Facebook is at it again. The social network is tweaking the home
pages of its 750 million users, much to the chagrin of some very vocal
folks.
Some of the recent Facebook changes, including larger photo displays
and a feature that makes it easier to group friends into categories,
were met with approval – or at least silence, which in the age of
social-media oversharing could well be considered an endorsement.
Then came Wednesday, when many users woke up to find their homepages
altered, with what Facebook calls “top stories” on the top of their
pages, followed by “recent stories” listed in chronological order. On
the right side, meanwhile, there’s something called a “ticker,” a live
feed of all the ongoing activity that also appears in users’ news feeds.
By mid-morning, the words “new Facebook” quickly became one of the most
discussed topics on Twitter. Many comments were negative, though some
pointed out that Facebook makes many changes to its site and people
eventually get used to it.
For its part, Facebook has long asserted that it makes changes to keep
users engaged, and that those alterations are often based on user
requests. Other tweaks derive from the company’s study of activity on
Facebook and what it thinks people will enjoy using. Privacy advocates,
meanwhile, have contended that Facebook changes its site in order to get
people to share as much as possible about their habits, hobbies and
likes – all to give advertisers a better picture of who to target.
In reality, it’s a little of both. The way Facebook sees it, the more
people enjoy using the site, the more time they’ll spend there.
The latest changes are “tailored at making sure this news feed is what
you want to see,” said Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at
Facebook.
And, so far, that’s been good for business – despite the grumblings of a
vocal minority of Facebook users. The company is expected to bring in
$3.8 billion in worldwide advertising this year and $5.8 million in
2012, according to research firm eMarketer.
Facebook is well-aware of perhaps the biggest downside of being the
world’s largest social network: With so many users, pleasing them is
difficult.
Facebook, though clearly king of social networks, is also competing
with Twitter and Google Plus for attention. As such, the race to add new
features has the potential to confuse users, said Debra Aho Williamson,
principal analyst at eMarketer.
“It’s like … who’s going to come up with the best, most interesting
features,” she said. “Everyone is copying each other, making sure
whatever feature Twitter offers, Facebook offers, whatever Facebook
offers, Google Plus offers.”
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