So I expect to get a lot of criticism from this post. First, because I'm letting everyone who didn't know that I am a Facebook user, and second because I am a fan of this new feature, Facebook Feeds.
For those that don't know what Facebook is, good for you! Just stop reading because it is a social networking site (much like MySpace) that is a complete waste of your time. The feature that is causing a bit of a stir in the Facebook community is Facebook Feeds. The feeds aggregate most of your friends' activity on the site and make it visible in on your homepage.
To put it bluntly, this feature is one of the best ideas I've seen recently. The Facebook staff has really outdone itself by taking information that was already available to everyone's friends and aggregating it in one place. What would be even better is if they syndicated the feeds as RSS so I would never have to login to the site again.
The counterpoint to my wowed enthusiasm is it allows people to stalk others on Facebook. I agree that it makes it easier to stalk people, but it definitely doesn't provide any information that wasn't already available. In fact, I am more comfortable with people 'stalking' me this way, than making a deliberate effort to follow every link and update in my profile (that is just creepy).
And for all you nay-sayers out there, just be aware that this same level of 'stalking' will be accomplished anyway by outside parties through the use of the new Facebook API (http://developers.facebook.com/). In fact, if they take this feeds feature away, I may just write my own version of it just to piss everyone off. Hmmm.... Maybe I'm a stalker?
P.S. The Facebook staff has responded.
Leave a comment