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Facebook Rolls Out Redesigned Profile Pages 211

Posted by CmdrTaco from the we-fear-change dept.
alphadogg writes "The [Facebook Profile] changes include a clustered listing of biographical information under the user name at the top of the page, including such details as the person's job, hometown, relationship status, where they went to college, what languages they speak and birthdate. Beneath that will appear a set of the five most recent photos that a user allows to be posted at their profile page." The changes unsurprisingly are being met with mixed opinions ranging from rage to anger.
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Facebook Rolls Out Redesigned Profile Pages More

Facebook Rolls Out Redesigned Profile Pages

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  • The latest five pictures... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @08:49AM (#34459060)
    The latest five pictures will be totally useless for me because a lot of my friends tag a picture with my name if they think I would interested in it rather than because its a picture of me!

  • Opera (Score:2, Informative)

    by pieisgood ( 841871 )

    apparently facebook doesn't support Opera? I visit it using this web browser all the time but when I click the link to facebook in the summary it tells me that facebook isn't cool enough to support Opera. Weird.

  • Hooray (Score:5, Informative)

    by Haedrian ( 1676506 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @08:54AM (#34459086)
    More predictable semantic information which can be used in to collect more information about the users. Hooray!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nloop ( 665733 )

      Actually it's the same information just arranged in a more aesthetic form. Advertisers aren't screen scraping, they had access to the same data before.

      • I don't remember 'languages spoken' being there for example.

        Now that its shown on the screen more prominantly, I'm pretty sure there is more of a reason to update/add this information. I know that most of my friends are updating their work place, and current locations now.

        Still works out like that in the end.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by nloop ( 665733 )

          So the fact that your friends volunteer more information is the fault of facebook? I'm all for privacy but crying foul on this is totally unwarranted. If you don't want to share where you live, then don't. Nothing has changed except the pretty-pretty. If you don't like how the new setup looks then don't opt in (unlike previous mandatory changes which did suck).

          • Re:Hooray (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Haedrian ( 1676506 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:50AM (#34459658)
            Its not the fault of facebook, but it is an encouragement.

            Let me give you an example - assume that for example - /. decides that you can put a display picture.

            If the picture is in a hidden page (such as the profile one) - you not having one won't matter, because few people will see its missing)

            if this picture slot is in a prominant position - such as attached to your every post (like certain forums) - then there is more of an incentive to add one.

            Social Engineering at its finest.

          • So the fact that your friends volunteer more information is the fault of facebook?

            No, but changing the settings environment so that information you previously thought was viewable by friends only is now viewable by either 1)everyone or 2)friends of friends, is a problem, and over the course of the last 2 years, this is what has happened. People that had information that they thought was somewhat "private" are now broadcasting it to the world if they have not gone through the very convoluted privacy setup o

  • Die facebook, die (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kraemate ( 1065878 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @08:56AM (#34459104)

    So now facebook is the new google, extremely minor changes are finding place on tech news sites.

    Is facebook really technology? From what i can figure out, its a place where people spend 700 billion minutes a month playing farville and mafia wars.

    I'd rather have all the facebook employees working on something significant, like i dunno, developing software for the space missions, or heck, even search engines. Search engines are awefully complicated - facebook is just a photo album with lots of cookies to track you.

    At what point do we realize that people wasting time on such sites is as big a danger as say, drugs?
    When's the war on facebook ?

    • When's the war on facebook ?

      I think it's being disclosed on Wikileaks next week.

    • Re:Die facebook, die (Score:5, Informative)

      by vlm ( 69642 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:23AM (#34459308)

      At what point do we realize that people wasting time on such sites is as big a danger as say, drugs?
      When's the war on facebook ?

      Obviously you do not watch infotainment TV shows. As farmville has eaten into their viewership, they've been running some might FUD-dy stories along the line of marital infidelity / online predators / Save the Children / general theme of you should all be scared and watch this TV show instead of looking at facebook. According to TV, crooks / creeps / freaks didn't exist until Facebook and if we stop using Facebook they'll magically disappear.

      Prime Time TV has also been out to get them with the usual FUD.

    • When they added the groups feature it became somewhat useful, instead of just being a vanity toy.

    • --I'd rather have all the facebook employees working on something significant, like i dunno, developing software for the space missions, or heck, even search engines.--

      Space Missions??? Nooooooo.......

    • Seach engines have really changed how we access information and learn about new topics. I'd say advances certainly are important to society as a whole. I wouldn't discount them as insignificant.

    • I doubt Facebook is as big of a time waster as TV is, where is your angst against TV?

      Also, I don't think you'd want a typical Facebook programmer anything near a product that flies.

    • Re:Die facebook, die (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DerekLyons ( 302214 ) <fairwater.gmail@com> on Monday December 06, 2010 @01:13PM (#34462110) Homepage

      Is facebook really technology? From what i can figure out, its a place where people spend 700 billion minutes a month playing farville and mafia wars.

      Yep, as predictable as the sun rising - "I'm a slashdotter and I don't use Facebook, so I'll diss it to show how cool and how willingly ignorant I am". Seriously, it never occured to you that even though you don't like Rasberry Vanilla Fudge flavor that other people might? News flash - the Universe doesn't revolve around you, never has, never will.
       

      I'd rather have all the facebook employees working on something significant, like i dunno, developing software for the space missions, or heck, even search engines. Search engines are awefully complicated - facebook is just a photo album with lots of cookies to track you.

      Just this morning (and I'm still on my first cup of coffee) on Facebook I have;

      • Seen some amazing photography by several photographers whose pages I follow.
      • Started arranging going out to dinner with some high school classmates when we're all in town for our 30th reunion this spring.
      • Discussed with my niece the value, or lack thereof, of internet 'awareness' memes (an anti child abuse campaign meme having gone viral on Facebook over the weekend).
      • Confirmed with one real life friend I'll be attending his Christmas party, and confirmed with another our plans for Christmas Eve.
      • Been informed by my local micro brewery that their holiday ale (whose kegging and bottling was delayed due to a storm caused power outage and damage to their machinery) will roll out this weekend.
      • Helped a fellow geocacher solve puzzle and another fellow geocacher find some materials he needs for remodeling his house.
      • And courtesy of a post by my sister about a toy she bought for her four year old took a nice trip down memory lane sharing our memories of that exact same toy with my mother, my sister, and my brothers.

      And actually, that's a pretty typical day on Facebook for me.
       

      At what point do we realize that people wasting time on such sites is as big a danger as say, drugs?
      When's the war on facebook ?

      Yes, it has security and privacy issue, anyone with sense knows that. But after a shedload of stories on Slashdot about Facebook, and many comments like yours, and many many comments like mine explaining how wrong you are, such ignorance as yours is pretty hard to understand. You may call staying connected with family, friends, etc... etc... 'wasting time', but a lot of people disagree with you. Given the number of tools developed to allow people to share and interact via the 'net (email, instant messaging, forums, blogs, social media...), I suspect you're in a distinct minority.

  • http://www.facebook.com/common/browser.php [facebook.com] isn't compatible with Firefox 4, IE 9, or Chromium 6

  • Anger?? (Score:3)

    by zero.kalvin ( 1231372 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @08:58AM (#34459114)
    "The changes unsurprisingly are being met with mixed opinions ranging from rage to anger" That's what they always say, a few days later, the cries dim out. Humans tend to resist change.

  • I just wish Diaspora was finished so I could send an invitation to the few FB friends who matter to join me there and then delete my FB page.

    • I just wish Diaspora was finished so I could send an invitation to the few FB friends who matter to join me there and then delete my FB page.

      Good luck with that last part! I hear it's a royal pain.

      Hey entrepreneurs... Go invent this:

      When you leave FaceBook and register for an alternate site such as Diaspora, simply register with IveMoved.com [or whatever].

      Our automated scripts perform the following:

      1. Help you move: We move your content, notify your friends, and remove as much public data as we can from FaceBook
      2. Mark your page as "I've Moved", directing users to your new location.
      3. Sign in to your FaceBook periodically and pull over some FaceBook data for your old friends, bridging the gap between your new service and FaceBook. As an IveMoved.com user, you'll have access to your friend's FaceBook data, but your friends will be encouraged to move with you, to maintain contact with you.

      Congratulations on your upgrade away from FaceBook!

      (Apologies to the current owner of ivemoved.com (if any).. it was just a name I made up while typing.)

      • I stay in touch with the people in my life outside of FB.

        There are a few acquaintances that Facebook put me back in touch with that I would like to stay in touch with via a similar site. Not so many that I need a service to send them a note for me.

        As far as everyone else goes if they come with me great, if not no loss.

    • As it turns out, the friends that matter to you will continue to stay in touch with you even if you are not on Facebook.
    • Diaspora is not "controlled" by anyone but people don't really realize that gathering information through a distributed network is not so hard. Your friends run programs or web browser bars that nip at the info, etc.

  • I quite like it. It's nice and simple.

  • Let the ..... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by realsilly ( 186931 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:02AM (#34459150)

    ... automatic security preference "accidental" changes begin.

    So many people just accept these upgrades without going back and checking their privacy settings again.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nloop ( 665733 )

      So I read that and checked. All of my privacy settings are exactly what they were before. What aspect are you referring to that is changed by accepting the profile upgrade? I don't see any?

    • Re:Let the ..... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:31AM (#34459410) Homepage

      This time, they don't change the privacy - no new option added. You can't, for example, choose to disable showing the most recent 5 tagged pictures of you. No matter who your friends are or what prompts them to tag you in them.
       
      I don't use Facebook often at all, but I just think it's stupid to put my profile information in the control of other people (my friends).

      • unless you don't let anyone view your tagged photos. in that case, none of those 5 pictures will show up on that page for anyone except you, as expected.

        • And of course, that privacy setting does exist - but "Only Me" isn't on the main list of drop-down choices. I had to click customize, just to find that option. Thanks for the tip.

          • on facebook, the only good privacy setting is a customized setting. I have several lists set up and use their in/exclusion options to really make it specific to my privacy choices.

    • I just love the "new" security features... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by denzacar ( 181829 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:45AM (#34459584) Journal

      Particularly the "Question only you know the answer to".
      That has the range from "First grade teacher" through "Pet's name" all the way over to "Street you lived on when you were 8".

      Is anyone in Facebook HQ aware that about 90% of their users use it to communicate or get back in touch with the very group of people who would know those answers - BECAUSE THEY ANSWERED THE SAME QUESTION THE SAME WAY?!
      Hello! Your entire first grade class had the same teacher. Your friends know the name of your pets and the street you lived on. Your cousins sure as hell know the rest of the questions like mother's maiden name etc.

      Why not just give everyone the default code of 0000 or 12345? It's about the same level of security.

  • It's optional (Score:3)

    by beanyk ( 230597 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:03AM (#34459158)

    ... so far, at least. My profile is just the same as yesterday. Only when I clicked on a friend's profile did I see the change.

    There was a button I could click to follow suit, but I ignored it.

  • You'll get over it. (Score:3)

    by Lilith's Heart-shape ( 1224784 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:10AM (#34459214) Homepage
    People got over the FARK.com redesign, and they got over Slashdot 2.0. They'll get over this as well, and forget to check their privacy settings.

  • so wait (Score:3)

    by digitalsushi ( 137809 ) <slashdot@digitalsushi.com> on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:14AM (#34459238) Journal

    Didnt everyone hate 'the wall'? Just as much?

  • They fixed some compatibility issues it seems. I still use Firefox 2 and Facebook looked so "broken" it was pathetic, now it's almost all correct. Funnily they dropped some web 2.0 features, the page reloads entirely when you check another in-page tab. The ads are invading but the design overall is better. First time they actually improve something, at least in my books. But of course, it still is just the same old useless Facebook we could all live without...

  • Browse friendships needs to be blockable. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Posting=!Working ( 197779 ) on Monday December 06, 2010 @09:38AM (#34459494)

    Browse friendships on the new profile is just downright creepy. I know it's all visible info, but I can't think of a single non-creepy reason anyone would want to click and see every interaction between two other people.

    If you were looking at the results for two people, and one of the people you were looking up walked up behind you, you'd try to hide it before they caught you. There really isn't a good explanation you could give them if they saw you doing it.

    It appears to me a tool designed exclusively for stalkers, is there any other reason it exists? I'm really at a loss to figure out why this wasn't rejected the second it was suggested and the person suggesting it isn't avoided like the plague at the office.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by flink ( 18449 )

      Browse friendships on the new profile is just downright creepy. I know it's all visible info, but I can't think of a single non-creepy reason anyone would want to click and see every interaction between two other people.

      That option has existed for a really long time. It used to be called wall-to-wall before, and you could get to it from a link on every single wall post.

  • Five most recent profile pics visible to whom, friends or strangers? I know some people who use landscapes or cartoons as their "public" profile pic, and relied on FB access control model to prevent non-friends from seeing the other profile pictures. Now I bet a lot of people will delete their extra profile pics. Then FB's policy will be to delve into the database of deleted items until their year of use is up and declare deleted items "public".

  • http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/ [theonion.com]

    the man who doesn't own a television and in pure narcissism tells this fact to anyone at the slightest chance

    i am the same sort of laughable curmudgeon when it comes to facebook: i don't have a page, and never will, and proudly announce the fact to people whenever the subject of facebook comes up. i am the fringe weirdo, and i know it. and regardless of my level of narcissism, i am apparently also turning out to be wise. people are feeding facebook so much detail about their lives they are doing nothing than feeding a beast which makes privacy in their lives impossible

    facebook is a future myspace/ friendster. give it a few years. simply as a matter of fact that facebook's business goals will make people more and more uncomfortable and more and more creeped out. yet facebook cannot back away from their business goals of exploiting and cashing in on the massive data stores about us that they are sitting on, because those server farms cost a heck of a lot to maintain. so as facebook rushes to fulfill the promise of their business plan, they will inevitably repulse and drive away their members

    cantankerous weirdos like me who don't have a facebook account will begin to look cool again, prescient even. i promise i won't loudly bleat "i told you so" in 2013 when the latest slashdot story is about the decline of facebook

    but here's the big thing: the phenomenon of social networking sites have a real world analogy: the hot club/ restaurant/ bar. take any metropolitan area, and you will have some nightlife hangouts that are THE place to be and be seen, some that are past their prime, and some that are up and coming. social networking sites are the online analogy of this continuous sociological process of rising and falling. after a certain amount of time as the "center of the world", a new dynamic takes places where a new "in" crowd begins to consider the hot hangout spot to be over the hill, declasse, tired, over. and they have a new little place where the "coolest of the cool" hang out. and then the exodus begins in earnest. soon the new place has lines out the door every night, the old place is empty. somehow everyone knows about the new place, and they all want to get in. the old place can't pay people to come. then a new "in" crowd rises... repeat ad nauseum. what's notable for those who would extend this analogy completely, is that there is subcultural rift lines. the internet is still young. maybe the future of social networking sites will fractionate according to those who identify themselves according to certain subcultural identifiers. well, that's true already to some extent

    now if i were REALLY smart i'd be busy maneuvering around the next feature set that will make the next social networking site the "got to have it" place to put up your profile. and ride that pile of money to its bitter end. well, there's probably already about a hundred thousand zuckerberg wannabes out there doing exactly that already. 99% of those wannabes absolutely suck, but in that remaining 1%, all i know is, one of them will actually succeed

    because facebook is jumping the shark, and the internet still needs an "it" social hangout spot. which site that will be... i wish i had that crystal ball

  • The changes unsurprisingly are being met with mixed opinions ranging from rage to anger.

    WTF? Can the editors please stop bashing Facebook every single time they do anything? For once, everyone I've talked to has been decently happy with this change.

  • Next release (Score:4, Funny)

    by serano ( 544693 ) * on Monday December 06, 2010 @11:58AM (#34461072)

    I've heard that in the next release in addition to showing hometown and birthdate, they will also show last four digits of your social security number, mother's maiden name, favorite movie, and the name of your first pet.

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