A few years ago, Myspace ruled the online realm by connecting people, music and video around the world. There were bulletins, status emoticons and it was perfectly OK to have a — retrospectively ridiculous — profile name.
In January 2010, I followed the movement that helped put Tom and his creation into extinction by making the leap to Facebook.
Reluctantly, I followed the crowd to what appeared to be a plain, HTML-less social media site that was as bland as a loaf of bread.
Slowly, but surely, it grew on me. Facebook was clean, simple and straight to the point. And like every other user, I became obsessed.
Last week, everyone seemed to have lost it when they logged into their Facebook only to see a new, disorienting homepage.
Frantic posts of hysteria and confusion flooded newsfeeds, some of them “tabbed” to showcase a feature that seperates top and recent stories.
“Yo Dawg I Herd You Like Facebook so We Put a Facebook in the Upper Right of Yo Facebook so You Can Facebook While U Facebook,” read an Xzibit Pimp-My-Ride parody meme that spread like wildfire.
The new live feed feature couldn’t be described any better. It’s the ultimate creeping tool that allows you to follow your friends every online move — if you’re into that kind of thing, of course.
In addition, the new features include subscriptions, lists and more.
But wait, it gets worse. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the future of the profile page, which is so-called a “Timeline” page. It will allow users to display events, photos, and more (unnecessary) apps to share a chronological look into your life.
“It reminds me of a scrapbook,” nutrition and health promotion freshman Victoria Morlan said.
“I like that you can go back and see what you were like at certain times in your life, maybe times you enjoyed but don't remember. Or you can look back at maybe even times that were rough and reflect on how that made you feel and think,” Morlan said.
According to an article MSNBC.com’s “Technolog,” Facebook CTO Bret Taylor announced that we’ll see our profile transform into the full-fledged Timeline “over the next couple of months.” Then, we’ll see “Read,” “Listen” and “Watch” buttons, yet, still no “Dislike.”
Plenty of users are hoping it will all happen later rather than sooner, but others, like civil engineering sophomore Miguel Armenta, understand that change is inevitable.
“No matter what social website it is, eventually it’s going to have changes that some people don't agree to,” he said.
But why must Facebook ruin a good thing?
And it’s quite the unfortunate coincidence that Facebook is undergoing such major prosthetic changes that remind us of those cheap, out of the country plastic surgeries they warn you about — because eight out of 10 times, the result is horrendous — just as Google+ goes public.
“If Facebook wants to ‘keep up’ with a changing market, fine,” journalism senior Michelle Hamel said, “but, for the love of God, let (us) know before! This whole trial and error thing is getting old.”
Here’s a word to the wise: Don’t fix what’s not broken, and perhaps we won’t have to worry about another social media apocalypse.
Reach the columnist at alhaines@asu.edu
A few years ago, Myspace ruled the online realm by connecting people, music and video around the world. There were bulletins, status emoticons, and it was perfectly OK to have a — retrospectively ridiculous — profile name.
In January 2010, I followed the movement that helped put Tom and his creation into extinction by making the leap to Facebook.
Reluctantly, I followed the crowd to what appeared to be a plain, HTML-less social media site that was as bland as a loaf of bread.
Slowly, but surely, it grew on me. Facebook was clean, simple and straight to the point. And like every other user, I became obsessed.
Last week, everyone seemed to have lost it when they logged into their Facebook only to see a new, disorienting homepage.
Frantic posts of hysteria and confusion flooded newsfeeds, some of them “tabbed” to showcase a new Facebook feature of the separation of top and recent stories.
“Yo Dawg I Herd You Like Facebook so We Put a Facebook in the Upper Right of Yo Facebook so You Can Facebook While U Facebook,” read an Xzibit Pimp-My-Ride parody meme that spread like wildfire.
The new live feed feature couldn’t be described any better. It’s the ultimate creeping tool that allows you to follow your friends every online move — if you’re into that kind of thing, of course.
In addition, the new features include subscriptions, lists, and more.
But wait, it gets worse. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the future of the profile page, which is a so-called “Timeline” page. It will allow users to display events, photos and more (unnecessary) apps to share a chronological look into your life.
“It reminds me of a scrapbook,” nutrition and health promotion freshman Victoria Morlan said.
“I like that you can go back and see what you were like at certain times in your life, maybe times you enjoyed but don't remember. Or you can look back at maybe even times that were rough and reflect on how that made you feel and think,” Morlan said.
According to an article on MSNBC.com’s “Technolog,” Facebook CTO Bret Taylor announced that we’ll see our profile transform into the full-fledged Timeline “over the next couple of months.” Then, we’ll see “Read,” “Listen” and “Watch” buttons, yet, still no “Dislike.”
Plenty of users are hoping it will all happen later rather than sooner, but others, like civil engineering sophomore Miguel Armenta, understand that change is inevitable.
“No matter what social website it is, eventually it’s going to have changes that some people don't agree to,” he said.
But why must Facebook ruin a good thing?
And it’s quite the unfortunate coincidence that Facebook is undergoing such major prosthetic changes that remind us of those cheap, out of the country plastic surgeries they warn you about — because eight out of 10 times, the result is horrendous — just as Google+ goes public.
“If Facebook wants to ‘keep up’ with a changing market, fine,” journalism senior Michelle Hamel said, “but, for the love of God, let (us) know before. This whole trial and error thing is getting old.”
Here’s a word to the wise: Don’t fix what’s not broken, and perhaps we won’t have to worry about another social media apocalypse.
Reach the columnist at alhaines@asu.edu
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