So just what IS going on with Facebook?

If you’re a regular Facebook user, you may have been confused when visiting the site and wondering why messages are missing or in the wrong order. It’s all down to some recent changes; well, that, a lack of communication and some poor planning.

Over the past few days, the site has switched the way status updates, news items and other content appears in the main section which each user sees on visiting the site. The default view is now “News Feed”, which contains a selection of posts and events from friends, supposedly ranked in order of importance. The previous “Live Feed”, which simply shows all posts in reverse chronological order, is now merely an alternative option. (We explain how to undo these changes at the end of this article.)

Not telling users about the change was a serious blunder. It simply left many users wondering why posts were seeming to disappear and why they were no longer in chronological order. The only official word from Facebook came in a blog posting, rather than through a direct message. Ironically the blog ended with the words, “Raylene, a Facebook engineer, hopes this blog post made its way into your News Feed.” The fact that for many people it didn’t simply shows the flaw in the news feed. But that’s not the only problem with the changes:

• Making the new option the default was another mistake. You can argue back and forth about which “feed” is better, but anyone with a basic grasp of psychology would know people are usually resistant to change at first. If Facebook genuinely believed “News feed” is better, it should have introduced it as an option, told users about it, and let them try it out voluntarily. If it really is more effective, people will stick with it.
• The “importance” algorithm simply doesn’t work. It’s supposedly based on a combination of how many of your other friends have commented on a post and how likely you are to comment on it based on your previous actions. In reality, it simply comes across as if the posts are selected at random.
• And the title “News feed” is a little confusing: it may seem silly once you know what’s really happening, but I know of at least one user who thought it was meant to be a new link to world news headlines and assumed the feature was broken.

That’s not the only problem with Facebook in recent days. The Suggestions panel on the right of the screen has been revamped to not only show people you might want to add as friends, but also suggests existing friends you could “reconnect with” by posting on their walls.

There is some logic to this: by encouraging users to write on each others walls, Facebook may be able to increase page views and thus ad revenues. But the idea simply hasn’t been thought through, producing suggestions ranging from the farcical (people being told to reconnect with their siblings) to the unfortunate (people being urged to reconnect with Facebook friends who’ve admittedly not been posting much recently, mainly because they’ve passed away).

Undoing the changes:

For those who want to revert to the traditional view, clicking on “Live Feed” at the top of the list will display it temporarily. To make it the default option, you need to click on Live Feed, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on Edit Options, change the figure listed as “Number of Friends” to one high enough to show everyone on your list, then click Save.

Unfortunately the Live Feed now includes many items you may not want to see, such as when a friend “becomes a fan” or adds someone as a friend. If you just want the status updates, go to the menu on the left of the screen, click on More, then drag Status Updates to the top of the list and click on it. This should now be your default view, though you’ll be able to click on other options, such as “Photos” or “Links” to see that content.

• 

• Foursquare checks in on Facebook
• Facebook finally lets you post on a need to know basis
• Facebook adds @ friend tags – becomes even more like Twitter
• Facebook makes privacy optional
• MySpace on Facebook as networks get more social