Facebook F8: what does it mean for us humans?

There were definitely a lot of WTF's going on yesterday about around and online, to do with the new changes to Facebook.

Of course us oldies (30+) have a hard time learning new things and are not happy.

The problem is changes seem to come along like buses and they are also attended by a million and one pop-up boxes explaining exactly what to do.

You'd think these changes may be exciting to us, but since every little tweak seems to mean re-setting everything, so that the whole world and their respective canines don't have access to our daily meanderings or the pictures that we don't want our parents to see.

Besides the resetting of the items you knew about, there's also the setting up of the things you didn't have a clue about and Facebook like to assume you would prefer to share your thoughts with the world unless told otherwise.

I love Facebook! and so do over 800 million other people! (350 million on mobile devices)

I use it all the time to do things like:

• Check in on my friends around the globe
• See pics of the latest family additions
• Follow research groups
• See what great holidays OTHER people are having
• Remember birthdays for people I sit next to in the office
• etc...etc....

Many well know names have built apps to integrate into Facebook over the past years, like:

• Hulu and Netflix in video
• Electronic Arts, Zynga, Disney and Kabam in gaming
• Spotify, Mog, Rdio, IHeartRadio and upstart Turntable.FM in music.

Noticibly missing were Apple and Google...

F8 refers to the annual F8 developer conference.

Apparently the new changes are moving Facebook away from social networking to being a "social operating system"...

The Facebook platform is evolving...it's cultivating applications by the second.

I'd certainly think of it as a system, but think that maybe "social operating system" is a little too sinister sounding

...how about "modern social community" ? (hmmnnn no definition for this yet...)

The new Facebook timeline design is intended to get users to spend time not only networking with their friends but also consuming other type of media, like music, movies, books, etc...

The novelty, though, is that Facebook is not planning on having an app store to achieve this. Rather, they will rely on a virtual "word of mouth" where friends recommend apps to each other.

If certainly sounds like a good concept. A little more visual and the ability to show what you're really interested in, and link up with others like you.

Most of us oldies are very cautious when it comes to sharing information about ourselves, but in the end this may be he only way for ward; the only way to build supportive "virtual" communities in a world where people have become isolated even in their own neighbourhoods.

Another great thing about the timeline is that it makes sense of your postings and photographs and develops into a bio of your life. You grandchildren will love it :-)

However, as usual, you can't please all the people all of the time.

It seems this function is confusing.Facebook is trying to select for you the most interesting recent posts from those you interact with most. As a human being even I would find that difficult to do..creating an algorithm for it seems like a bit of a nightmare.

Oh well, given the billions of complaints that are pouring in right now, I'm sure this issue will have a resolution eventually :-)

Love it or hate, it Facebook is here to stay and will certainly have been one of the biggest influences on the modern world and the future to come.

Initially sceptical of the new format, I'm now feeling quite keen to explore it and learn something new.

The next phase of our evolution maybe?

..or maybe we should just learn to lighten up...

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