The NEW New new Facebook

As pretty much anyone who is reading this blog already knows, Facebook changed today. Facebook has garnered a reputation of changing itself fairly often. But today was the most substantial change of their UI (user interface) that I can recall. And, as anyone who’s logged into Facebook today knows, most users are unhappy with this substantial change. I only saw one or two posts from people who actively like the new interface. And then there is a small but hardy group who are annoyed by those complaining. They seem indifferent to the change itself and argue that no one should complain about something that is free to use. Is that fair?

According to its homepage, “Facebook is free... and always will be.” When Netflix changed its pricing structure earlier this year people were outraged and made their indignation known to the company. Just this past week Netflix distributed an apology letter from their CEO and in the same breath announced they are rebranding their DVD subscription service as Qwickster. Again, their customers were annoyed. The company has lost large numbers of subscribers and cut its subscriber projections by a million users. But Netflix customers pay to use the service. So can you really compare Netflix with Facebook?

Facebook may be “free” upfront. But you absolutely pay a price to use it. Facebook makes money by selling ads. But not just by feeding ads out en masse to anyone and everyone. They use the very information you post on the site to target you. They have the ability to sell advertising to very specific demographics based on your personal information that you willingly enter into the site. They also keep tabs on things you post and even monitor your use of other sites. They KNOW what you want to buy and make big bucks off of that. Of course we still see lots of ads that are completely irrelevant to us. My favorite is the “Mom finds one simple trick to lose weight/eliminate wrinkles/make big money in the stock market.” (Evidently, there are lots of very innovative moms out there.) But rest assured, Facebook is watching you and your tastes and habits and making money on them. Why do you think there are so many changes to their privacy policy all the time? So Facebook may be free in terms of money, but there is a cost to it.

So, you are paying to use Facebook with your information. In return, you are getting a service. Usually, if you are paying for a service and are unsatisfied with the quality of that service you have three options: Keep using it anyway; Stop using it; Complain to the service provider. A friend of mine commented today noting that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. That is, there is really no good reason to NOT complain if you don’t like the changes Facebook has made. Who cares if it’s free? And remember, you are still giving them something that they need so they have a vested interest in not alienating millions of their users (ah hem, Netflix).

It’s been noted plenty of times that every time Facebook makes modifications to its UI people complain. In general, people don’t like changess they didn’t ask for explicitly. But companies -- especially social media companies -- have a vested interest in staying ahead of the curve. Look what happened to MySpace/Friendster/AOL/Prodigy... shall I go on? So clearly, Facebook is trying to keep itself relevant. Like Netflix, they knew very well that some people will be pissed off when they implement their change. But the comic below describes the change Facebook has made as a “mild inconvenience”.

But if the change they’ve made undermines some of the basic reasons people use their site (as I believe it does), well then the users have a valid complaint. A good litmus test for this kind of thing is to check back in a month and see where people are at. Most of the mild changes that initially cause an uproar simmer down after a few weeks once people get used to them. The difference here is that the new UI is forcing people to consume the very information they come to Facebook for in a totally different way. A month from now if people are still actively aggravated, Facebook ought to take note.

Now, is the new UI really all that bad? The info is still all there. But, in my opinion, it’s fragmented and overly complex. One reason for Twitter’s popularity is its simplicity. There’s really not much to it. What you see is what you get. There’s no algorithm deciding what you see and what you don’t see like in the new Facebook. And while Twitter sometimes does make changes, they’re smart about it. Perhaps Facebook was trying to “pull an Apple” with a “game changer”. The problem is, you need a real visionary to make that work. And even Apple has screwed up that strategy. Just look at the new version of Final Cut Pro X. Overall, Facebook does need to keep its 750 million+ users happy. If they don’t, they could become the next MySpace/Friendster/AOL/Prodigy... shall I go on?

So to those who are annoyed by the Facebook redesign (a group I happen to belong to), I say keep up the noise. They certainly won’t do anything about it if no one makes their opinion known. And the folks who insist that no one should complain because you don’t pay money to use Facebook should take inventory of how much personal data they’ve freely given to the site. When you add that up, simply providing a good user interface sounds like a screaming deal for Mark Zuckerberg.

A Republican Who Votes Democrat?

My wife Sarah will tell you that I am pretty well politically versed. I keep up with the goings on of national, state, and local politics. I vote. I have opinions. But, against the usual trend of people becoming more conservative as they get older, I’ve gone in a different direction.

Friends of mine from high school, college, and even grad school knew me as “Alex the Republican”. It’s been a long time since I’ve identified myself as that. But nor do I consider myself a bleeding heart liberal. (That’s still a label that makes my skin crawl.) Nevertheless, I find myself relating to the Republican party less and less these days. Certainly that’s due in no small part to the party’s decisive shift to the extreme right. But I’ve also made a shift. Not necessarily left or right though.

Sometime last year, Sarah and I found ourselves on a train coming home from Manhattan. There were two young women on the train speaking much louder than was necessary considering they were sitting next to each other. But it was the content of their conversation that got to us. To sum it up, they were gloating over how easily the were able abuse the system and avoid punishment for it. As we exited the train and came up the station stairs, my left-leaning, Democrat registered wife turned to me and said wryly, “I think I’m a Republican now.”

My early political leanings were largely influenced by my father and grandparents. I had developed a strong “bootstraps” mentality through high school and college. Also, how could lower taxes ever be a bad thing? But then I moved to New York City. And while some might simply write me off as having been immersed in a sea of liberalism, unable to fight off its seductive powers, it was much less dramatic than that.

Living so close to so many different kinds of people has a truly profound impact on you. You have to learn how to get along, at least on some level. And you have to acknowledge that you’re not in a bubble. When you live on a quarter acre lot and spend your entire commute isolated in a car, it’s easier to (probably subconsciously) THINK you’re in a bubble. But when you’re stacked on top of each other, riding a crowded train with 1000 of your closest friends to work, you can’t deny that your actions affect other people. And their actions affect you. And that goes for anywhere, not just densely packed New York. It’s just easier to see here.

It’s also hard to ignore how many different kinds of people there are in the world. You’re face to face, literally, with people from just about every corner of the globe, every level of income, every social class, every philosophy, every religion (yes, even conservative Christians, even in NYC). It’s much harder to isolate yourself among your own kind here -- although we do try pretty hard. So, in all of this you have to figure out how to get along with everyone else. Sometimes it’s not pretty, but we make it work for the most part. And I think we’re better people for it.

So it’s this aversion to the “bubble mentality” that has played the largest role in my evolving politics. I have a particularly negative response to hard core libertarianism. The idea that everyone should keep all of their money and do exactly what they want with it without restriction would certainly work if you did in fact live in a bubble. But most of us live in communities. Some of us in very large cities with millions of people. There are resources we have to share. Period. Proximity amplifies your impact on others and others’ impact on you. So for me, it makes sense for things that benefit the community to be funded with taxes.

Moreover, there are things that we as a society generally agree on. We should provide police and fire protection. We should provide public education. We should have a network of transportation. We should have parks and public spaces. While you’ll always be able to dig and find a few folks who disagree on providing these things through tax dollars, on a baseline level the vast majority of us -- especially in cities -- support it. The degree of how to implement these things is often debated. But I’ve found myself on the side that supports more rather than less because, as noted, we don’t live in a bubble. Happier people make a happier city. So yes, build that park that I’ll never use. Run a train to a neighborhood I’ll never live in. When others benefit, so do I because we’re in proximity to each other.

Now before you think I’m going down the “slippery slope of socialism”, I still believe very much in the free market. So the concept of community must be balanced appropriately with one’s ability to make money and spend money as one pleases. People need to be allowed to innovate. When people can innovate and profit from it, new and useful things come to the market. This moves us all forward, so it should be encouraged.

So let’s see where I stand. I’m a registered republican that usually votes democrat. I believe in fiscal responsibility and spending within our means but support urban planning, public transit and a health care system that is accessible to everyone. I think everyone who makes their home in this country should speak or learn to speak English but would love to see comprehensive immigration reform that recognizes this as a country of immigrants. I have mixed feelings on gay marriage but unequivocally believe in full partnership rights however you define it. I think we should fix our budget woes through budget cuts AND tax revenue. I believe that public assistance is abused regularly and that my tax dollars are too often wasted on it... but I also believe that there are people who are in dire need of help and they shouldn’t be punished because of some bitches on a train bragging about working the system.

I think the biggest thing that has changed within me is that I’ve truly come to understand that one is not all. One person does not represent an entire class, race or group. And one class, race or group does not get to decide what’s right for all. We have to compromise. We have to learn to live together. And since no political party embodies this specific belief system my only choice of what to call myself really is independent. Maybe it’s cliche, but I consider that to be moving neither left nor right, but forward.

If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything at all.

Back in the days when MySpace (or "My________" as it's now known) I would blog from time to time. After the Great Exile of 2007 to Facebook, I stopped. Mostly out of laziness since Facebook doesn't offer any kind of blog platform. So here I am, nearly four years later, realizing I have lots of thoughts to share. Status updates and Tweets fulfill some of my need to vomit my inner monolog out to the world, but only to a limited extent. I have much more to give than 140 characters will allow. Then again, does anyone really need to hear my inner monolog?

I became accustomed to sharing my world view with the masses back in college when I had a show on our campus radio station. Each Tuesday night if there was a particular issue that was grinding my gears, I would open up the mic and address said issue (hopefully) with a dash of insight and humor. In the several years following college, I found myself gagged and bound with no outlet. But then came social media. Blogs led the way, but were soon supplanted by brevity encouraging status updates and Tweets. I went with the crowd.

The interesting thing is, this forced brevity served me well. Not only did it force me to cut out the fat, but it also taught me a valuable lesson. In a play on the old adage, my mantra has become: If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything at all. That is, if you're going to say something, make sure it's relevant or interesting or insightful or pithy or SOMETHING. Otherwise, don't bother.

Certainly, no one is actively seeking out my opinions or musings on life. If you're reading this, it's likely because you know me or because someone who knows me linked this blog. So the least I can do is make what I have to say, well, relevant or interesting or insightful or pithy or SOMETHING. It should be more than just my inner monolog vomited out over the airwaves as 21-year-old Alex likely did far too often. I will also refrain from adorning this blog with rotating clip art. It's the least I can do.