Facebook has metamorphosized since its birth. I do think that it’s a great tool to stay in contact with high school friends and those that we rarely see. As Jen said, yes it can be a stalker tool, but the beauty of it is the fact that we personally control what is displayed on our profiles. If you think it’s too impersonal or stalkerish, then simply don not include your pictures or information you don’t want to share. By publishing them on your page, it is creating an open invite to share your personal life with others and you know that people will be looking. If you believe that it’s too impersonal, then avoid openly publishing them and save them to show personally.
When coming to Grove City, it was fun to meet freshman and recognize them as “the girl with the sombrero picture”, or “the boy with the red Corvette picture”. Obviously, these refer to the standout profile pictures that were currently selected. At the time, a Facebook profile consisted of a picture, contact information, some personal information, your birthday, and of course….the wall. It was plain, simple, and classic. Today, some profiles are hardly recognizable. There has been a huge number of tools and applications created to include in a profile; they’re endless! Add television show quotes. Include big pictures. Add video clips. Display a Bible verse of the day. Have big pictures shown. Give gifts. Poke, slap, spank, kiss, hug, kick, wink at a friend. The list continues. I sometimes find these additions annoying. These invitations to build a snowman, attend an event, be a superstar, find out if I’m naughty or nice, see if I’m addicted to The Office, take a quiz or be ranked by someone else build up on my side pane and I never touch them. Honestly, nobody should have enough time to create or share these things with their other online friends. What happened to the fun, clean, simple communication tool that Facebook was?
One Response to “The Book of Face Changes. I mean, The Changes of Facebook.”
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I definitely agree with you! I remember the feelings most people had when the “New Facebook” was introduced a couple months ago. Everyone was used to the simplicity layout when more application came out and was upset when users had more control over the layout of their Facebook. It went from being a standarized layout to all format with different tabs and numerous personalization options.
It is definitely annoying to have to scroll down five pages to see someone’s entire profile; when I see those huge profiles, I wonder the same thing you did – where do those people get the time to spend on Facebook?