Is Facebook getting too cool for school?

If you’re a Facebook user (and the gods know you probably are), you know that they've been trying to implement changes over the last year or so in order to make the site better.  Unfortunately, many of the changes seem to be doing the exact opposite.  Little things such as screwing around with the timeline and micro-charging for certain services seem like business moves, not the refining of a social media platform for the better of the users.  The question is: Will Facebook’s attempts to rise ever higher eventually cause its demise?

We've already seen Myspace hit the skids.  It was, in fact, replaced primarily by Facebook.  And though no new challengers have seriously stepped up to fight with the big FB, that doesn't mean there’s not the potential for a scuffle.  It’s not incredibly difficult to create a social media platform and if history has taught us anything, it’s that Internet users are fickle and all-too-willing to look elsewhere if they don’t feel their needs are being addressed.

Probably the most controversial thing that FB has done to improve the site - one of the same things that some see as ruining the site - is the micro-charging.  They’ve started allowing people, just like businesses, to promote posts by spending a few bucks.  Since most people do not have the need to do this, it really becomes a tool for either spammers or business ventures.  Sure, some normal people will use it, but in the long run it’s just another avenue for people to use to have Facebook act as their advertising platform.

In the following article, one individual does a really nice breakdown of what he thinks caused the fundamental shift in Facebook from being the place where we love to go to the place that is getting harder and harder to deal with.  He discusses a bit about the changes to the way profiles work and makes the apt analogy of Facebook being the “Wal-mart of the Internet.”  Of course, the major difference is that we don’t have to drive an extra 10 miles to find an alternative to Facebook.  We can just look around for someplace to make a new profile.

Another individual makes a wish list of things that she thinks would improve the Facebook experience.  While I can’t necessarily agree with more than half of these, it does beg the question of how Facebook can effectively listen to their users for ideas if every user seems to have a completely different view of what’s good and bad.

The Internet is a big place, and it’s much harder for a company to claim that they’re “the only game in town.”  For this reason, even something as seemingly invincible as Facebook may one day fall if they fail to do what’s right for their users.  Personally, I’m seeing a changing of the guard coming on.  Facebook may not crumble entirely, but as people remember the days of simplicity, they will leave for something that appeals to that nostalgia - a social media platform that reminds them of the good old days.

Cyber Cafe photo courtesy of insecula.com