As everyone whines and bitches about the new look that Facebook rolled out last week, I can’t help but think to myself…

THIS?! THIS is what it takes to get people on facebook annoyed and upset to the point of protest? You’ll let people “throw sheep” at you, invite you to “events” called “I got drunk and dropped my phone in the toilet what’s your number?”, and “bite” you with the werewolf apps, but GOD forbid they try to streamline the user interface a little!!

Rants aside, I’m noticing something. Facebook isn’t doing anything new at all. Us geeks using Twitter and Tumblr in the earlier stages have been using this type of look and feel for a long time now, so why are so many people so uncomfortable with Facebook’s new look? Because the average Facebook user isn’t geeky enough to enjoy quickly learning about changes and mastering them when it comes to their computer. There’s nothing wrong with not being a geek, but at the end of the day - the geek knows your computer better than you do. Respect that, take comfort in that and for the love of god, if you remember one thing you should remember that the geek isn’t just trying to confuse you with these things! They’re just trying to improve things because…

Geeks have been using these tools for a long time and whether you like it or not - a geek made the Facebook you know and love based on what he or she saw as the most efficient use of all of the features they were making available to you. Geeks spend a lot of their day talking to non-geeks and explaining how to use applications and interfaces they’ve been using for years. After a while they pick up on what the every day users see when they look at the user interface. Where do their eyes go? What links do they click on first? How much time do they spend using this feature instead of that feature? Geeks love this stuff, and quite frankly they (we) want you to enjoy it as much as we do. Sometimes the decisions in regards to the interface are made without your consent, but one point needs to be made here: the average end-user can’t be trusted with some of these decisions. Don’t take this the wrong way, but…well… non-geeks have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to what makes a service like Facebook great. Sorry, but it had to be said. Don’t stop reading yet! I’m sorry! Come back! Just hang on and let me explain myself…

notice any similarities?

When I get excited about a new application or website and tell a non-geek they should start using it, my recommendation is usually shrugged off with something along the lines of “yea, but you’re into that kind of thing, it sounds too complicated”. Think about this for a second: Why would you not take a geek’s advice on something geeky? You’d take a lawyer’s advice on a court case and you’d take a doctors advice about a surgery. WHY would you not take an IT professional’s opinion on something computer related?! Geeks take stock in what the people we know are comfortable with on the computer and recommend things accordingly because you know who you’re going to call when you get stuck - US. We’re not going to tell you to “try this new programming language” or “download the source code”, because we SAW how confused you looked last time we tried to explain how that feature in MS Office worked. Trust us, we want the satisfaction of seeing you psyched about your new digital toy. It’s not so scary once you’ve played with it a little, is it?

So the next time you go to whine and have a protest against the new look and feel (seriously, guys are you that bored? Where were you during the Bush administration?) of Facebook, find a list of the new features and poke around until you get comfortable! Don’t use the SuperPoke-around app, though. I’m not accepting your friend request if you use that crap…