Facebook changes News Feed; music up next
Bad news for those with ears and friends with poor taste in music.
The only Facebook constant is change, and user criticism when those changes occur.
Wednesday morning, millions of social media users awoke to a new “News Feed,” and they didn’t like it.
The News Feed, which tells users what their friends are up to, now put the “most interesting” posts at the top.
Commenting on the Facebook Blog, user Brandi Genest Weeks said: “Quite frankly I don’t want Facebook deciding who is most important in my life. I want my news feed to just go chronologically and if I want to hide posts from someone, I will.”
Jennifer Egan Siler writes: “Give us the option to turn this stuff OFF, it’s terrible and makes me want to leave facebook altogether.”
Joi D Cristofori was more direct and even used all caps to make her point: “”SUCKS. IF IT ISN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT. THIS IS THE MOST GOD AWFUL THING EVER. YOU JUST TURNED ME INTO A HATER AND THAT IN ITSELF IS A SIN, JERK.”
Still, more than 1,300 “liked” the changes before I hit publish on this prize-winning piece of modern journalism.
Facebook says the new News Feed acts like a newspaper, which I happen to know are hugely popular with the Facebook demographic.
“When you pick up a newspaper after not reading it for a week, the front page quickly clues you into the most interesting stories. In the past, News Feed hasn’t worked like that. Updates slide down in chronological order so it’s tough to zero in on what matters most,” explains Mark Tonkelowitz, an engineering manager at Facebook in a CBS article.
“Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff.”
A new feature, dubbed “Ticker” will soon be unveiled. It will track friends’ posts in “real time,” which sounds a lot like the old News Feed. (My account already seems to have it in the upper-right rail.)
Those who like the old News Feed can change their Facebook preferences to “English (UK),” say some.
Facebook fans should brace for more changes. Thursday, developers are expected to announce a host of upcoming tweaks, including a more musical experience.
Mashable reports Facebook will integrate musical services from Spotify and other content providers in the near future. Facebook will not directly host or stream any music or media. Instead, it will rely on partners to provide the content, much like it does with applications and games.
Facebook recently made it possible to demote annoying friends to “acquaintance” status, which seems to mimic Google+’s “Circles” feature.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
94 comments Add your comment
Billie
September 21st, 2011
10:04 am
George Mathis: Finally, someone willing to fix grammar errors! Oh, BTW: news stories on the AJC are not edited, either. And when you email them pointing the errors out, you get no response.
Mike L.
September 21st, 2011
10:07 am
It’s free to use. They can do what they want.
bryan
September 21st, 2011
10:09 am
“It will friends’ posts in “real time,” which sounds a lot like the old News Feed.”
What?
loves the paper, hate the newsfeed
September 21st, 2011
10:12 am
The one thing I have always hated about website news is that you miss half the news you want to see. Many times I go looking for articles that are in the paper AJ-C and they are not on the AJ-C’s own website. Searching for what you want on the Internet takes more time than opening a newspaper or a book or even searching a library card catalog. Now, my Facebook “newsfeed” just wants me to give more of my time while I search for what I think is most important.
Mila
September 21st, 2011
10:13 am
I don’t like the creeper box to the right. I am seeing statuses/photos/links that my friends are commenting on of people that are not “mutual friends”. Does this mean if my friends comment on my stuff…that their friends (who aren’t my friends) can see it too? I have everything marked as private…but, surely other people do too! Why am I seeing EVERYthing EVERYone comments on?! Talk about stalkerish and creepy. I don’t think I’ll comment on anything ever again.
Amanda Zarovsky
September 21st, 2011
10:23 am
When Facebook moves to Atlanta, I would love to get a job with them and show them how to REALLY manage their site. You don’t change something over and over forcing people to hate it. You listen to the people, what they want, and consider every option before doing something on your own. Clearly no one asked for this very confusing layout. And the friend’s activity on the right only takes up too much room. In games, I can’t even see my friends chat messages to me. Get rid of this crap, go back to the way it used to be in 2009 before Facebook got bored.
Clare Cosgrove
September 21st, 2011
10:28 am
http://www.facebook.com/groups/wewanttheoldprofileback/
WE WANT THE OLD PROFILE BACK NOW GROUP!!!!
I want private to be private,I don’t want to know everytime my friends post or what they like or how many times they pick their nose …I really don’t!!
CL
September 21st, 2011
10:30 am
I think Jo is talking about this:
“It will friends’ posts in “real time,” which sounds a lot like the old News Feed.”
Choices
September 21st, 2011
10:32 am
Such an outcry! Attention morons……don’t use it.
Bambam
September 21st, 2011
10:36 am
Looks like my time on Facebook is about to run out. Were there complaints from FB users about the newsfeed ? Was anyone polled to see what changes might be warranted ? I agree the site is free but if no complaints were received from users why tinker with something that obviously was working ?