Facebook Has Problems With Latest Release
Facebook released a new version of their site code in the past few days and it has been causing some problems. A number of people contacted me regarding issues they were having. One person in particular had problems with CSS files not being accessed properly and as a result pages were breaking. Another person contacted me to alert me to cross-site-scripting vulnerabilities in the current version of their code.
While I don’t know all the details behind cross-site-scripting vulnerabilities, I do know that it tends to be a popular method for hackers trying to maliciously access websites. As of yet I’m not sure if the vulnerability has been resolved but the new version clearly has some issues. These types of issues have frequently arisen previously and Facebook has typically been quick to respond. This is just part of running a large site.
It would be great if Facebook gave a more thorough browser test as well as security test on their staging server. Then again, when your site is being accessed by millions of users on a daily basis, something is bound to go wrong that you couldn’t have even tested for. Have you been having problems over the past few days with accessing Facebook?
Why do Facebook users hate change?
There is a hate in the air that cannot be ignored.
It’s ironic that enough people have turned to the ‘fallback’ social network to lambaste Facebook by tweeting about it, to the point where anger is so clear, is trending worldwide.
With nearly 800 million around the world using Facebook on a regular basis, there is widespread anger over changes to the ‘news feed’ — the stream of information collated on the front page of every Facebook profile — and the overall profile changes.
Gallery
To see the brand new Facebook profile layout (no, not the one you’ve already seen, but the one that will replace the already new one released only this week).
The changes itself are not radical in that all the statuses and profile updates are still displayed in the right hand column. The ‘ticker’, that keeps the user abreast of photos, updates, links posted and other Page related content, has changed location but it still performs the same function.
But others are questioning whether we are even ‘allowed’ to complain. It’s a free service, on the face of it. We are allowed to sign up and use the service in exchange of our personal information, and do so free of charge. Are we consumers, customers or something else entirely?
People generally do not like change. It is as simple as that. But why?
The immediate reaction, as you would expect, has been all but negative. But I would argue that younger people are more adaptive to change than their older counterparts.
Re-learning process
While many will be used to the changes in the next couple of weeks, the initial change means a re-learning process, something in which images of primary and secondary schooling are conjured back up.
The Generation Y are more adaptable to change, with many embracing anything new and exciting. But for the older Generation X, our parents, while new things can be equally exciting, the re-learning process comes at a cost.
For too many people even today, the association of learning is still met with difficulty. For decades, the Generation X have been without compulsory schooling and formal education. To jump back into the habit of needing to re-learn something from scratch can bring back up regressive feelings of a negative schooling experience.
The younger lot, still fresh from school and more comfortable with the formal learning process, are more adept to change.
Why Facebook is changing
Facebook is changing because it needs parity with Google+, the new social network on the scene. Facebook needs to be seen as progressive; otherwise it could be demonised or fall into the trap of ‘being the next MySpace’.
Users by very nature do not want to learn how to use a product every six months.
Remember when Office 2007 transformed the menu to the ‘Ribbon’? The user backlash was tremendous, but Microsoft stuck it out and somehow it succeeded. But users needed to write documents and create spreadsheets, and the functionality was there; seemingly hidden by a necessary new learning experience.
Though Facebook is hardly forthcoming with its user statistics, I can all but bet that nearly a quarter of the 800 million users of Facebook use their mobile phone or smartphone either just as much, or more than the desktop version.
Because if this theory stands, as Facebook does not update their mobile applications half as much as they do on the desktop, it offers users greater stability and fewer opportunities to feel negative about the changes.