Spring Break
Facebook v007 shakes, stirs social networks
by Doug Nevins
Staff writer
Op-Ed | 9/16/08
Posted online at 10:07 PM EST on 9/15/08
/ Last updated at 3:27 AM EST on 9/15/08
There are thousands of Facebook networks-for high schools, colleges, towns and cities and employers. There are even networks for the CIA and FBI, rather unremarkable considering that these agencies employ plenty of potential Facebook users. More remarkably, there is in fact a Facebook-like site called A-Space being used by the government to encourage correspondence between spies.
Despite its security precautions, A-Space is still somewhat disturbing-the idea of federal agents trading classified information in cyberspace is disconcerting, potentially extra-legal and more than a little bizarre. A CNN article quotes an intelligence official who says that A-Space will be helpful for procuring new Al Qaeda videos. Considering the media's tendency to compare the program to Facebook, this idea seems particularly funny. Imagine the newsfeed: "Osama Bin Laden posted a new video at 5:25 p.m."
Sort of puts our own Facebook concerns into perspective, doesn't it? Try telling that to the legions of Facebook users who opened the site Wednesday to find that "new Facebook," the redesigned version of the site that first appeared several months ago, is now the only Facebook. Having learned from past instances of user dissatisfaction after major changes, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg made at least some effort to include users in the transition, allowing access to the new Facebook before it became permanent and soliciting feedback and suggestions about how to improve it.
That window has passed, however. Open Facebook today and you'll find the wall mixed with the newsfeed and information and applications hidden behind tabs. A search for "new Facebook" brings up several groups with a million-plus members each, all of them opposed to the changes. A group called Petition Against the "New Facebook" puts forth a very rational proposal: Let users decide which layout to use, as they could prior to this week. This idea highlights an important aspect of the new design-that a new design is all it is, an aesthetic change without any substantial new features or usability enhancements. After weeks of feedback, assuming users gave any, new Facebook looks the same as the day it first appeared, and it works the same way it has for years.
Despite its security precautions, A-Space is still somewhat disturbing-the idea of federal agents trading classified information in cyberspace is disconcerting, potentially extra-legal and more than a little bizarre. A CNN article quotes an intelligence official who says that A-Space will be helpful for procuring new Al Qaeda videos. Considering the media's tendency to compare the program to Facebook, this idea seems particularly funny. Imagine the newsfeed: "Osama Bin Laden posted a new video at 5:25 p.m."
Sort of puts our own Facebook concerns into perspective, doesn't it? Try telling that to the legions of Facebook users who opened the site Wednesday to find that "new Facebook," the redesigned version of the site that first appeared several months ago, is now the only Facebook. Having learned from past instances of user dissatisfaction after major changes, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg made at least some effort to include users in the transition, allowing access to the new Facebook before it became permanent and soliciting feedback and suggestions about how to improve it.
That window has passed, however. Open Facebook today and you'll find the wall mixed with the newsfeed and information and applications hidden behind tabs. A search for "new Facebook" brings up several groups with a million-plus members each, all of them opposed to the changes. A group called Petition Against the "New Facebook" puts forth a very rational proposal: Let users decide which layout to use, as they could prior to this week. This idea highlights an important aspect of the new design-that a new design is all it is, an aesthetic change without any substantial new features or usability enhancements. After weeks of feedback, assuming users gave any, new Facebook looks the same as the day it first appeared, and it works the same way it has for years.
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