Facebook's introduction of News Feed and Mini Feed brought sparks of controversy last week. The new features allowed friends to quickly get the latest profile updates. Put aside that it conveniently laundry listed what most of Facebook's avid clientele spent hours of precious homework time searching, making that evident just went too far.
It was said to be rather disturbing and downright took the fun out of stalking profiles. And who's to say we didn't feel a little sympathy for 'Amy' when the first thing they saw after logging onto the Web site was that her relationship status went from In a Relationship to Single accompanied by a icon of a small broken heart to add insult to injury.
The features offered no new information about profiles, nor did it break the site's strong privacy guidelines; but in the eyes of the students, there was a big problem. To the dismay of the site's employees and the reluctance of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, this problem was fixed and an apology was posted in place of the informative eye sore on the site's homepage. Now news feeds and mini feeds are still available on the site with privacy options added to appeal to students' preferences.
With the hype of these new features threatening the academic social life, it's the outcry of the public that astonishes me. Meetings and friendly conversation automatically turned to the bashing of the news feeds. So what do you think about the new Facebook? was just as common of a question as What are you doing this weekend?
An overwhelming amount of people used the site's group feature to join Students against Facebook News Feed or the more blunt F**k The New Facebook. This is not counting a number of smaller groups petitioning the site to take the feature off and even a few that supported the change.
Coverage of the Facebook conflict ran alongside newscasts of foreign policy and the increasing threat of nuclear weapons. The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, CBS news and countless numbers of online blogs and publications reported on the Internet protest like it was a matter of national security.
Well look at that. The people opposed an item. The people spoke up. They were heard. A change was made. It makes one wonder what could happen if students put as much intensity into a more serious matter of public concern as they did with such a trivial thing as Facebook.
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Cicely Gilbert
