Facebook Changes

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet. In order to remain on top of the competition, it has gone through a series of changes since its first inception in 2004. Over the years, it has changed its focus from college students to everyone over the age of 13. In addition to membership changes, Facebook has also changed the user interface and privacy measures to meet the needs of its growing population.

One of the first noticable Facebook changes was a change in who could become a member of the site. The social networking platform was originally developed in 2004 as a platform for students at Harvard University. After only a month of this exclusivity, Facebook opened up to students at Stanford, Columbia and Yale as well.

Eventually, most schools in the United States and Canada were allowed to join. The next step was a high school version, which was by invitation only. Several companies gained membership as well. Finally, in September 2006, membership was opened up to everyone over the age of 13.

With the expanded membership, the function of the site has changed slightly. It was originally envisioned as a way for students at the same school to connect and get to know other students. Today, the site is used by people from a variety of backgrounds, from all over the world, to reconnect with old classmates, meet new people in their area and even become friends with strangers from across the country who share the same interests.

Over the years, Facebook has undergone many changes to the interface in order to help users customize their experience. These changes have been met with varying degrees of satisfaction by members.

In April 2006, Facebook Notes allowed users to blog within the Facebook site. They could embed images, videos and text within notes and share those with friends. Later, the ability to import blogs from other blogging platforms was also added.

In the fall of 2006, Facebook added the newsfeed section to the site. This section was designed to update a user's friends on recent activity - like uploading photos, upcoming events and profile changes. Originally, many users were uncomfortable with the feature, because it displayed information that they did not want broadcasted. In response to the negative feedback, Facebook allowed users to change their privacy settings so that only certain types of information would be displayed.

In the spring of 2008, Chat was introduced. It is a basic instant messaging service that allows users to communicate with their friends who are also online.

In July 2008, Facebook Beta launched. The main component of this change was a redesign of the website. It merged the Mini-Feed and Wall sections for a more streamlined interface. Each section was displayed in tabs, which allows users to hop from section to section easier. Facebook allowed users to choose between the old version or the beta version, up until September 2008, when all member profiles were transferred over to Beta.

Privacy has been the biggest issue for Facebook so far. In early February 2009, privacy policy changes to the site caused a stir. More than 38,000 users joined a user group to protest the changes. Facebook made some major changes to the terms of use policy regarding the ownership of information that users add to the site.

According to one interpretation of the terms of service, Facebook retains rights over the information that a user posts in the system. In response, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explained that the expanded terms would allow user messages to stay in their inbox after they delete an account. He clarified that user information would not be used for any purpose that wasn’t authorized by the user.

Despite the clarification, some users are still wary of the terms of use changes. It’s clear that Facebook changes will be part of the company’s future as it tries to stay on top of the social networking book, and to continue meeting the growing user demand.

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