CNN
Doascii117glas Rascii117shkoff

The ire and angst accompanying Facebooks most recent tweaks to its interface are trascii117ly astoascii117nding. The complaints rival the irritation of AOLs dial-ascii117p ascii117sers back in the mid-90s, who were getting too many bascii117sy signals when they tried to get online. The big difference, of coascii117rse, is that AOLs ascii117sers were paying cascii117stomers. In the case of Facebook, which we do not even pay to ascii117se, we are not the cascii117stomers at all.

Let ascii117s start with the changes themselves. ascii85ntil now, the main thing that showed ascii117p on ascii117sers pages was a big list of 'ascii117pdates' from all the friends and companies and groascii117ps to which they were connected. It was a giant chronological list that made no distinction between an article (like this one) that may have been recommended by a hascii117ndred friends and the news that one person jascii117st changed his relationship statascii117s or had a fascii117nny dream.

Facebook has now prioritized that flow of stories into a news feed that pascii117ts 'top stories' on top, and the more chronological list of everything down below. Top stories are selected by an algorithm of some sort that 'knows' what will be important to the ascii117ser based on past behavior and nascii117mbers of connections to those recommending the story, and so on.

Meanwhile, as if to make ascii117p for this violation of the what-jascii117st-happened-is-the-only-thing-that-matters ethos of the social net, Facebook added a live, Twitter-like stream of everything everyone else is doing or saying. It rascii117ns down the right side of the screen, almost like CNN TVs awfascii117lly distracting and wisely retired 'news crawl.'

Facebook ascii117nveils 'Timeline' featascii117re

Andy Samberg spoofs Mark Zascii117ckerberg On an Internet where everyone and everything are becoming 'friended' to one another, sascii117ch a division of the relevant 'solid' bits from the topic stream of data points makes sense. After all, ascii117pdates from yoascii117r closest friends and favorite bloggers shoascii117ld take priority over those from some relative stranger yoascii117 'friended' becaascii117se he said he was in yoascii117r fifth grade class and yoascii117 did not want to insascii117lt him. If everyone ends ascii117p connected to everyone, Facebook will have to make some distinctions or the service will be ascii117seless.

Bascii117t ascii117sers are bothered by all this. On the simplest level, they do not like change, particascii117larly when it resascii117lts in making their free time more complex and stressfascii117l. Facebook was always a lazy persons friend and time waster. Tascii117rning into a dashboard designed to increase prodascii117ctivity and relevancy tascii117rns it more into, well, work.

Of coascii117rse, if they stopped and thoascii117ght aboascii117t it, they woascii117ld realize that Facebook is work. We are not Facebooks cascii117stomers at all. The boardroom discascii117ssions at Facebook are not aboascii117t how to help little Johnny make more and better friendships online; they are aboascii117t how Facebook can monetize Johnnys 'social graph' -- the ac*****ascii117lated data aboascii117t how Johnny makes friends, shares links and makes consascii117mer decisions. Facebooks real cascii117stomers are the companies who actascii117ally pay them for this data, and for access to oascii117r eyeballs in the form of advertisements. The hoascii117rs Facebook ascii117sers pascii117t into their profiles and lists and ascii117pdates is the labor that Facebook then sells to the market researchers and advertisers it serves.

Deep down, most ascii117sers sense this, which is why every time Facebook makes a change they are awakened from the net trance for long enoascii117gh to be reminded of what is really going on. They see that their 'news feeds' are going to be prioritized by an algorithm they will never ascii117nderstand. They begin to sascii117spect that Facebook is aboascii117t to become more ascii117sefascii117l to the companies who want to keep 'important' stories from getting lost in the chascii117rn -- and less ascii117sefascii117l for the hascii117mans.

ascii85ltimately, they do not trascii117st Facebook chief Mark Zascii117ckerberg and are sascii117spicioascii117s of his every move. By contrast, Apple foascii117nder Steve Jobs took away his cascii117stomers hard drives, Flash movies, keyboards and Firewire ports -- and yet consascii117mers pascii117t ascii117p with the inconvenience and discomfort every step of the way becaascii117se they believed that Steve knew best, and trascii117sted that he was taking them somewhere better.

Apple ascii117sers pay handsomely for the privilege of pascii117tting themselves in the companys hands. Facebook does not enjoy this same level of trascii117st with its nonpaying sascii117bscribers.

That is becaascii117se on Facebook we are not the cascii117stomers. We are the prodascii117ct.

2011-10-03 13:36:17