It seems that many things have changed in Facebook-land with the f8 conference in full swing. You can’t become a fan of anything anymore – you can only “like” it. Facebook profiles will now connect with Community Pages that sync up to Wikipedia. Facebook Connect is getting ditched for Open Graph. Many new changes in the works!

As always there are always tons of people updating their status t express their absolute disdain for the changes. Sometimes it’s hard to sort out the people who resist any and all changes versus the people who genuinely dislike the changes.  Many times I think that people just hate having to adapt to a new environment where they have to learn how to use this tool all over again. Whenever I log into Facebook and there’s a little dialog box at the top I get excited to see what they’ve come up with next and am eager to explore the new settings!  I’d like to think I’m open-minded (maybe I’m just naive) about the recent changes. I think it’s great for Facebook to create more connections and therefore, interconnectedness, on Facebook. It makes for more a much more integrated social experience. I use social media to connect with other people and from what I’ve read thus far the changes Facebook have made so far aim to make that process better.

Many people are concerned about privacy issues, which is understandable.  I have dug through the settings myself and found them easy to navigate, even with the new features. I am most concerned about the ability of companies being able to access my information through social plug-ins. I will certainly read into those settings a bit more carefully to make an educated decision. Although Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has officially proclaimed that “Privacy is Dead”, which is… less comforting.

What do you think of these new features?