Facebook changes the layout again, and people are angry. I am not one of them.

I keep seeing people complain about how much they hate the new facebook layout.  Here are some status updates from people who don’t like it:

“WTF to this new setup on Facebook.”
“New face book blows. Its going threw more make overs than britney spears.”
“Why does Facebook keep changing its format? I’m getting annoyed.”
“is not happy with new facebook homepage!”

I could go on and on.  But this sentiment goes along with what I had said a year or so ago: people should get off of Facebook, and move into independent platforms like Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, etc, and then aggregate.  If one platform fails a user (professional, personally, techincally), you don’t lose your other content on a different service.  However, Facebook is a simple case of the “all my eggs in one basket”.  That makes things convenient. But when the whole service changes their layout, or their TOS, you have to either grin and bear it, or abandon the entire platform all together (like Scott Bourne).

So, for all of you whiners out there, I say this: If you don’t like it, leave Facebook. It’s really that simple.  If you make them hurt by removing your presence on their service, they’ll be forced to make changes to get people back.  Simply protesting by creating a group, or changing your picture won’t make a difference because you’re still in their environment, and digesting their advertisments. There are plenty of social networks out there to join.  Go and make Facebook hurt for what they did to you!  Leave Facebook!

I for one, will not leave Facebook.  You know why?  Because Facebook is smarter than their users will give them credit for.  Facebook have used their mountains of cash to hire the smartest people in the industry, and these “smarties” drive innovation and technology.  They create things that I like: tagging photos, Facebook Connect, and helping my parents reconnect with people they knew in high school.  Facebook isn’t stupid.  They have to be competitive.

And they have to be competitive with the (relatively) decentralized services that I like, such as Flickr and Twitter.  They have to steal users to build business.  So they have to change things in order to make a difference.  They have to change those things today, or Twitter and Flickr will take over.  Internet technology changes fast, and Facebook has to keep up.

I remember when people were angry when the news feeds came in, and the user numbers grew.  There is a difference between not liking something, and not being used to it. I think people will wipe their asses, and move on.

So, my advice to you is get used to it, or go support a community that you actually like.

The only reason I stick with Facebook is that it’s the “NBC of social networks”.  I’d much rather them visit my Twitter page, my Tumblr page, my Flickr page, or even the aggregate of it all on my Friendfeed page.  But because everyone is on Facebook, I use it to drive people to my other content.

So get over it.  I support the new layout, and I’m sticking with Facebook.  For now.

AIM is Dead. Long Live Facebook.

When was the last time “America Online” was relevant?

I know I joined the AOL Instant Messenger community when all my friends were AOL subscribers.  That was the only way to contact them over IM from outside of the AOL walled garden.  Now it seems that with the lack of the AIM protocol being fully open, and lack of development, AIM is a dinosaur amongst Web 2.0 heavyweights.

I propose the following:

I would like to leave the AIM community.  My “screenname” is not relevant to who I am.  My control over grouping and people is somewhat limited.  People change screennames as a whim.  I declare that AIM is dead, and that a new successor come in.

• Gmail?  Still have to add people to your list arbitrarily.
• Jabber? Fantastically open, but my mom doesn’t know what it is.
• Yahoo Messenger?  Sure, if you want a million and one spam messages.

So, I offer that everyone move over to Facebook chat.  It doesn’t have all the features that AIM has (file transfer, audio/video chat), but that can be built in the future.  I appreciate Facebook chat for these reasons:

• Same IM picture as your profile picture.  It just makes sense.  I’m not talking to a cartoon kitty, I’m talking to a human.
• There are more people available on Facebook chat, and you can limit access quite easily.
• Your buddy list is synchronized with your Facebook list: No seperation.
• Facebook has become ubiquitous (lots of people 40+ are on the service, which has been surprising).
• For Facebook to claim more attention and digital real estate, get people entrenched in the IM platform.
• No anonymous IMs, and also, you can only talk to people you are friends with.  This can limit stalkers and child IM problems if you are particular with the friends you add to your profile.
• Obviously more that I can’t think of right now.

I’m really considering leaving AIM for good, and purely going to Facebook chat.  It seems that AIM has become a fringe property.  The only thing I find it good for is voice and video (via iChat), but that can be duplicated in various other services on the web and the desktop.

Who is with me?!  Let’s leave the antiquated AIM in the dust, and let our “free market choices” decide where to converse.