Morada Musings

Seems just when you’ve finally figured something out, they go and change it on you!  Yes, it’s been done again in both Facebook and Twitter.  Until I’ve worked with both of them a bit more, I can’t say that either of these applications have been improved through the changes but my initial sense is it’s a mixed bag for both.

Facebook:  They’ve changed the way you view what’s happening, and frankly, I don’t like it.  There is now a News Feed and a Live Feed.  My understanding of it is that the intent was to make it easier for you to see just the posts in the News Feed without the clutter of those notices that Jane is now connected to Bob.  Sounds good but the reality is quite different.  While the Live Feed is just that – immediate streaming of all the posts and notices connected with or by the people I’m connected to – it seems to only maintain one page’s worth at any given time with no way to see earlier ones.  The News Feed, on the other hand, is supposed to capture all of the posts by my connections and allow me to “page back” to see earlier ones; the problem is that only some of my people’s posts are showing up there.  I have to bounce between the two to really know what’s happening with all my tribes.  Hmmm…definitely more research needed to see if there’s a setting which needs to be tweaked.

The other area of change, which occurred this week, is greater customization in privacy settings.  We can now change the settings for parts of our About Me instead of the entire set of information in our profiles.  This is a welcome change!  Now I can let everyone see my work and education without having to share more personal information like my birthday, and there’s also more separation of who sees things like religious or political views, favorite books or movies, and contact info.  The more control we have over who sees what allows us to be open and authentic with those who are close while keeping our professional images intact.  I like that!

Twitter:  One thing that has long bugged me is when I would retweet someone’s post, often it exceeded the 140 characters once the poster’s ID was placed before the tweet.  Then I had to decide – do I remove the ID or try to edit the tweet to gain a few characters.  Here’s the rub: while the original poster will surely recognize the retweet as theirs, there’s nothing to tell anyone else.   Unless they are also a follower of the original poster, they won’t know and might think it’s my great quote, thought or link.  But editing what someone else has said to make it fit could also be problematic.  Does it still say or infer the same thing?  Is it even intelligible?

The new way of doing it is a huge improvement.  Now, instead of right-clicking to retweet and have the ID inserted, there’s a retweet link right in the lower right corner of the post (hover your mouse there to make it appear.)  Click on Retweet and the post is retweeted with an acknowledgment showing up underneath and a new gray icon of squared arrows next to it.  The post is intact and people know it was you who retweeted it so  if they wanted to follow up, they know who to contact.  Sweet!  And the original poster will know who to thank, which is always nice.  There’s no chance to add a comment, though, so if you want to do that, you’ll have to click Reply instead and edit.

Until next time, keep posting and twittering!