Like most people, I have the same internet routine just about every day. I check my email and look to see if any of my friends have updated their blogs. I read up on the news via Yahoo and laugh over the newest fmylife posts. Then I go on one of the most popular networking sites available on the World Wide Web: Facebook.

I would venture to guess that ninety percent of this campus uses Facebook on a daily basis. The Charger Bulletin has its own fan page, as does SCOPE, the Chariot Yearbook, and Student Activities. Clubs across campus support their events through the popular networking sites and we publish our personal and scholarly complaints across the newsfeeds. When Obama was campaigning for President, thousands of people around the globe updated their statuses to support the election.  Even when the Pay-To-Print issue first presented itself here at UNH, groups and events were created in protest. My newsfeed fills everyday with the opinions, lives, and moments of UNH students. Yet, despite our love for the popular site, we as a population seem unable to cope with simplistic changes.

Over the weekend, Facebook changed it’s ever popular newsfeed process (it is more like a happy medium to stalk people, but that is for another article), and people seemed to freak out. Every which way, there were groups being created in protest of the new “live feed” and “normal feed”. Some didn’t want to know about friends adding new people to their friends list. Others did not care that Facebook now allowed you to view friends you had not contacted in awhile. People seemed generally annoyed with the changes…and for no good reason.

Last year, Facebook updated its homepage to look more like the popular networking website Twitter, where status updates were maintained on a continuous live stream. People HATED it. Everyone moaned and complained that Facebook was becoming more like Twitter and less like the site the majority of us had grown to love. Groups were created, petitions were signed, and a general annoyance was felt across the entire site.  Even though the anger eventually subsided and people got used to the changes, Facebook creators listened and made a significant compromise: the Facebook that came into existence this weekend.

For those of you who haven’t figured out the changes yet, they are relatively simple. If you stay on the “regular” newsfeed page, you will only see feed updates that an algorithm discovers to be most interesting to you. These will include feed updates of the friends you talk to the most, the subjects you “like” the most, and the games you play the most. However, if you switch over to “live feed”, Facebook will go back to the Twitter-wannabe website it had been before, with continuous streaming status updates. Easy enough right?

Moral of the story is this: people will be angry about the changes for awhile, but will eventually let it go (just like last time). The change gives you a little more control over your news/stalker feed and lets you decide how you want your homepage to work. Instead of complaining about the change, embrace it! Facebook will always be changing, just like technology and the internet itself, so go with it and see where it takes you. I know this change will have no effect over my daily routine: I’ll still read my feed (although probably not on the “live” option), still play Farmville like it’s my job, and still join all those groups. So welcome, new Facebook! Until you are updated again, that is.