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Since when did Facebook become a censor?

9/21/2011

Facebook just rolled out a fairly significant change to users' home pages today.

This isn't the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. However, this one feels different. It feels worse.

The primary difference in the redesign is the 'featured stories' emphasis. The prime real estate of the page is occupied by 'Recent Stories' and stories 'From Earlier Today". These 'stories' are posts from my friends and the Pages I Like that Facebook deems to be most interesting to me. Gone... or should I say pushed to the side... is the simple chronological feed of updates.

In the past I haven't made much of a deal about Facebook redesigns - there's a period of resistance and opposition, but eventually people get used to it and move on. But in this case things are different. Facebook has decided that it will decide what's important to me.

I'm not sure I like that.

How do they know what's important to me? And what gives them the right to show me just that? I'm sure they know a lot about what's important to me based on the Pages I Like, the comments I post, and other clues. But every once in a while I like to look at random things or read about topics that are new.

Before this redesign it was quite clear that Facebook was collecting these 'Top Stories' as they were called, but I had the choice to toggle between 'Top Stories' or 'Most Recent', and each was given the same amount of attention. Now, if I want the most recent, I have to scroll through the small, cramped window that's been dismissed to the corner.

Facebook, I don't agree with the liberties you have taken, nor with the implication that you know what I like.

I only wish there was something I could do about it.

YOUR TURN:

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Will I just get used to the change like every one before this?

13 Comments

Glenn Cressman link

9/21/2011 03:22:44 am

Here is Facebook's blog post about the redesign:

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150286921207131

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6/6/2012 10:21:09 pm

"When did facebook become the censor" that is the great topic for giving the information to the people. Mainy the young generation making the great interst in that. Me too like the blog very much.

Will link

9/21/2011 05:41:01 am

Hey, nice post. Personally I like the changes. People often get anxious when Facebook rolls changes out, but get used to them pretty quickly.

My concern is how this could affect fan page visibility? I'm predicting a drop in my post impressions. What do you think?

Glenn Cressman link

9/21/2011 06:38:03 am

Will, an excellent point. I hadn't considered much about the Fan pages so you've inspired me to think about that some more.

Here's another thing I just noticed though - pushing the 'ticker' to the top right pushes DOWN the sponsored ads. I'm wondering if advertisers will start pulling their spending based on the fact their ads are less likely to be seen (since they're likely to get pushed off the screen).

Glenn Cressman link

9/21/2011 06:54:29 am

And Will, about the Fan Pages, I'm wondering if this doesn't in fact HELP Fan Pages? I don't know much about how Facebook determines what is 'interesting', but I believe engagement has something to do with it. So, the more interaction there is, the more likely the Fan Page is likely to show up as a 'story'. And for most Fan Pages, the large Fan base leads to lots of comments / engagement. At least I see lots of Fan Page updates in my 'stories'. Will be interesting to see!

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4/16/2012 08:47:45 pm

This was a useful post and I think it is rather easy to see from the other comments as well that this post is well written and useful. I bookmarked this blog a while ago because of the useful content and I am never being disappointed. Keep up the good work.

Glenn Cressman link

4/17/2012 02:40:14 am

Thanks! Although I am embarrassed that my posts have been much less frequent these days. Some health issues in the family that have fortunately been resolved. Expect to see more of me soon!

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5/2/2012 09:37:41 pm

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6/22/2012 05:19:40 am

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7/30/2012 11:35:47 pm

To make any online platform clean and to create friendly environment for all, it is necessary to make the changes and facebook is doing the same.

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9/2/2012 07:13:04 pm

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10/2/2012 10:58:31 pm

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Since when did Facebook become a censor?

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