2008 Woodie Awards
Newsfeeds: The New Big Brother
Kelsey Field
Issue date: 9/25/06 Section: Life & Times
- Page 1 of 1
For those of you who check your Facebook account on an almost religious basis many of you were surprised to find a few new features that stirred up a whirl of controversy on the Facebook feed.
The two additions, the news feed and the mini feed, provide Facebook users with up-to-date information on what is happening in your social circle. For example what your friends posted on your other friends walls and who broke up with whom.
Although the news feed does not give out private information, many users openly stated their opposition to the new addition. In fact, many Facebook users responded to the news feed in true book junkies style: forming your own Facebook protest sites to complain about the new addition.
The Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook) hosts a whopping 721,661 members as of Sunday September 17; demanding that the news feeds be changed to better protect the privacy of the user. These protests did not go unheard.
A few days later the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote an open letter to all users declaring that they in fact appreciated the groups and had made changes they felt would please the users. Although you can hide what appears about you in other people's news feeds, the feed is still ever-present on your homepage. Zuckerberg has said he will continue working on improving the features of Facebook.
However, along with the announcement of the news feed alterations, Zuckerberg also announced the possibility of Facebook going public, with social groups remaining private. The intention of this is to bring Facebook to a wider audience than those in college or high school. Zuckerberg claims that he has received many complaints from users who want their friends who did not go to college included on Facebook as well.
Finally, with elections coming up, Facebook added one more feature: "elections 2006." This is your chance to vent your political views online for those people who do not know them already, and join new clubs and meet new people who are like-minded. So, keep your eyes open and watch out for the future of the news feeds and Facebook going public.
The two additions, the news feed and the mini feed, provide Facebook users with up-to-date information on what is happening in your social circle. For example what your friends posted on your other friends walls and who broke up with whom.
Although the news feed does not give out private information, many users openly stated their opposition to the new addition. In fact, many Facebook users responded to the news feed in true book junkies style: forming your own Facebook protest sites to complain about the new addition.
The Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook) hosts a whopping 721,661 members as of Sunday September 17; demanding that the news feeds be changed to better protect the privacy of the user. These protests did not go unheard.
A few days later the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote an open letter to all users declaring that they in fact appreciated the groups and had made changes they felt would please the users. Although you can hide what appears about you in other people's news feeds, the feed is still ever-present on your homepage. Zuckerberg has said he will continue working on improving the features of Facebook.
However, along with the announcement of the news feed alterations, Zuckerberg also announced the possibility of Facebook going public, with social groups remaining private. The intention of this is to bring Facebook to a wider audience than those in college or high school. Zuckerberg claims that he has received many complaints from users who want their friends who did not go to college included on Facebook as well.
Finally, with elections coming up, Facebook added one more feature: "elections 2006." This is your chance to vent your political views online for those people who do not know them already, and join new clubs and meet new people who are like-minded. So, keep your eyes open and watch out for the future of the news feeds and Facebook going public.
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