Lately, I’ve been busy. Haven’t had a lot of time for Facebook.
However, when I do check in, on occasion, I see this a lot:
“If you don’t like the new FB, here is how you can change it back to the old. Look to the left menu and click…… on MORE. Then drag STATUS UPDATES to the top. After dragging to top, click on it. That becomes your default and it is like before!”
There’s also a group with over a million users, on Facebook of course, that’s protesting the change.
I admit, I can’t see a lot of difference between any of the options, although I know there are significant differences — were I to pay attention to the details. I just like to see what folks are saying. I want to see “what’s new,” and all the various options seem to offer that.
I tried changing back to the “old Facebook”, and here’s something I noticed:
Quoting myself, here: “If you change back to the old Facebook and quit the browser or close the window, then you’ll have the new Facebook again when you return.”
In fact, there is no old or new Facebook. There are just a few more options within the interface. Apparently, Facebook prefers that we use it that way. For now.
Presumably, the new options make it better. The revenue comes from advertising. When more people spend more time using Facebook, the better for Facebook. They probably appreciate the feedback, but it’s doubtful they want to make the service worse. I know geniuses make mistakes too, but I sort of trust that any change they make will be for the better.
Why do I trust this…uh, giant social network creation?
Well, they started from nothing and now have over 200 million users — so they probably have some really good minds doing a lot of thinking about this.
Generally, I don’t trust big things like Bank of America and AT&T — the giants that are constantly reaching their big greedy hands into my tiny little pockets. But when it comes to Google and Facebook — the free services that are pretty darn nifty, I sort of trust them. They can do anything they want. We’re not under contract. We don’t have to use them. So they spend a lot of their time trying to make these services better, so we continue to use them, and use them even more.
But think about it. New Facebook? Old Facebook?
I remember a sermon once in which Rabbi Gerber said that the only thing in life that’s certain is change.
Like life itself, “New” is the essence of Facebook. The whole service is based on WHAT’S NEW? New, newer, newest! New 24/7.
Like Google, Facebook has even changed the way we behave. And the way we think. It’s hard to say exactly how because it’s too new.
And, like Google, Facebook will always will be very, very new, until…something comes along and replaces it. Something more new.