A test of our adaptability... or patience

When I joined Facebook about a year ago, it seemed like people were really upset.

They were forming groups demanding that Facebook return to its previous state. Apparently, the social networking gurus had changed their format, irritating a lot of people.

Well, since then, I think Facebook has changed its format three more times, the most recent of which occurred a couple of weeks ago.

Now they have introduced the "Live Feed". I've been trying to understand the Live Feed. It seems like it is a return to the same format they had previous to the most recent change.

Basically, they have changed things back to the way they used to be... back to the way everyone was demanding they return to before the last change when they changed everything and everyone protested.

And now everyone is protesting because they want things back the way they were... back to the way they were before they changed things to make them the way they used to be before they changed them.

You know. Like that.

I think this is all one big experiment to test our adaptability.

I once heard someone say that the most successful people in life are those who are best able to adapt to change. The people who can let the negative just roll off.... the people who are flexible... the people who don't get frozen in their tracks when life throws them a curve ball... those people will be able to thrive despite their circumstances.

I find it interesting to see how people are reacting to the change. Some are forming Facebook groups with names like, "I hate the new Facebook". Others are sending around messages with tips on how to make the new Facebook look just like the old Facebook.

I think the billionaire, 20-something geniuses at FB just need some help with their marketing. They are obviously smarter than most of us to create the most successful social networking business in the world with no real competition.

But maybe if they would just send out an e-mail that says, "Hey, we are super smart and we are going to revamp Facebook to make it the best ever!" people would react differently. It's all in the presentation, isn't it?

I mean, I love their strategy of just changing the format every three months with absolutely no warning. But it seems to get on people's nerves.

I was confused, like everyone else. So after about the first day, I started to read the Help section to try to figure it out.

Maybe I'm just not enough of a fighter. Maybe I'm too accepting of computer programmers who seem to think that constant change is really what people want. Maybe I'm just too tired to protest.

I like to think of myself as adaptable.

Or perhaps I'm just convinced that like all the others, this change won't last long. If we have enough patience, the FB gurus will change things back to the way they were, but by then, we will love the way things are now and insist we hate the new format, which is actually the old format, which we all wanted before they changed it the last time.

Or something like that.

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