Facebook changes irk some of its friends
— -- Facebook's latest move is testing the patience of its friends.
The world's most popular social-media site, which is making a habit of making changes and tweaks with little or no advance warning to its 750 million users, set off tons of dislikes Wednesday, angering many with a redesign that alters the look and feel of its popular profile pages.
News stories under Facebook's News Feed now top the pages instead of fresh posts from friends. Event reminders such as birthdays and friend requests are squished under a ticker-like function, part of a broader effort to give more of a real-time feel à la Twitter and upstart rival Google+, which opened its invitation-only social network to the public Tuesday. There also are newly designated categories for "close" friends, family, co-workers and others.
Facebook is expected to announce even more changes today at its F8 developers conference in San Francisco, including next-generation media sharing allowing users to more easily share video and music.
Reaction to Wednesday's moves, however, was decidedly unfriendly.
"What pinhead dreamed up these unneeded changes to FB?" says Don Ross of the Annapolis, Md.-based U.S. Naval Institute, a non-profit association.
"I hate the interface. I hate all the changes," says Dinah Alobeid of New York. "I just got used to all the recent changes" (a few months ago).
"I feel like I'm now watching a business channel during trading hours of the stock exchange," says attorney Pamela Schuur of Concord, Calif. "Ridiculous."
Andrea Meyer, a 46-year-old communications professional from suburban Chicago, was surprised to see the changes when she logged on Wednesday morning.
"I just looked at my stream and felt it was too early to deal with this. Social media is about engagement, loyalty and relationship building. Their tactics don't support it. … Facebook isn't playing well with their friends."
It isn't the first time. Greg Sterling of Internet consultant Sterling Market Intelligence notes that Facebook has a reputation for redesigns and rollouts that upset users.
"Some episodes of outcry caused the company to backtrack. Others were simply assimilated over time," Sterling says. "People don't like change as a rule, especially on sites they regard as fundamental utilities."
Facebook says the changes were designed to keep users better updated and provide an easier way to see and chat with friends in real time. "Our goal with these improvements is to make it easier for people to keep up with their friends no matter how frequently or infrequently they visit Facebook — and to make sure they never miss important updates," says Facebook spokesman Jonathan Thaw. "We're constantly working to make Facebook better. We're gathering and evaluating feedback on all of our products and will continue to make improvements over time."
Dave Fleet, vice president of digital at public relations giant Edelman, says users will likely take the latest changes in stride, eventually. "Whenever Facebook makes changes, people react strongly. Historically, the company hasn't done a great job communicating change. This is another round that people weren't expecting."
Google's advances are driving much of the change at Facebook, says Brian Blau, research director for consumer technology and services at Gartner Group. "There's a lot of tit-for-tat going on in this emerging social war between Google and Facebook. There's been a bunch of news this week from Google+, and I expect more" from F8.
