I have a theory about Facebook.  It is the biggest soiree in the history of entertaining.  Everyone you know is there.  Your mom can come without an invitation (or with just a smidgen of guilt) .  So, most users tolerate a lot of abuse to be at the party.  Everything from the abrupt transition to timeline, to squeezing brand pages, and now “offering” pay-to-play promoted posts – Facebook doesn’t seem hesitant to change direction on a dime.  No matter how you feel about it.

Last week when television’s “Mr. Sulu” George Takei took to his Facebook page to complain about a change of functionality on his News Feed, he received a quasi-condescending response from some Facebook staffer who among other things shared that the two things most relevant to his news feed were “George Takei” and “Taco Bell,” and that Takei’s problem was simply that he didn’t understand how things worked.  He also included a video showing Takei how to use “promoted posts” – the exact thing that Takei asserted he would not participate in.

Nothing screams customer service excellence like a glib engineer who tells you that you’re ignorant.

This is the disconnection between Facebook and its users.  Facebook seems to think that they can do anything they want and their users will stay on-board, and to a large extent they’re right.  But the fact that Facebook continues to serve its users a steady diet of bile and guile doesn’t imply that users approve of the direction and changes that Facebook is making.  There is simply no viable alternative.  Google Plus should be, but they are too busy playing “Pimp my social network” to do the work necessary to be a viable alternative.  To be more specific, they should be focusing on women and opening their API to non-enterprise solutions.  Instead they acquire the Meebos, Milks and Katangos of the world and encourage everyone to hangout and watch YouTube videos, like an absentee father trying to make up for his core failings with extravagant gifts.

A lot of negative sentiment about Facebook was attributed to their failed IPO, though user engagement doesn’t appear to have suffered.  I think it’s entirely possible that the IPO simply enabled people to share their frustration with Facebook more candidly.  Either way as the exchange with Takei showcases – Facebook could care less what you think so long as you keep using.

A reconciliation will happen when there is a popular alternative site that has the  ease-of-use and intuitiveness that Facebook used to have.  Until then, there will be a lot of complaints met with corporate apathy as Facebook tries to monetize by whatever means necessary.  Just ask Mr. Sulu.

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Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

[The Glad Scientist] A fun idea… http://t.co/I4ZggKOt4v via @notsalmon – 18 hours ago

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