Facebook features

Mark it. Wednesday, September 21 2001, Facebook changed the look of the website. Again. What else is new!  Many on Twitter and Facebook are currently commenting about how much they lament the changes to Facebook. For a free service that you don’t have to use, I’m amazed that people are so angry about it.

We’ve already seen stories about how “everyone” dislikes the new Facebook, but is it really that bad? Come on folks, is it really the end of the world? With tweets like the three below, we get a sense of people’s reactions:

“Zuckerberg apparently hired the genius behind New Coke to run Facebook.” — @MarkArum

“Facebook continues to reinvent itself, by making itself less usable yet somehow exactly the same.” — @modeps

“Complaining about Facebook format changes is the ultimate 1st world problem.” — @Jenn1ferJun1per

Despite what people say, here are three reasons why you really don’t like the new Facebook

We are afraid of being uncool.  Changing Facebook is just another “first world problem” of keeping up with the Jones. We fear that if we don’t know how to use social media, we’ll be laughed at or even worse, tweeted about. For most people over 50, that’s not a big concern.  However, for the millions of 15-29 year-old users it is. It’s bad enough that we don’t have an iPad, but to not know how to use Facebook?  We are done for.  But, don’t worry, there are far greater things to worry about in this world.

We only like change on our terms. Read any good book on leadership and you will find out that being a leader is all about change. When our boss wants to change the way we do things at work we want to pour hot coffee down his pants. We don’t like change, but when we are the ones changing things it’s alright. Any successful process of change requires a lot of communication and a lot of support.  Unfortunately, Facebook didn’t do either of these well. As a culture, we struggle with what it means to live life without routine.  Routine is good, but being unable to adapt is our downfall.

We always think we know better. There is a reason why Facebook has like 600 million users. The people running it have the genius.  That doesn’t mean they are always right, but they have been right enough to build a successful company.  We love to complain because we think we know best.  Like Monday Morning Quarterbacks, we sit in our chairs and complain about a free service. Part of life is admitting that you are not always right. There are always two ways of responding to a problem: either you are part of the problem or part of the solution.

So, if you don’t like the changes, let Facebook know and come up with some good ideas.  Let’s be proactive and not reactive people.  Let’s be a culture that navigates change well.