So like lots of people out there that have any clue how to use the Internet, I have a Facebook account. And while I’d like to add to my friend count by at least 2 by adding my vast and amazing readership, today I’m not really talking about pimping my profile so people can SuperPoke me all day.
No, I’m talking about all the fear, apprehension, and even hostility I’m seeing towards the “new” Facebook layout which was just released a little while ago. With the passion of Luddites but without the refusal to actually use technology (just parts of it), many people have taken to the virtual streets, crying havoc over the new layout and features, and creating groups like “1,00000000000000000000 people Against the New Facebook”. The way people were carrying on, you’d think the apocalypse had come because Facebook changed their look.
I can only imagine what would happen if Google suddenly moved their search bar to the top.
Anyway, I have to say, the folks who are afraid of this new and improved way to try to give themselves the illusion of having lots of friends have really got to learn to relax! I mean, have you even tried the new layout yet, where you can add, edit, and poke your friends endlessly with greater ease than ever before? How about the tabbed view where you can select the things you actually can bear to know about a person before trying to add them to your massive list of people you friend but never talk to? And let’s not forget the slightly less annoying advertising you get exposed to.
People shouldn’t be afraid of trying new things. I mean, if you won’t try the new Facebook, what’s to say you won’t try a new car to create new credit card debt to create new bills? What about the brand new experience of trying that new haircut to get shut down for a date in new ways while desperately Twittering your new status? All this being afraid of the new stuff is just going to make people afraid to try anything, and if the new Web is about anything at all, it’s about getting on board the new trends right away so you can not be called, in a new way, a “noob” for posting something that just, well, isn’t new anymore.
So leave that social group that you mindlessly joined to protest the new Facebook to make room for another group you can mindlessly join about being the 453463455th person to add Myspace haters to your friends list. Just like jumping into a cold, icy lake, you might freeze a coup[le limbs off, but after a while, you won’t feel a thing, either way.