Facebook modifies news feed feature to create more privacy for users
The glow of a screen accompanied by quiet ticking is all that is seen of a silent and furious conversation.
The college networking site Facebook is one of many ways people can stay in contact online, but a recent format change has led to division amongst users.
A new news feed feature informs every other user on a person’s contact list when someone joins a group, sends a message or makes a post. Many users protested this change, with one group totaling more than 400,000 in the largest group, according to the Ball State Daily News Online, which protested and forced the company to remove the feature.
Perhaps the greatest power online is the feeling of anonymity it gives the user, and with the recent news about MySpace, the newsfeed could not have beenreleased at a worse time.
“I can see why people would not want it,” says Amanda Callister, a junior in liberal arts. The news feed allows for a person to easily monitor online behavior, which lead to a response from the users who petitioned Facebook until the CEO took action.
“We really messed this one up.” Admitted CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Somehow we missed this point with feed and we didn’t build in the proper privacy controls right away. This was a big mistake on our part, and I’m sorry for it.”
Most of the users agree that the news feed is good, but too invasive, as Amanda Lamkin, a junior majoring in interior design, emphasized.
“I like the news feed, but it’s kind of creepy,” she said. “I think that people should be able to chose whether or not you want to be included.”
It is easy to inform friends when a user adds to their page, as Dan Peffrey, asophomore majoring in business, pointed out.
“I posted some new pictures and some of my friends that I haven’t talked to for a year [looked at them]. They never would have looked at my pictures without the news feed.”
Rather than remove the feature, Facebook has chosen to modify it to include privacy safeguards. Zuckerberg said, “So we have been coding nonstop for two days to get you better privacy controls. This new privacy page will allow you to choose which types of stories go into your mini-feed and your friends.”
With the modification, a person can choose what stories to have posted and help maintain privacy while still using the news feed’s draw.
-skjohnson@cc.usu.edu