The new, new, new Facebook

Yesterday at 3:17 pm, Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of Facebook) published a post on Facebook's official blog, objectively titled, "Improving Your Ability to Share and Connect." He discusses several (more) changes that will be made to Facebook, such as new celebrity Pages that look more like user profiles. He also includes a somewhat cryptic promise of changes to come for the Home page: "You can find out what it is your mother, your high school classmate or President Obama are doing, thinking and sharing right now just by logging into Facebook."

Now I care as much about Facebook itself as the next person (in fact, I probably care less if that person is your average college student), but I'm not as interested in this post as I am in the user response it has elicited. Facebook has changed its format dramatically since it began in 2004. There were Applications, which excited some and annoyed others (including myself) who had left the busy look of MySpace for the more minimalist design of Facebook. There was the now-infamous Newsfeed, which showed exactly what your friends were doing (as well as where and when they did it).

In true social-network fashion, these changes were not met passively. As if rebelling against some oppressive government, users self-organized into groups, circulated virtual petitions, and updated their statuses (and other immediate information) to show their disapproval. Of course, others liked various incarnations of the "new" Facebook, and they too got on discussion boards and argued it out with dissenters.

Now I may be wrong, but I don't remember a Facebook blog existing at those times. Facebook didn't provide us with an official forum for discussing these changes that so affected our Facebook-lives; therefore, Facebook itself became its own forum. (How many of you are still in groups protesting the "new" Facebook?) But with the blog, users are able to provide immediate feedback to Mark Zuckerberg himself. Some comments from yesterday's post:

"Facebook has come a long way. I like what I am seeing and looking forward to seeing how it all evolves. "

"Can Facebook go 8 months without radically changing something? Just as I get used to the new homepage, you change it again! >:("

"I HATE THE NEW HOME PAGE!!!!!"

"I love you facebook!!!!!!!"

Also interesting: a text search reveals that "twitter" (or some form of it) is used 20 times in the comments -- but not once by Mark himself.

In my opinion, the Facebook blog is necessary and useful: not only because it alerts users to changes before they happen (as opposed to surprising them one day with a Newsfeed), but also because it centralizes Facebook discussion. I didn't scroll through all 700+ comments left on the post, but from the few I did read, it looks like users are not only responding to the blog post but also to other users.

While I'm not sure how wild I'll be about the new-and-newer Facebook -- especially since it will probably change again in a few months -- I am definitely a fan of the Facebook blog. Mark Zuckerberg should sleep easy at night with the knowledge that he's done at least one thing unequivocally "right."