Hey Facebook! Quit Changing!

By Vanessa Scott

If you’ve been on Facebook within the past week, then you have seen the new changes made recently. Logging in, I found endless status updates reading, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” “This new layout sucks,” “I love how Facebook makes it easier to stalk people,” and the worst, “so sick of Facebook changing everything, find me on Google+.” It seems obvious that users of the popular site are fed up with the changes. Just as users get accustomed to the new layout of the site, it changes again. But this time Facebook seems to have overstepped the line of frustration. Users don’t want to be “stalked,” which seems to be what the new layout allows you to do. It sets up a live stream on the right side of the page, streaming who commented on what, and who posted what update. No big deal? Well, problem is that even if you are not friends with the user your Facebook buddy is commenting on, you can simply scroll over the stream and see the whole conversation. Where is the privacy in that?

But hold on! Don’t get too comfortable with the new Facebook because soon it will be changing again. Its next layout will give the impression of both Tumblr and WordPress. It will feature a whole new profile layout where everything will be placed into boxes separating and showing your info, your recent activity, places you’ve been, things you “like,” movies you’ve watched, books you’ve read recently, even a map of what street corners your recent run took place on. It will also offer a new “timeline” option where you can go back and see where you were and when. Can we say Big Brother?

Apparently Facebook did not get the memo that people freak out when there is unexpected change. The whole reason users were drawn to Facebook was because it was something new, different, and a great way to easily connect with friends and family.

Social Media seems to always make the mistake of being too much like another form of social media. If I wanted to feel like I was on MySpace, I would be on MySpace. If I wanted to have the feel of Google+, I’d be on Google+. It seems these websites start going downhill when they start adopting, or stealing if you will, aspects from other media. If Facebook is going to try to be more like Google+, then people are going to start saying goodbye to Facebook, and hello to Google+.