Yesterday's Facebook changes prompted a lot of discussion - for and against. It seems that was the hot topic of the day. And those changes prompted me to post some thoughts about change. While it was the Facebook change that started me thinking about the subject, it was not my intent to add to the "Facebook wars", although it seems that may have been the result!
So, let me try to clarify. In general, (and I hate generalizations, just so you know!) it is my opinion that change is not always a good thing. Sometimes, as I said yesterday, it's just different. It is also my opinion that change is not always bad. Again, sometimes it's just different. And change always requires adjustment.
In the case of yesterday's Facebook changes, I will adjust. We all will. That wasn't really the point.
It was pointed out by a number of people that Facebook is free, and therefore we who use this free service have no right to complain about what they do. I have a little bit of an issue with that. Yes, it is a free service. But offering a service to millions of subscribers seems to imply, in my humble opinion, that you have at least a minimal interest in the opinions of those subscribers and that it is your desire to provide a service that they want. However, whether or not you agree with that point, would you not agree that each of us who use this service might at least have an opinion about it. And the essence of free speech is that it should not be a problem for people who hold an opinion to actually voice that opinion. Certainly we will disagree from time to time. That was obvious yesterday. What really saddened me about the whole "debate" was that the disagreements were so disagreeable!
Many of us who didn't like the changes yesterday were portrayed as somehow unable to understand the changes or that we, bless our little antique selves, would need help navigating our way through the change. While that may be true for some, let me just say that the issue, for me at least, is not that I can't figure it out. It's that I don't want to!
The bigger issue for me is not that Facebook changed. There have been changes before. Some I liked; some I didn't. But I adjusted. We all did. The issue for me was that I felt blindsided. I logged on, expecting to see one thing and found something else instead. And there were all these messages saying things like "we think this is what you will want to read" (not an exact quote, but that's the essence of the message).
Call it one of my personality quirks (and I have many!), but I really don't like being told what I will want to read! Particularly by strangers. If I had known this change was coming, I would not have been nearly so irritated. I hear there are big changes coming today. I may or may not like them. But at least I know change is coming. Apparently millions of people are in agreement. It seems that people like a little warning before change is forced on them. So it seems to me that the problem is not the changes themselves, but the way they were rolled out. Maybe the Facebook people should ask the Netflix people about how to present change to their subscribers. Hmmmmm......
There's no need to point out to me again that this is a free service and that people work really hard to provide it, etc. etc. etc. I get that. I realize that having Facebook is not a right guaranteed to me by the Constitution! I realize that the Facebook people have a right to make changes whenever they choose. (And apparently they choose quite frequently!). I get that, too.
But I do think it's OK for me to have an opinion.
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