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?

It’s easy to use Facebook for a while and feel like you have control over the information you post and who gets to see it. The sense of how much Facebook is growing and developing into a powerful corporate force is easy to ignore. I first got an account when I was getting ready to go to college in 2004. At that point, the network was so small that I actually made connections with incoming students and met up with them at Orientation. I feel like that’s a bit less realistic on today’s Facebook. I would be creeped out by such a proposition. It’s exponential growth is undeniable.

Facebook such a great resource for connecting with people both for personal connections and in interaction with brands/organizations. However, any resource that is good at connecting people is bound to collect quite a barrel-full of information that can be threatening!

Creating friend lists has always been one of those things I was going to “get around” to. I’m glad I finally did – It’s already been useful! However, I have trouble trusting it.  I would NEVER admit to playing hookie from work on my Facebook page even if it was properly targeted at the right people.

Do I have trust issues?

Find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/michelle.kitson

I developed and manage this Facebook Page for my job. It’s my brain-child.

QUICK PLUG: If you live in IV you really should check it out!

“Life of the Party” on Facebook

We live in an age when people check out WebMD before they talk to their doctor, when people order groceries, entertainment, pizza – everything – online, and when the answers to all the world’s questions can be found on Google. This trend had me convinced that people are becoming more and more secluded in their own homes – attached to the world, but only in the virtual sense.

I think the article assigned this week raised some important points about the way information is organized. Many times I will have friends that update their status with “What’s the best way to hard boil an egg?” or “How can I pop my ears without holding my nose and blowing?” My first instinct was to google the answer for them assuming they were just too lazy to do it themselves. However, when I saw how people responded to these posts, the replies had information that I didn’t turn up in my google search. This amazed me.

I would never think to ask questions like these in my status but maybe there was something I was missing here – a personal response guided by what my friends thought I should do, not some random person across the world. In fact, I tried it this week. Usually when I find a question that cannot be answered by a thorough Google search I post it to Yahoo! Answers to see what I get. I took my most recent question from Yahoo! Answers – “How do I watch something full screen on my TV and still work on my laptop when they are connected by an HDMI cable?” I’ve been checking Yahoo! Answers every day since Friday patiently waiting for a response from a stranger. Nadda.

I posted it to my Facebook status last night. Within a few minutes I had two friends investigating my problem. Within the hour I had the answer to my question and a friend to thank for it! I was shocked! Lesson learned.

Facebook has become an official way to represent yourself to the world. Now your Facebook profile page is just like an item of clothing, your haircut, a handbag, or a tattoo. All of these things are simply a way of presenting yourself to the world. We’re all given a body, but we all make different decisions about representing that body as “someone”. Even those who refuse to “represent themselves” by wearing plain clothes, and blending in are still making decisions about how they appear and, to their own disdain, are representing themselves in a specific way none the less. Facebook and other social networking sites offer yet another means to express yourself whether intentionally or not. Moreover, you all know someone who doesn’t have a Facebook page. Doesn’t that make a statement about them too?

I overhear conversations all the time discussing how people choose to represent themselves on Facebook. Many of these conversations go something like this:

“So did you see what I saw on my news feed last night?”

“Oh I know, Jane and John in a relationship? What? How crazy is that?”

“Yeah, when I read it I couldn’t believe it. They are such an odd match.”

We’ve moved to a world where our representations of ourselves online are just as important as in-person expressions. If you keep the “single” status posted on your profiles when you are dating someone, it can even be offensive to your new squeeze. Whether you like it or not, you’re transmitting a message about your relationship. You’re “telling” the world that you’re single. Considering that one in FIVE people break up on Facebook or Twitter these days, it seems to be an effective means of telling the world (and your unsuspecting ex) the more intimate happenings of your life.

Although, I’ve heard many of my peers complain how ridiculous this has gotten, they don’t seem to have a problem with wearing a ring on a specific finger to indicate marriage. Isn’t ring-wearing essentially the same social behavior as changing your status? You are representing a commitment to the world! This commitment isn’t represented any old way, it’s represented in a place that others can’t help but notice. If you’re not wearing a ring on your left ring finger you’re “telling” the world that you’re single in a different way. Does NOT having a ring mean that you’re any less committed to your spouse? Not necessarily, but it definitely has the potential to raise some eyebrows the same way not changing your status can.

Silly, I know, but as social animals we look for social cues to inform our interactions with one another whether on or offline. By not keeping social networking profiles updated with an accurate relationship status we transmit false social cues, which is indeed frowned upon. You wouldn’t keep your finger ring-less for the first few months you are married, would you? How quickly our online lives have progressed!

Have you ever “gotten in trouble” for not representing your relationship status accurately on your social networking profiles?