We’ve seen this before. We log into Facebook one morning and our world is turned upside down. Things look different, things act different and I haven’t even had my coffee yet.
Every so often Facebook likes to pull the rug out from under us and change their interface. They usually do this right after everyone has finally gotten used to their last batch of changes.
As you probably saw, the reaction to this most recent series of changes was strong. From some of the negative backlash I saw on my Facebook feed, you’d think the world was about to end.
I saw a great post the day after the changes hit that summed it up well. It read: “I’m appalled that the free service that I am in no way obligated to use keeps making changes that mildly inconvenience me.”
For the next few weeks we’ll be seeing posts from various friends complaining about the new Facebook and a few people will even threaten to leave. But I doubt very many actually will. More likely, people will simply get used to it. And they just might even discover that they like some of the new features. Maybe even love them.
Have you heard about the new Timeline feature that’s due to be unveiled on Sept. 29th? I saw a sneak peak of it over a friend’s shoulder and it looked pretty cool. There’s already a buzz about it.
Facebook’s face-lift seems to be in part a reaction to Google+, who’s “Circles” have caused quite a stir in the social media world as a smart and easy way to organize your contacts and protect your privacy. But I don’t know a lot of people who want to migrate over there and start their social network over from scratch. If Facebook can mirror that kind of functionality, it will be a welcome change for those who like to pick and choose who sees what from their Facebook posts.
And I am sure there are a lot more things in store that we have not even seen yet. So my advice to everyone is to calm down, take a deep breath and don’t rush to judgment on the changes to Facebook. Give it a chance and wait to see everything that they have in store for us. I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road… that’s par for the course when you change anything.
Who knows? Eventually Facebook may need to add a “Love” button for all of these changes. And if not, remember, it’s a free service and you are not obligated to use it. In other words, don’t hold your breathe for a “Hate” button.
