There is a virtual revolt breaking out on the streets of the Social Republic of Facebook. Many of its restive citizens are out on the public squares throughout the republic of 750 million, demanding that President Mark Zuckerberg walk back some significant design changes that they are required to get accustomed to without any notice.
Kajal Basu, one particularly voluble renegade, says, “The reason I have to be pissed with Facebook is good reason. Now I find myself trying to second-guess Zuckie all the time that I'm on FB. Google+ is looking more inviting by the day.” Zuckie, incidentally, is a dismissive term used by the insurgents for the young billionaire president.
The latest trigger for the uprising is yet another change in the user interface (UI) of the country’s main web page. Under particular contention is President Zuckerberg’s decision to replace its most popular “Most Recent” button with with “Recent Stories” button, which in a sense allows President Zuckerberg and his government to decide what its citizens read. It also introduces a sort of ticker app at the top of the right hand bar where status updates, once prominently displayed in the middle, have now been pushed.
“I do not want Zuckie to tell me what is important and what is not. I am quitting Facebook to migrate to Google+ where I can enjoy my update freedoms without the Big Brother watching,” said one renegade on the condition of anonymity and because of fears of retaliation. This renegade has always used an unidentifiable contours as his profile picture.
The Zuckerberg government has not issued any statement on the rapidly spiraling protest but in an official blog accompanying the launch of the new UI, Mark Tonkelowitz (not to be confused with Mark Zuckerberg) said, “When you visit Facebook, you should see the things you're most interested in, like status updates from your family and closest friends. Last week, we announced improvements to Friend Lists and a new Subscribe button to help you see more of what you care about, and less of what you don't.
But it's not just the people you hear from that make your News Feed interesting. It also matters how much you visit Facebook. If you haven't returned in a week, you may want to see a summary of top stories first. If you've already visited several times that day, you probably care more about recent news.
Starting today, it will be easier to keep up with the people in your life no matter how frequently or infrequently you're on Facebook.”
Major television networks are closely monitoring the unrest on the streets of the Social Republic of Facebook and could dispatch their star anchors and correspondents anytime for wall-to-wall coverage of an uprising of no consequence whatsoever.
