Some of my FB pals got a little irked when I told them to “STFU about Facebook’s redesign,” and thus began a short comment discussion in which someone told me I was in the wrong job (but it wasn’t “personal,” ha!). Below is one of my responses to why FB should be more considerate. The previous commenters argued that FB had a “vast demographic” (actually, college-educated people make up the bulk of its demo). As FB’s model currently stands, I can rationalize why they don’t give a fuck about its users.
Though a site like FB is growing immensely, that does not necessarily preclude that a “vast demographic” is embracing it. Social networks are not impervious to the same social divisions found, well, in a lot of places. (See http://is.gd/4gB for further discussion.)
There is still a “digital divide,” and I deal with this on a weekly basis. I teach kids who are probably more fluent with technology than I will ever be; I teach kids who have never touched a computer before and need to be taught how to copy & paste.
Regarding “the right to complain,” I have to disagree with you. FB is not beholden to its users, to a certain degree. We exist primarily as a constantly evolving source of data and trends, which they can use to pull in advertisers. Advertisers are the people with money, which does shape the user experience of Facebook. (This current interface has been in the works for a very long time, FYI.)
What you are responding to is not a dislike of the interface itself, but that it permits marketing to be more easily transmitted to you. And no one wants to feel that way. (Least of all me; there’s nothing I hate more.)
There is a second problem here; one that also pervades other aspects of social life: entitlement. Users of free services feel entitled to believe that technology companies will act in their best interests; they wont. Voting with the mouse works to a certain degree; rather than throw one’s weight behind yet-another free social network service that will eventually dupe the public seems tiring and pointless. If advertisers with money can make FB change to meet their data demands, why can’t the public do the same? What’s stopping us, really?
