenewfacebook and we swiftly declared that we bloody well hated it.
There were even road signs: “Honk if you think the new FB sucks.”
Well, a day is a long time in social networking because by dusk we were sheepishly admitting that we “quite liked it”. This morning, well, we’re loving it.
If you’re wondering why the changes, it’s because Facebook needs to reclaim its emotional mojo. Ben Parr, from mashable.com explains in this article, Prepare Yourselves: Facebook to be Profoundly Changed.
“Facebook is driven by a single, unique goal. Its priority isn’t to gain more users (it already has 750 million of those), nor does it feel compelled to find stupid ways to increase pageviews. Its primary goal right now isn’t to increase revenue, either — that will come later.
No, Facebook’s goal is to become the social layer that supports, powers and connects every single piece of the web, no matter who or what it is or where it lives. On Thursday (September 22) at its f8 conference in San Francisco, the world’s largest social network will take a giant leap toward accomplishing that goal.
I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching, I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed. The news that will come out of Facebook during the next few weeks will be the biggest things to come out of the company since the launch of the Facebook Platform.
For Facebook, it all boils down to one problem: emotion. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and spectacular levels of engagement, but it is a platform that has lost its emotional resonance over the years. More and more people visit Facebook out of necessity rather than desire. It’s a platform people prefer to hate, but won’t leave simply because all their friends are there.
It’s a relationship gone stale. After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.
That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and the subscribe button. Friend Lists lets you share content with just your closest friends (with whom you have the strongest emotional connection), and the ticker lets you have real-time conversations with your friends as soon as they do anything. Subscribe lets you fill your News Feed with people you admire and respect, fostering a different type of emotional connection.
But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook. These changes will make Facebook a place where nearly everything in your life is enhanced by your social graph. These changes will make it so you know your friends better than you ever thought you could.
On Thursday, developers will be elated, users will be shellshocked and the competition will look ancient. On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn. Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking.”
Click here for a quick snapshot of how Facebook’s changed.
Not everyone’s a booster for the makeover. Like “Stilgherrian” who writes at Crikey.com.au:
“Zuckerberg has called this “frictionless sharing” because, apparently, clicking on the ‘Like’ button is still too much effort. Friction. He wants you to share more, so now everything you do or experience is automatically shared.
“He’s entirely missing the point.”
So, The Hoopla, wants to know: How do you like the new Facebook. Or don’t you?
*Photo via Sue Hill on (you guessed it) Facebook.
12 Responses to this article
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MrsP2011 September 23, 2011
HONK! It sucks. And bear in mind, as I pointed out to my many disenchanted Fb buddies, when you float your boat on the stock exchange, change will always follow. We don’t have a say anymore, the shareholders do. HONK! HONK! HONK!
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Annamaree September 23, 2011
I hate change.
If somethings working why oh why do men still have to fiddle with it and then proudly declare that they have “fixed” it and made it loads better???
Leave the darn thing alone and stop fiddling with things…aarrggghhhh. -
shelley September 23, 2011
I heard and saw on the ABC morning news show that Mark Z wants Facebook to be like a scrapbook of our lives – photos, music, info. I guess because it is his toy he is able to do whatever the hell he likes with it. But seeing he got all these folks interested in it perhaps he could go aways to keeping them happy. “….wait and see what the next few weeks reveals…’, gees, it is a cyber social page. If it went away would we miss it. Anyhoo, Google are going public with their social network so we will have a choice. Better than a kick in the old caboose. Loving….
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brin September 25, 2011
appearance and navigation isnt really that important, to dislike it is a mere “bourgeois suffering” .BUT controlling your privacy is important. And to have all your comments and activity posted to subscribers’ friends, that which you have never even heard of is a real privacy issue.
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brin September 25, 2011
this link that you have supplied
“Click here for a quick snapshot of how Facebook’s changed.”
https://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=287459122130takes you to a blog that is 2 years old
