(X-posted to averagejoe.cc and to my facebook notes.)
So, it was either yesterday or today that the popular social-networking website Facebook made some cosmetic and functional changes to their site. Most people first noticed the home page’s layout was altered to make room for the page’s new addition: the News Feed. Contained in this section is changes that any of your friends made to their profiles, relationships, and any posting to other people’s walls is also logged on your news feed. If you like information about what your friends are doing, saying and what their current TV show is the moment it changes, the News Feed is exactly what you want. However, if you’re scared of being cyber-stalked, the News Feed seems to be the bane of your existence, since if someone wanted to know shit about you, they’re only 2 mouseclicks away from knowing anything they want about you… oh… wait… they’re 2 mouseclicks away from knowing anything about you that you’ve given them permission to know anyway. While I do agree that cyber-stalking can be problematic, the critcism of the News Feed is completely off-base only because the News Feed doesn’t tell you anything you can’t already figure out, and anyone protesting this new change clearly didn’t grasp the ramifications of signing up for Facebook in the first place.
When I log onto Facebook, one of the pages I check first is the “Friends” page, which by default, displays all my friends who have updated their profiles recently. If someone interesting is on this list, I’ll click their profile and take a cursory glance to see if something obvious changed (as an example, if I’m looking at a girls profile, one thing I look for is the Relationship status. Yes, I’m pathetic, and you don’t need to tell me that.) If I can’t find the exact change, I’ll look at the profile as a whole and eventaully, leave that friend’s page and go to someone else’s. With the News Feed, I’m told exactly what was changed, and if the value wasn’t deleted, what it was changed from, and what it was changed to (editted 11:21PM EDT: it only highlights the field with the new value). With the News Feed, the time needed to find info about my friends is shorted. The News Feed isn’t giving me any information I couldn’t have figured out myself; I can’t see changes to profiles I can’t view anyway; there’s absolutely no downside to the News Feed if you know and trust everyone on your friends list, which may be the root of the problem…
Many people on Facebook have lots of friends. I’m talking in the hundreds. Before the News Feed, anyone of these people can see your profile (which you create yourself and have full control over) and use that information as they see fit. The News Feed now keeps all those people updated on exactly what you change. Again, it’s a convenience for the users of Facebook. Whatever was there is still there, the only difference is that I know about it faster. If you happen to have 500 friends, then 500 people now know that you like Panic! At the Disco. If you only have 150 friends, then only those 150 now know that you broke up with your girlfriend, and again, it’s not like they couldn’t figure this out before.
The bottom line: if you’re not comfortable with other people knowing stuff about you, who you talk to, what you like, then remove yourself from Facebook. You provide the information on the caveat that the people specified in your privacy settings can see it. If you’re feeling uneasy about what info is out there, restrict the availablity of it, either by removing untrusting people from your friends list, or by modifying your privacy settings. This “problem” has always been around, it’s only now manifested itself as “The News Feed”. Take away the News Feed and the problem is still there; it’s like spraying Glade potpourri spray on a week-old dead rat sitting in the middle of your living room. While it doesn’t smell anymore, there’s still a deceased rodent on the floor, and there’s that leftover stink. Well, take away the News Feed, and there will still be a stink of this problem, because nothing will be changed by taking this new feature away.