Share
Most of my Facebook Friends are not pleased with the New Facebook. I can only guess that much of the displeasure is because of the change and because it just looks different. But, it cannot be argued that a great amount of “Friend visibility” and filter control has been lost.
Here are the problems, in my opinion and in no specific order:
1) Friend adds, comments on pictures and apps being used, among other things, used to post to the old “Live Update” feed; this is gone. A lot of stuff that is happening is not easily seen. We have lost a level transparency and sense of community. These events are still posted, but only on Friends’ Facebooks;
2) Newly made comments about Friends’ photos used to be visible chronologically on the commentor’s “Wall” (in addition to the old Live Feed – see No. 1) along with the picture. Now such comments are grouped in a “Recent Activity” section out of the chronological stream of the respective Facebook and without the picture. Other comments are treated the same way;
3) Main “News Feed” on the “Home” page does not auto-update like the old Live Update feed did; one has to manually refresh this page. I bet this one gets fixed soon;
4) Lack of granularity with filters; it’s now all or nothing regarding Friend feeds. Even Friend filters are too difficult to create – kludgey at best.
These are the big four with me and I hope the lost functionality and lost transparency across Facebooks makes it back into New Facebook version 2. Basically, I want the main News Feed to auto-update without needing to “refresh” and to show more information, not less. I can live with the new look, just provide more functionality, more information and the choice to selectively filter!
I do like the way “Page” updates now reveal in the main News Feed; this is great. If you didn’t know yet, Page updates are now the same as Friends’ “What’s on our mind?” quips. It’s good for the Page creators, good for the Fans and good for Facebook as it creates more value for everyone. And, thanks Facebook for making it easy to include or exclude which Page updates appear in our News Feed.
Right column “Highlights” on the Home page are also nice. These provide higher visibility for the popular stuff, but I have no clue what algorithms are used to include and rank these favorites; what mix of number of comments, number of new Fans (for Pages), views and/or “Likes” are used? Perhaps it’s understandable that this is not public information.
I like the “in your face” main News Feed and the Twitter feel; it just needs more functionality. Facebook can still have their Twitter-esque feed and give us the features which were taken away.
One thing to note, think of “New Facebook” as version 1 of a new software release. Over time I expect Facebook to add more features and answer some of the gripes we all have; I think they have already said as much.
Finally, remember that Facebook is free and needs to make money somehow. The Twitter-like News Feed has been deployed as a method by which Facebook will probably be able to generate more advertisement revenue. I honestly don’t think anywhere near a majority of folks would be willing to pay a monthly fee, so Facebook is relying on selling ads. I think Facebook can get their ad money and provide the features we want, but we may just have to constructively complain about specific shortcomings, be patient and wait for future versions of New Facebook before they get most of it right.
I’m somewhat certain that Old Facebook will never be seen again, unless you find it archived somewhere on the Web.
Just my 2¢.
If you haven’t yet, join me on Facebook.
Similar Posts:
My specific gripes about “New Facebook,” and what’s good, too.
Most of my Facebook Friends are not pleased with the New Facebook. I can only guess that much of the displeasure is because of the change and because it just looks different. But, it cannot be argued that a great amount of “Friend visibility” and filter control has been lost.
Here are the problems, in my opinion and in no specific order:
1) Friend adds, comments on pictures and apps being used, among other things, used to post to the old “Live Update” feed; this is gone. A lot of stuff that is happening is not easily seen. We have lost a level transparency and sense of community. These events are still posted, but only on Friends’ Facebooks;
2) Newly made comments about Friends’ photos used to be visible chronologically on the commentor’s “Wall” (in addition to the old Live Feed – see No. 1) along with the picture. Now such comments are grouped in a “Recent Activity” section out of the chronological stream of the respective Facebook and without the picture. Other comments are treated the same way;
3) Main “News Feed” on the “Home” page does not auto-update like the old Live Update feed did; one has to manually refresh this page. I bet this one gets fixed soon;
4) Lack of granularity with filters; it’s now all or nothing regarding Friend feeds. Even Friend filters are too difficult to create – kludgey at best.
These are the big four with me and I hope the lost functionality and lost transparency across Facebooks makes it back into New Facebook version 2. Basically, I want the main News Feed to auto-update without needing to “refresh” and to show more information, not less. I can live with the new look, just provide more functionality, more information and the choice to selectively filter!
I do like the way “Page” updates now reveal in the main News Feed; this is great. If you didn’t know yet, Page updates are now the same as Friends’ “What’s on our mind?” quips. It’s good for the Page creators, good for the Fans and good for Facebook as it creates more value for everyone. And, thanks Facebook for making it easy to include or exclude which Page updates appear in our News Feed.
Right column “Highlights” on the Home page are also nice. These provide higher visibility for the popular stuff, but I have no clue what algorithms are used to include and rank these favorites; what mix of number of comments, number of new Fans (for Pages), views and/or “Likes” are used? Perhaps it’s understandable that this is not public information.
I like the “in your face” main News Feed and the Twitter feel; it just needs more functionality. Facebook can still have their Twitter-esque feed and give us the features which were taken away.
One thing to note, think of “New Facebook” as version 1 of a new software release. Over time I expect Facebook to add more features and answer some of the gripes we all have; I think they have already said as much.
Finally, remember that Facebook is free and needs to make money somehow. The Twitter-like News Feed has been deployed as a method by which Facebook will probably be able to generate more advertisement revenue. I honestly don’t think anywhere near a majority of folks would be willing to pay a monthly fee, so Facebook is relying on selling ads. I think Facebook can get their ad money and provide the features we want, but we may just have to constructively complain about specific shortcomings, be patient and wait for future versions of New Facebook before they get most of it right.
I’m somewhat certain that Old Facebook will never be seen again, unless you find it archived somewhere on the Web.
Just my 2¢.
If you haven’t yet, join me on Facebook.
Similar Posts: