View From the Phlipside Radio - Facebook Hysteria

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

This is going to sound a little rough but I can’t come up with any other way to say it.  I am astounded by the hysteria that accompanies every announced change with Facebook.  A couple weeks ago I posted an e-card on my profile that reads “I am appalled that the free service that I am in no way obligated to use keeps making changes that mildly inconvenience me”.  My advice for everyone is when Facebook changes - relax, suck it up and move on.  I mean really, is it worth the level of angst that shows up every single time?  

Some of the changes are stupid I give you that much.  This new ticker thing on the right hand side strikes me as pointless and annoying.  Fortunately it’s easily ignored.  And I have to admit that Facebook’s head honcho Mark Zuckerberg shows every sign of major geekdom when he starts rhapsodizing about the future.  The Z man sees our entire world kind of being organized through his beloved Facebook.  I think this is probably a sure sign that Mark needs to step away from the computer more often.  As much as he hated the movie “The Social Network” he really does sound just like the rather pitiful movie version of himself at the very end of the movie.  Sitting alone in a conference room hitting refresh to see if someone accepts his friend request.  Sad really.

So let’s take a look at the next idea that is headed our way and see if we can’t limit the hyperventilation a little bit.  There’s a new look for your profile page coming and it’s a big change.  The new concept is called the Timeline and I’ve already been trying it out for the last week or so.  Here are my thoughts.

For a purely aesthetic point of view I like it.  The old Facebook profile was spartan and a bit dull.  This one gives you the chance to use your own cover photo and make it more your own.  You get two columns of stories, the ones you post and the ones that Facebook has identified as important.  Yeah, that second part doesn’t thrill me but it’s based on what I do on Facebook anyway so it’ll be interesting to see how they tweak it.  The reality is that not much changes about how you use Facebook.  You’ll be able to post even more nonsensical, pointless trivia about your life if you so desire.  And people will be able to find all your old embarrassing moments more easily (time to do some editing for some folks).

The end result is that within six months it will seem perfectly normal to you just like all the changes before.  And if you really hate it that much you can always go to Google+.

So spare us all the hysteria.

Call that the View From the Phlipside