PPOTD - Miscellanous Facebook Issues

According to Google Analytics, my most popular blog post has been my first "Pet Peeve Of The Day" - Facebook Wall Posts. As my writing and this blog evolve over time, I strive to build upon familiarity. It is for this reason why I am continuing with the PPOTD series with another mini rant on my lovely internet addiction to Facebook.


With the recent design update come many grievances that are not only frustrating to me but to the average consumer. I, for one, try to refrain from complaining at every single bend and turn throughout Facebook's history with redesigns and updates. You will never ever see me join a group petitioning Facebook to bring back the old design or a fanpage devoted to the dislike button. I find those to be tacky and quite frankly annoying. What's NOT tacky nor annoying is me voicing my complaints in my blog. /sarcasm

So yeah. A few issues:

1. Facebook's updates to the Recent Activity posts. It used to be that onc could configure a setting allowing one's Recent Activity to be hidden from the newsfeed. This is no longer the case. Every time I happen to "like" someone's status, post on a friend's wall, or comment on a friend's recent photo album - my activity feed is updated. This is annoying. Not because I don't like my activity being shown. Heck, anyone can see if I write on someone's wall regardless of my own privacy settings. It's just that I hate the clutter. I enjoy a minimalistic and streamlined approach to Facebook. I don't list "interested in" nor do I even bother with the "looking for" fields simply because I find it messy and disarrayed. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy Facebook because I am able to curtail my own profile to fit my own needs. Facebook took away this setting and it made me sad. I've gotten used to deleting stories off my mini-feed but it's an annoyance nonetheless.
2. Facebook's new layout. I'm usually a fan of Facebook when they update their design. I can usually see why they make certain decisions. However, I honestly do not understand the purpose for the latest update that was launched the first week of February 2010. Instead of streamlining Facebook, they have made it so that actions that originally took one click now take two separate clicks to various pages. Gone are the bookmarks which allowed access to the Groups, Photos, Videos, etc. Every time I want to visit those particular links, I am forced to return to the home page. It even takes two separate clicks to simply log out. Perhaps it promotes a cleaner look? Surely there's a better way to accomplish this objective.
3. I am also having issues with the notification system. Gone are the days of instant notifications. It's pretty ridiculous when I get notified of a message or a wall post on my Blackberry before I see the notification refresh on the actual site. Some notifications fail to show up at all. Fail.
   
4. Commenting on wall posts. I'm sorry but it still annoys me when people comment on wall posts. I don't know how many conversations I've abandoned simply because they were being carried out on a separate page and were simply forgotten. I don't know how everyone else uses Facebook but for me, I check my inbox and then I proceed to my wall to see if there are any conversations aka wall-to-walls that I need to reply to. It's a simple process that worked for YEARS.
5. I can't remember if I touched upon this issue with my last blog concerning wall posts but an update to the comment notification system would be WONDERFUL. There have been so many cases when I've wanted to comment or like a status but have hesitated due to fear of the eventual onslaught of notifications of replies to that status that have absolutely NOTHING to do with my comment. This issue could be easily rectified with a threaded system. Simple at that.

So that's that. Those are my grievances with Facebook. Nothing really constructive here. Just felt the need to rant.