 "Don't hide, unfollow: Facebook gets inspired by rival services")
It was revealed this week that Facebook has changed how you hide all updates from the particularly annoying friends you have on the social networking website. You no longer “Hide All Stories”; instead, you “Unfollow” them. If you thought this nice little move from Facebook is very Twitter-esque, you’re about to realise you’re only scratching the surface.
From being a trend-setter over the course of its 10 years of existence, Facebook has slowly started slipping into the trend-follower stage. From hashtags to the follow button and verified profiles, Facebook has openly been inspired by Twitter, so much so that the action remains the same. To its credit, Twitter was not the only service using the hashtag but it has clearly been the service most identified with the feature, but I digress.
Evolve or perish (Image credit: Reuters)
Now, why would the world’s largest social networking websites be wanting to adopt a feature that is clearly its rival’s USP? The answer is simple. The cut-throat world of social networking websites only follows one rule – evolve or perish. There are countless websites and services that were once-popular and are now being used only by a bunch of people sitting in a nondescript corner of some country. There was Orkut, MySpace and Hi5. Both MySpace and Orkut evolved way too late and paid the price for it.
Facebook has a teenager problem. While COO Sheryl Sandberg has chosen to sweep the matter away under a rug, it is evident that users are abandoning it for ephemeral pastures.
Leave me alone, annoying colleagues (Image credit: Getty Images)
So what does a social network do? It evolves. Facebook has, in all fairness, never stopped eveolving. All the features you initially hated, all through the layout changes, Facebook has never been stagnant. Facebook has quietly accepted that the Twitter way may be a good way to go with some of its own homegrown elements added to it. The main goal of Facebook still remains making friends and connecting with ones you already have. Yes, you will still receive friend requests from your long lost friend, that cousin you hate and the colleague you can’t stand. Twitter-lessons come in here and Facebook gives you the option of not having to tune-in to the boring status messages and memes these friends put up.
Why didn’t they just come up with a dislike button instead? (Image credit: Getty Images)
You could earlier choose the cold and calculated “Hide all Stories” option but now you can choose to just “Unfollow” them. It’s the same thing, essentially. However, this is an option that’s a little less cold. Now when you make friends with someone, Facebook will prominently display the “Following” button on the person’s profile to give you the hint that you can choose to remain friends without reading annoying updates from them. Would you then stick onto Facebook and be friends with your annoying colleagues? Maybe you would.
Facebook is slowly – but surely – turning into all the services you ever needed. If you thought it drew inspiration only from Twitter, think again. There are page ratings like Yelp, check-in features like Foursquare and even read-it later like Pocket. Inspiration is not just the best form of flattery for Facebook, it’s a concept that seems to be working for it so far.
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