Students adjust to changes on social networking sites such as Facebook

By now, most of Facebook’s nearly 60,000 IU members have probably noticed its recent elaborate changes. The new applications, called Platform, provide additional activities people can access through Facebook. \nFacebook’s Director of Product, Katie Geminder, explained Facebook’s reasons for adding Platform to the site in her June 1 blog entry. \n“With this evolution of Facebook Platform, we’ve made it so that any developer can build the same applications that we can ... they can integrate their application into Facebook – into the social graph – the same way that our applications like Photos and Notes are integrated,” Geminder stated in the blog. \nJunior Michael Falls has been a member of Facebook for the past two years. He recently joined the Facebook group titled “I HATE all the new crap on facebook!!!!!” \nHe said he feels that the new applications are a waste of time and has even seen applications such as “Top Friends,” which allows a person to add a box of as many as 24 of their friends to be displayed on their profile page, cause social conflicts among friends. \n“It’s becoming very much like MySpace,” he said.\nHe said he also feels the overload of connecting options is an invasion of privacy. \n“It used to be very simple, but now it’s cluttered,” Falls said. \nJunior Abby Schrader has been a Facebook user for more than two years and likes the applications. Schrader agreed with Falls that Facebook is becoming more like MySpace, however, she said she enjoys personalizing her page with the new applications. \n“They make Facebook more interesting,” Schrader said. \nShe said she most enjoys the “Top Friends” application. \n“You don’t have to search to go to their profiles; it makes it faster,” she said. \nAlthough incoming freshman Pritika Patel has also added the “Top Friends” application, she admitted she was skeptical about it. \n“I don’t see why people have to rate their friends because it shouldn’t be like that. One friend shouldn’t be better than the other,” Patel said.\nGeminder argued in her blog that people don’t have to use Platform. \n“Since there will be a lot of applications, you will have the choice of adding and removing any applications you like ... you will have to opt-in to any application in order for it to access your information or be put on your profile,” Geminder said. \nSenior Keith Eaton Jr. has been a member of Facebook for three years and doesn’t care for the additional substance. \nThis includes the Dogbook and Catbook, which now allow members to create profiles for their dogs and cats, tag their pets in photos and find dogs and cats in their area. \n“That’s got to be the dumbest stuff ever,” Eaton said. \nOther applications include the “I am Hungry” platform that lets people announce to their friends that they are hungry. This, according to the creator, is supposed to increase members chances of finding a friend with whom to eat. \nSome people aren’t buying it. \n“It’s almost pathetic how much they’ve put on there. You’re hungry? Come on, let’s get serious,” Eaton said. \nHowever, certain applications are catching on. The “Food Fight!” application, for example, already has nearly 1 million users. It allows people to “throw” food items such as pizza and ice cream across cyberspace at their friends. \nThough that might be innocent fun, other applications may prove to be more hurtful. The function of the “Lamefactor” application is to anonymously judge your Facebook friends by giving them a rating from 1 to 10.\n“Things like that will start to drive people away from Facebook,” Eaton stated.