| A New Facebook |
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| Written by Sean Watkins | |
| Sunday, 01 November 2009 | |
This week I want to look at a brief article entitled "'Fix' Facebook's New Home Page " by Rick Broida on The Washington Post. As some of my loyal readers may already know, I wrote my undergraduate thesis on Facebook. I haven't really touched the topic of Facebook since, but recently have been thinking about presenting at a conference on how the site has changed in the past three years. In my paper, I argue that Facebook fosters an uncritical space where users don't really think about what or why they post the things they do. Also, I argued that because Facebook (and most of the internet) has no recorded history, users really only have their own memories to remember an 'old' Facebook. So, someone who starts using the site today would have no knowledge of what came before. I have received mixed reviews on my thesis, but it seems that in terms of memory, Facebook is still up to its old tricks. In the above story, an author explains how to recreate 'old' Facebook by changing some settings. I find it interesting that Facebook users keep having these same sorts of upsetting episodes where the site changes, they are angry, they 'protest', and then the site changes and they adapt. The website has recently updated and changed the way that its newsfeed (a system in which user's status updates are highlighted) is presented. Now only a certain number of friend's updates will be shown and lots of people I know are upset about this. The significant part of this story is that while many more people are using Facebook than when they FIRST changed the Newsfeed, there is much less of a protest over this event. All of my friends are upset by the change, but they are finding ways around it (like on this article). I haven't really noticed much of a protest on the site itself and I think this is because we have come to accept Facebook as part of our lives. Facebook may annoy us at times, but like the crazy uncles in our families, we just kind of have to live with them. I am interested in the idea that we become so accustomed to social networking sites that we no longer question their fundamental structures. We are angry about them changing, but not angry enough to stop using them because they are so important to our lives. This is just an initial look at news on Facebook, but in the next few weeks I would like to put my ideas out there and see what you guys think.
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  written by John Collins , November 02, 2009 Interesting article in the latest issue of Fast Capitalism (www.fastcapitalism.com) titled "Reflections on Leaving Facebook." report abuse
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 written by Adriana Cordero Calderon , November 01, 2009 I am one of those annoyed users that protest about the new NewsFeed hehehe. What is the Live News Feed? I don't even understand. It's confusing and unnecesary. Anyways. Ahg Facebook. It's like a guilty pleasure for me. It's something that I keep asking myself "why do I waste so much time on it?" but I can't stop it. I hate knowing that everyone knows every little detail of my life... even if I don't post my status, just by pictures or comments on my wall would reveal it. I quit facebook for a whole month and it was absolutely amazing! I had a lot more time to do other (more important) things, and I really didn't think I needed it again. However, at some point I did and am back on it again. Now, I have come to the conclusion that, since everyone else uses it, it ends up being almost the most efficient way of getting in touch with people. Easier than e-mail, letters, phonecalls... everyone checks facebook everyday, so if I need something urgent, I let them know through it. I think it all depends on how you use it: there are all kinds of useless quizzes and what not on it... but I have actually found on it interesting organizations, events, discussions, and other resources. There stops my fuss. report abuse
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