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Denial, resentment or garden variety procrastination — whatever reason you've stuck with the old Facebook format and avoided the optional change announced last month is now moot. Or it will be soon.
"For the month of December, we gave people the option to upgrade to the new profile early, and hundreds of millions of you made the switch," Facebook's blog announced yesterday. "Starting today, we'll be rolling out the new profile to everyone."
Well, you can't say you weren't warned.
Let's review: In the new profile, your status update is no longer at the top of your page. Instead, it's that crap nobody (but your stalker) cares about — where you live, where you're from, where you work, who's your GF or BF, etc.
This personality snapshot is accompanied by a stream of potentially random, possibly humiliating photos in which you've been tagged.
While you can't stop the coming change, you do have some control. Not a lot, granted. Here's what you need to know:
Your status That ego-pinned portion that first attracted you to Facebook — the place at the top of your profile that tells your Facebook friends what you're doing, thinking, complaining or making jokes about — is no longer at the top of your page. Nothing you can do about that.
Your "experiences" That's what Facebook calls the stuff at the top of your new profile — seemingly random information culled from your Basic Information. This replaces the summary and/or Internet address you previously posted under your profile picture.
Currently, there is no obvious way to control what appears in the new summary except to change who can see this information in your profile settings — when possible — or delete that info completely.
For example, there seems to be no way to control who sees where you live, where you're from and where you work, unless you delete that information.
Photo stream of your recently-tagged photos. The random panel of photos at the top of the new profile seems to be what users hate most. It moves those images buried in your photo albums —or the tagged images of you in the Facebook photo albums of friends – front and center. And that can be … well … embarrassing.
The current options for controlling what photos your photo stream are somewhat limited, but available.
A. You can hide an unwanted photo when it pops up in your photo stream by moving your cursor over the image until an "x" pops up – then click.
B. If friends have tagged you in their images that you don't want up there, you can always un-tag your name.
C. You can control who sees photos tagged with your name. Here's how you do that.
- From the Account menu in the upper right corner of your profile, chose Privacy Settings.
- Underneath the list of your current privacy settings, click Customize settings.
- Scroll down to Things others share section.
- Next to Photos and videos I'm tagged in click Edit settings.
- From the Edit settings prompt that appears on your screen, use the drop-down menu to choose Customize.
- In the Custom Privacy prompt that appears, you will see a drop down menu next to These people.
- From These people, you have the option of choosing who can see photos via your tagged name. You can set it to Only me or you can add specific Facebook friends who are permitted see those photos via your tagged name.
- Save this option. As with other Facebook privacy settings, you can change it at any time. You just have to do it.
D. You can also eschew the photo stream entirely by getting creative using the new Facebook apps that help make your profile pretty. Winda Benedetti tells you how to turn your new Facebook profile into sprawling pieces of personalized art here.
Featuring friends. Here's a loaded feature that's bound to hurt more than a few feelings, including long-past high school adults who should totally know better. With the new Facebook profile, you have the option to feature specific besties, or customized lists of besties – or those "friends" you're sure will impress others. If you want to brave that social minefield, here's what you do:
- Click the Facebook icon that appears at the top left side of your Facebook page to get to the menu.
- Click the Edit My Profile link that appears in the upper left corner of your profile page, underneath your name and next to your main profile pic.
- On the left menu of your Basic Information page, click Featured People.
- In the Featured Friends section you'll see two links; Create new list and Add an existing group or list.
- Click Create a new list to, you know, create a new list. Label it and add friends in the fields provided.
- Note: Once you create that list, it does not automatically show up under Featured Friends on your profile. Once you've saved your new list, click Add an existing list or group. Your new list – and any lists you've made in the past — will appear here.
- Click the list of friends you want featured on your front page, save and prepare for the accusations from all those friends you didn't feature.
Why is this happening?! As I've said before, the only thing consistent about change is that it sucks. You'll note that the latest Facebook change you're complaining about has a new emphasis on photos — one of the most popular features on Facebook, yet one that's sort of hidden compared to other content on the social networking site.
Other somewhat hidden information in the old profile, such as your background or interest, now takes center stage to give your Facebook friends a better overview of who you are, as opposed to the status of what you're doing.
One might argue that while this is an appropriate way of stacking information on a dating site, not so much a social network in which we ostensibly already know about the people we're Facebook friending. But who are we kidding? Change is coming, if it isn't already here. Adapt or go back to Friendster.
Helen A.S. Popkin is always going "blah blah blah" about online privacy, then asks you to follow her on Facebook and/or Twitter … because that's how she rolls.
Leave a Comment:
Who is that arrogant sob who wrote the article ?
LOL.
Mr_Bob: I totally agree?
Hmm... arrogant sob... That could be any FB user.
Sounds like something Barry would say...
Your going to change like it or not, its my agenda..ha
Way to go Gordo13! You're the winner of how fast can we drag politics into a vine not about politics.
You can log into getahobbydotcom to claim your prize.
who cares...my sugestion is if you dont like it then dont use facebook. It really is that simple
Don't be dense... the tone of the article is intended to reflect Facebook's apparent attitude towards its users. As in, "Didn't like the new look enough to switch in December? Tough cookies, now we're going to make you switch anyways, because we can and we know you'll keep using Facebook anyways."
There is something I can do about it, I can delete my facebook acount.
No you can't. You can only hide it, FB keeps it.
Never fear! Even when you THINK you have deleted it, FB will send you an email saying you can log back on at any time with your existing credentials. There is NO SUCH THING as a deleted or even deactivated account with FaceBook
There's a difference between "deactivating" and "deleting". You have to go looking for it, but you *can* delete your facebook page. They give you something like 14 days to change your mind, after that it is (supposedly) gone gone.
Yes, you can delete it. Deactivating it, which is what they want you to do, does save it for forever. If you delete it, they do remove it after time.
There is no way of deleting the account.
I "deleted" my account and didn't log in after 6 months - not days - only to see that it was just the way I left it when I last logged out.
Your account vanishes when it's deleted, but if you sign into with in a year it reinstates it again.Just like live and hotmail accounts, and unfortunately many other accounts out there.
I tried out Facebook once, using completely made-up information and a disposable email address. Nothing I saw there interested me in the least.
I never created a real Facebook page to begin with. Now I don't have to backtrack and try to plug all the leaks and garbage associated with having a Facebook account.
So stop sending me those annoying friend requests. If you're truly my friend, we already have each others' email addresses and phone numbers.
Get a life in the real world!
FB has gone from fun and user-friendly to something not so fun and very user-unfriendly. I've never understood why people feel the need for constant change to make something "better". I'm using it less and less with each new "improvement".
I haven't logged into mine in nine months and I'm probably going to go delete it after reading this article, anyhow.
You cannot delete the account.
Longhair, yes you can delete the account.
I used to enjoy Facebook but now it's morphed into a non-friendly, non-friend and family oriented site to some kind of creepy dating site. It's messed up. The only "friends" I have are real friends and family. I already know where they live and all other relevant data. The only thing I'm interested in is what they're up to - today. Facebook keeps achieving new levels of suckosity, it's time to say buh-bye.
This article is mind-numbingly off base. Facebook updates their profile page to put the most relevant information top and center, drops a self-updating photostream below it so your most recently tagged pics are always showcased whether you remember to promote them or not, and streamlines the status update area amongst many other positive improvements and all the author can say is "the only thing consistent about change is that it sucks."
The only thing consistent about change is that it will undoubtedly unnerve change-averse Luddites who still consider your hometown as "private information" on a website, but your specific street address as "public information" in an old-fashioned phone book.
Things are only getting better at Facebook and the new profiles are a great example.
It seems to me that Facebook keeps changing its format just to change its format, way too often, without any discernable positive effect.
I think Alan Pugh is correct. Google your street address and there will be a picture of your house. Google your name and how much you paid for the house will pop up.
"self-promoting photo stream"... yeah that's not at all self-absorbed. Why can't people use dating sites for that silliness? Oh and people learned a long time ago not to add their address and other personal information such as that to their profile if they really enjoy any anonymity. And as far as my name.. pffffftttt it's so common there are at least a dozen others with it in the local phone book - none a relation and none me, since I'm unlisted.
Instead of all these changed profile layouts, why not just offer them as options? many of us would never change, and millions would change frequently. They should give us options, not mandates.
 Mine won't change. You see I have a life and not a facebook page.
....then why are you reading this article?
...because that is his life. Envious yet?
I wish they wouldn't refer to it as an "upgrade" like it's something improved. "Upgrade" to the new profile. Right. And then they pretended we had a choice to keep our old one.
I will sorely miss that little box beneath the profile picture, which produced some stunning bits of individual creativity among my friends. Every change in FB has de-emphasized individuality and emphasized the links and demographic info that its advertisers crave. More and more I feel like FB is replacing the "social" in social network with "consumer," and that serving me and my personal info up to its paying customers is more important than the old mission of providing people with a way to link to other people across thousands of miles.
Welcome to the truth. Glad you finally made it.
Exactly. and will FB pay its users (actually FB is using YOU) for making it rich? Will FB pay you dividends?
I use Facebook with only my family and chosen friends, ignoring all other friends from long ago who want to friend me. I don't have birthday, work, education, or likes and dislikes, and I don't use the games and questions FB puts up there; my family and friends know what is relevant about me. I don't like this change, may give up my FB altogether.
I just went on and shut down as much as I can. I avoided joining for a long time and now only use it to keep in touch with family.
the fact that you believe everything that hollywood tells you makes you more of a lemming than anyone. Â dummy.
Hollywood and Las Vegas....two blights on our society.
Hollywood? What did I miss?
Las Vegas is a sewer once you get off the strip.
I hate it, and more thanthat I HATE that I had no choice and was tricked into trying it and couldnot go back. I too will miss the little box under your profile pic that produced some memorable statements and allowed people to know what you were about before they knew where you lived
I agree with Mr. Pittman. In the end, it's always about dollars, not people.
I think I'll get better acquainted with my real life neighbors and try to get to know more of them. In an emergency or having a party, it'd be nice to know people right outside my door. One of my neighbors just needed me for an emergency at 3:00AM - a health related emergency. I'm so glad she felt she could knock on my door and ask for help. I knew her last name only. We've lived across the street for over ten years.
In the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, the shooter's parents were told by a 70 year old neighbor that their son was a suspect. They'd lived next to each other for many, many years and didn't even know last names. They really didn't 'know' each other. How sad.
I thought Facebook was suppose to be fun, not another job or chore to keep up with.
It's disingenuous to assume that people who use Facebook do not "have lives". I have a FB page mainly to keep up with old high school and work friends (and all the fellow military brats I've known through the years).
Now, those folks who spend all day "farming"... that's another story. I play Farmville but spend no more than five minutes at it.
Why bother with it at all? Always thought it was corny and infantile.
I have become so much closer with my family (in Scandinavia) and old friends thought lost forever. FB is what you want it to be. You are in control of what you post, and who can see it. If you send in a picture to your local paper, the paper owns your picture. I don't know why people get their undies in an uproar about this.
Right, Kris! If you don't want to use FB, then don't! If you don't want your info or photos for people to see, don't post them! People crack me up posting their dirty laundry & then getting ticked off because someone looks at it! I do have a life, a rather busy, full life full of jobs, kids, husband, parents, animals, family & friends and I use FB to keep up with them. I have 28 aunts & uncles and around 75 or more cousins as well as many friends from school, prior jobs, & other contacts. These are people that I don't see very often or not in a long time and FB has allowed us to come together online. I've had many reunions, some in person & some just through messages & pictures, with great friends & family that otherwise would not have been an option. So just use it or don't...no one really minds if you log off & quit...but stop your griping.
You're a well-versed, highly educated person with great diagnostic skills and a terrific vocabulary.......now STFU!
well said
Ok - that cracked me up.
Stay away from Facebook.
It's the best thing since sliced bread for businesses. One stop advertising to reach over half a billion people. Dirt cheap too. Start a page up and pimp out your product.
I got on FB because of my kids. Just about all the things I recieve or see on FB is a waste of time. I see crap like general conversations that I don't give a care about.
Totally agree- I can' stand it when people have conversations about private matters or things that should be posted through the message system/ It makes others feel excluded and it's a waste of space and time on the page for those who are not a part of the talk.
Will there be cake?
The cake is a lie.
The cake is not a lie
As long as the cake is chocolate!
Here's the best way to manage your new Facebook profile..... Get off Facebook and get a life with real contact among REAL people. You'll be amazed by how many actual people you can meet! Plus you can customize your life, workout, read books, earn a decent living... it's the BEST thing EVER! Plus, you can actually attend REAL parties, dinners, etc...this new profile is called LIFE! WOW, I never thought such a wonderful product would be developed here!
Yes, getting off FB is a good idea. It's an artificial and delusional way to communicate. I've tried it for 8 months and have become very annoyed withit. I've heard old friends who used to make voice phone calls on birthdays now just use the Facebook wall to say "Happy Birthday"- It seems lazy..
When the new profile came out I ignored it thinking that it was just an option. Now I find that I will have no option but to use this. I don't like it but when has FB ever really cared about what the people like or dislike. The more they change the site the less I use the site and if more people do this, they may get it through their heads not to F**K with something that is already working. Change for the sake of change is not necessarily a good thing.
All of you people are so hooked on that crap that you will never give it up. Just think what would happen to Golden Boy if you all gave it up and went back to email.
I can only think of 4 words about this post: Get off my lawn
MissyAnn, I've been on Facebook for a couple of years and it really hasn't enriched my life at all, LOL. I haven't logged into it in over a month. I'm thinking getting off the Facebook teet isn't really going to be that difficult.
wat tha wat? changes ugh!
It's a funny thing to compalin about something you volunteer to do. Last I checked having a FB wasn't mandatory & Mr. Zuckerberg can do anything he likes with his company, as consumer we have the ultimate veto-just like TV to switch it off. me thinkeths the masses doth protest to much
you're right, they don't protest ANYTHING... that's why our country is in ruins. But wait......it gets even worse!
Helen the saying is "the only thing consistent about change is that it's inevitable" It doesn't always suck and it's not always good. For instance the change from dial up to broadband is most certainly a good thing for anyone, however, the change from monthly standard bills to bandwidth usage billing (should they go through with that idea) would almost certainly suck for nearly everyone.
HEY! Shhh! Don't give them any ideas!!
not giving them any SB they are already looking into that change and seeking fcc approval
I think you can take for granted Helen is aware of "the saying." She has simply adopted her own version of it to suit her viewpoint, which is why she started her sentence with "As I've said before." I don't think that really requires a lecture from you on what you think she should have said. You're welcome to disagree with her, of course, but suggesting she's too dumb to even get "the saying" correct is just stupid.
fizzled read your post you have accused me of suggesting someone is stupid, which I did not, and then actually called me stupid. It's obvious to me she knows the saying my comment clearly shows that I agree more with the original and not her version and that was the only point. There was no lecture and I did not require what is a lecture from you. The fact you cannot see the light spirit of my comment, made all of these assumptions, and then went on to be insulting over something you clearly did not undertand makes me think two things. 1. you are a troll 2.When you think of calling someone stupid in the future, as I said at the start of this, read your own comment, then I want you to go look in a mirror and have a full on epiphony that you are the one being stupid or ignorant at the least.
Who cares? What I would like to know is why an article like this was posted on the front of a news website. There are a lot of things more important than Facebook changing the look of your profile.
I for one found the timing of this article to be brilliant. I am a New FACEBOOK user and just started setting up my pages because I need to communicate with a cohort of folks at one time while we plan our 30 year high school reunion. The two very frustrating things I struggled with were the two items she chose to write about today, the photos that mysteriously show up at the top and the inability to change that friends list. I was relieved to see I wasn't just stupid.
odd that the majority of facebook users do not want this change yet facebook goes against what its users want. it is especially odd since facebook is about to go public and attempt to sell IPOs. what kind of person will buy stock in a company that is declining in popularity due to the fact that it disregards the wants of its users and customers?
FB has over half a billion unique users. Plenty of people would want some stock in that.
Try not to think individuals and you will answer your own question. This site is a gold mine to the right people.
This is ridiculous to keep changing things. It's already to complicated to navigate around and try to avoid the intrusive spying they already do to all of us.
They must be stupid to think they are interested in helping us stay in touch with our family and friends.
They only want to invade our privacy and profit from any bit of info we let them have.
Changes or not facedbook will still suck . It is nothing more than a showcase for ignorant addicts to stupid games like farmeritaville .
You are correct. I tend to call it Game Book now. Wish I would have gotten into developing flash games though, so I could get a piece of that nearly billion dollar pie people are paying yearly for "premium" game items.