If you haven’t heard about the uproar going on about how Facebook changed the layout and added news feeds to the site, you’re missing out. Here’s a start, and a more in depth analysis here.

I like what Fred has to say at the end:

The takeaway here is that Facebook, like it or not, has brought to bear
a very real issue in online identity. Everything we do in public or
semi-public spheres can be tracked and chronicled. We don’t see our
digital footprints as much because systems haven’t cropped up to
collect them, but collecting them is trivial. Facebook has simply put
one of those systems in front of us - wrapped up nicely as a feature -
but it isn’t hard to see the reality. As we grapple with this reality -
that our privacy is only a construct of a system, and that our identity
can be tracked and chronicled - how will students change their behavior?

The same word keeps going around: CREEPY. It’s weird to see everything from who’s talking to who (and about what) to little broken hearts with details about someone who’s no longer in a relationship. My take is that it’s too much information….not so much about privacy (because everyone could see this stuff before, they just might not notice that someone changed their favorite music bands whereas now it’s called out specifically so they don’t miss it).

If I wanted cluttered, I’d go to Myspace or Friendster. One of the best things about Facebook was that it was clean, easy to use, and to understand. I’m hopeful that Facebook will listen and modify this feature accordingly. Couple of ideas:

Me Feed: Like those feedburner buttons, people *can* have a little icon they can have on their profile page for people to subscribe to what they’re up to…if said person wants this option enabled.
Feed Options: I don’t need to know that someone changed their music interests…I don’t really even think I need to know when someone becomes friends with someone that I’m not friends with. Yes, I realize that some might want to know, but give me the option.

Some people have become very creative with their anger…here’s my favorites:

And my personal favorite…

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out…I wonder how many people are so vehemently in support of the new features.

"The first rule is…" yeah, you know.