The C-Word

It’s been a crazy week at Facebook.

With their most recent “makeover,” Facebook has managed to frustrate, excite, rile up, and send people scrambling — all as a result of a few tweaks to their code.

Talk about power! To cause so many reactions from one end of the spectrum to the other is frankly, phenomenal. And a telltale sign of how integrated Facebook has become in millions of lives. Whether you are angry or elated or somewhere in between about what’s going on with the social networking giant, the reality remains the same:

Get used to it.

All of us who use Facebook or any other social networking platform are renters, not owners. Granted, we are given many freedoms to inhabit our spaces therein, but the fact is, that space is not ours. When we signed the contract, we agreed to terms that gives the landlord the right to make changes now and again, sometimes without any notice.

That’s what Facebook has done with the addition of the news ticker, the timeline, f8. That’s what Facebook will do again sometime down the road. It’s just the nature of things in a tech-centered world.

But the real issue here is not that we went to bed one night with our house looking one way, only to wake up the next to have it made over completely. No, the real issue here is that never in our history have we had to adapt to so much change so fast. Technology is indeed a blessed addition to our lives, but it has also managed to drive many of us crazy. I’ve had friends who abandoned Facebook long before any of these newest adjustments were even a glimmer of an idea in Mark Zuckerberg’s head.

And I have friends who have yet to enter the social networking world, and — in all fairness — may never go there. Ever.

Regardless, change is hard for everyone, no matter how sophisticated or advanced we like to consider ourselves. It’s hard for social networking users and it’s hard for those who don’t know the difference between a tweet and a post. But it is the world we live in, and thus the trade-off we have to make if we want the benefits social media gives us.

What do you think about the recent Facebook changes? Do you think Facebook has too much power and control? Should social networking platforms be more transparent about upcoming changes and give users a say in the matter? Share your comments below!