Changes and opportunities

by Jason Preston on September 19, 2006

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I changed my Facebook profile today, which I never do.

If I didn’t think that Facebook was well on its way to crapland, I’d probably care a lot more about the feeds and the opportunities that they create (I bet we have facebook mini-celebrities within the year).

But the thing is, Facebook was cool for two reasons:

  1. It was closed
  2. It linked me with people I knew in real life

It’s essentially open now, and in about eight months it’s going to stop linking me to people I see all the time at school and start being like an unfortunate yearbook where people get uglier all the time so you can’t pretend people never change.

Oh well.

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{ 4 comments }

1

Ben 09.20.06 at 7:45 am

whoa there, cynical critic.

1 - it’s still as closed as you want it to be. sure, people can get accounts without going to a .edu institution, but it doesn’t mean strangers can do anything but find out you have a profile.

2 - this isn’t really a problem with facebook, it’s a problem with you graduating. after that point, it’ll be a way to keep in touch with people; “holy shit, bob’s in japan?” also, arguably, having it “open” will allow you to add friends that you know from outside of school, say, those that you meet while living in l.a. or seattle.

i’m not smitten with facebook, but i feel like there was a little clarification needed.

2

Jason 09.20.06 at 9:33 am

re 1: It’s annoying to me that there are people at my own school whose profiles I can’t see - that’s not keeping the network closed, that’s eliminating the point of facebook because they’ve changed it so that everyone can get in.

re 2: I see your point, and I understand it, but on a practical level I never use facebook except to double-check someone’s name.

3

Ben 09.21.06 at 2:27 am

re: re: 1: okay, you’re saying two different things. are you angry that you can’t see profiles of people at your own school? that’s because they have been given the option to hide their profiles from people they’re not yet friends with (which i think is a good option to have). just add them as a friend. or, on the other hand, are you angry that they’re allowing everyone in? in this case, i feel like your frustration is also misplaced – this is the feature that will actually allow you to facebook friends who don’t go to a .edu institution (which may solve your problem in #2). it’s not like those creepsters will be able to look at your profile at all unless you say it’s okay.

i agree it’s lost some of the coolness factor—”oh, sorry, it’s only for college students,”—but i don’t see how this is leading facebook to “crapland.”

and personally, i’m in favor of being able to quickly contact people who might have changed their phone numbers or addresses or emails after graduating. calling it “an unfortunate yearbook where people get uglier all the time so you can’t pretend people never change” seems like you’re pining over headshots of hotties (which, although probably quite popular with facebook, isn’t exactly what it was designed for).

4

Jason 09.21.06 at 10:03 am

Meh. We have different opinions, and clearly use facebook for different things.

I think it’s turning into Myspace, and I hate Myspace.

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