Facebook (with feeds) is now Stalkbook
It’s true! Now you instantly know what everyone and their mom is doing on Facebook! Obviously this was a big mistake (even the WSJ knows) on Facebook’s part, but why did it take actually implementing the news feed system and the big backlash of complaints for Facebook to realize it and make the change? Maybe its ambition (to make Facebook better), greed (to attract advertisers and somehow monetize the damn thing), or likely both.
Sure, Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who started Facebook, appologized on the login page of my Facebook today,
” This was a big mistake on our part, and I’m sorry for it. But apologizing isn’t enough. I wanted to make sure we did something about it, and quickly. So we have been coding nonstop for two days to get you better privacy controls. This new privacy page will allow you to choose which types of stories go into your Mini-Feed and your friends’ News Feeds, and it also lists the type of actions Facebook will never let any other person know about. “
Lucky for Zuckerberg, I believe members of Facebook, who are college kids and young adults after all, will quickly forgive them for this blunder, but they better have learned their lesson and learned it well: the simplicity that made Facebook successful is it’s trademark. If you change that you’ll alienate all your users and lose everything.
With all the recent attention from the Silicon Valley Giants, these startup web communities are in a position much different from that which they started. Of all the communities, Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube are on the hotlist and in the sights of corporations, beating out immitators like Friendster(I mean how can you succeed with a jacked up name like that?). Quickly following News Corporation’s (Quote: NWS) acquiring Myspace.com, Microsoft Corporation (Quote: MSFT) nabbed a deal with Facebook.
Whether pressure from partner Microsoft or just fear of getting taken over by Myspace, Facebook somehow felt it had to innovate and keep adding stuff. Honestly I haven’t liked the last few changes, even before the stalking newsfeed. I believe the internet has space for both Myspace and Facebook, as long as each stays true to their basic concept. People will use each for their unique interface and features, just like people drink both Coke and Pepsi.
But Facebook can’t try to compete with Myspace on Myspace’s turf of random crap all over the place (which is why I don’t like Myspace). Myspace is a wide range social network where you can have a gajillion friends that you don’t know. Facebook, on the other hand, started out just for college students with strict privacy features so the people you connect with on Facebook really are people you are close with and keep in touch with.
**This little segment is for those parents or over-the-hill corporate executives at Microsoft who are trying to figure out why these sites are so hot and why their own web projects are…well…NOT
The point is, Facebook always had more class than Myspace and should keep it that way, otherwise where will people go when they want class? I see Facebook trying to monetize their operation, which is understandable and encouraged to give these guys something to work towards having created one of the most successful sites. However, they have to figure out what fits in their model and what doesn’t. Now they might have to think more like MBA’s than web designers and coders. For example, the Skype group- obvious advertisement and extremely annoying. Letting students and members buy candygrams and the right to put up public messages, good idea. Keep it in the school spirit, which is how Facebook started.
