We are Facebook. Resistance is futile.

A lot of people, myself included, are fed up with Facebook constantly changing it’s layout every time we get used to a previous version.  The screwing up of privacy settings is a big issue, but a lot of us are tired of Facebook constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.  Or tinker with stuff just because they can.

I’ve always believed in the maxim that if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing.  And sometimes improvement just for the sake of improving when the previous version was perfectly functional is not an improvement, just a hassle.

I can apply the same complaint to a lot of popular software, or better yet, operating systems.  I mean, c’mon, do we really need a new version of Windows every five years?  (Okay, they really needed to improve on Vista.  But did they need to improve on XP in the first place?)  Or MS Office.  I mean, all I really need is a word processer (Word), maybe a spreadsheet on occasion (Excel), and very rarely a presentation program (PowerPoint).  How many extra features do we really need, or use, on top of the basic functions of the above?

Okay, I digress.  Got off on a little rant there.  This was mainly meant to be focused on the sins of Facebook.

But there is one other thing that Facebook (and some other social media like Twitter) has been doing.  It’s trying to link to every aspect of your online life, and sometimes your offline life.

There is hardly a place on the Web left that you can’t go to that gives you the option of sharing with Facebook.  Every news article, every blog, many shopping sites, or just about any random place you visit want’s you to share it as a Facebook status.  Or Tweet it.

Bottom line: who cares?

That’s the reason why I gave up on Twitter.  All it amounted to was a lot of one-way inanity that nobody really cared about.  I’d much rather blog, because I have enough room to get in depth and explain something on my mind that I may really be passionate about, with the option of discussion via comments.

And I don’t feel the need to share every solitary detail of my life, online or offline, on Facebook.  I do have a separate life that doesn’t need to be shared with the masses.  My blog, for example, is not something that I really need or want shared with close family or friends.  There are reasons, which I have explained before, why I keep my blog and Facebook separate.

Facebook does have its purpose with me, though.  It’s a means for easily keeping in touch with many friends and family members that may be otherwise difficult to keep in touch with.  I am interested in what may be going on in their lives (though not every inane detail) and the pictures they may post from time to time.  Occasionally I can get into good discussions with them, like if I were blogging.

But Facebook does not need to be digging into every aspect of my life.  It doesn’t need to know everything I post on my blog.  It doesn’t need to know every comment I make on other blogs.  It certainly does not need my cellphone number (something which I keep VERY private) and it doesn’t need to be texting me with status updates.  It doesn’t need to track every place I’ve visited on the Web.  It doesn’t need me to share every ridiculous random thought that goes through my head (NOBODY needs that).  And it doesn’t need to know what I’m up to every moment of the day.

Quite frankly, I’m afraid Facebook is becoming the new Big Brother.

Thoughts?