Facebook right to change useless, dangerous features

Many people are all for keeping up with their friends’ latest activities and interests. As for those same people keeping up with and following their friends’ day-to-day mundane activities – the enthusiasm for this is probably not as overwhelming.

Those who run the online social network Facebook obviously thought differently. The online social network made a significant change to its site, as each user’s profile is now equipped with a feature called the “Facebook News Feed.”

This News Feed alerts users to any minor change their friends make. If they join or leave a club, change their list of favorite TV shows or post pictures on their profile, it is immediately put on the News Feed and updated in real time, similar to the way up-to-date news comes off an Associated Press news wire.

Facebook, which was initially intended for use solely by college students but now has high school students and various companies among its users, is now catching heat for this feature, which users say is not conducive to their privacy.

“It’s making it so much easier for people who want to do stalking to stalk,” said Facebook user Igor Hiller, 17, a freshman at University of California, Santa Barbara in an AP story. “Facebook users really think Facebook is becoming the Big Brother of the Internet, recording every single move.”

Which is why nearly 700,000 of the just under 10 million users have joined the group Students Against Facebook News Feeds.

In response, those who work at Facebook said that as early as today, users would be able toblock certain fields – such as changes to their personal information – from being seen by others on the news feed.

Gee, why didn’t they think of that sooner? Did they think that everyone would love for their friends to know every online move they make? Seems as though they should have thought out their actions a bit more before carrying them out, or should have at least informed members of the change.

In adding the News Feed, Facebook added a feature to its service that is unnecessary and wastes space. Many users do not need – nor do they want – to know every little move their friends make, or be privy to every change a friend makes to their profile. And if they do want to know their friends’ every move, they either need to get out of the house – or get some help.