“Can Facebook just make up its mind?” Facebook users saw many status updates similar to this one regarding the new updates to the site over the last week. The revamped Facebook has posed questions about privacy and seems to be confusing many of its users.
Many of the changes were focused on the News Feed. All of the news is now in one place. The top stories and most recent stories are combined into one News Feed. To distinguish between top stories and recent stories, Facebook has added a blue edge to the top stories. Also, in the News Feed, photos are now bigger, making it easier to scroll through and view them quickly.
If Facebook users don’t want to see certain stories or specific people in their news feed they can control what is shown to them. Users can hide stories or unsubscribe from a type of story.
In addition, Facebook has added a side bar on the right of the screen called the ticker. Freshman Marlaina Reidy said that the ticker is “so annoying and it gets in the way, I wish facebook would stop making changes.” The ticker is there to provide a quick preview as to what is happening at that moment on Facebook. Friends’ activities “tick” by as the stories happen. If one does not like the ticker he or she can enlarge or shorten the Ticker to their liking.
Facebook users expressed many different opinions regarding the new changes and rumors have surfaced with the new changes: including a potential fee to use Facebook. This is false. Just like the start up of the Facebook page says, “It’s free and always will be.”
Along with rumors of a fee for Facebook, there has been some controversy over privacy with the use of the new Timeline. The timeline is a new type of profile that is supposed to reveal your life as a story, from beginning to end. The feature has not yet been released but is supposed to come out shortly.
The privacy concern started because the Timeline can post actions someone is involved in from a third-party app. According to the Washington Post, the Timeline will “add that information to a user’s page automatically.” To clarify, instead of getting to pick what one wants to share, Facebook will now put any information from that app onto the individual’s profile as it is happening.
Some users are not concerned with the privacy and just want to be able to understand what is happening with the new changes. Frequent Facebook user senior Tori Hartford said “ it’s confusing and I don’t really understand it. They should’ve kept it like it was.”
The new Facebook is different but can be helpful to see what is happening right away. It might stir up some concern about privacy, but if one is aware of how the information is being shared and what all the new features do, it will be easy to adjust to the changes and get back to the usual posts and picture uploads rather than focusing on the changes.