Facebook's Response to Google+?

Google was like, ha, Facebook! We're going to get some social networking competition up in here.
*Google introduces Google+*
Then Facebook goes, BOOYA, Google! Watch this. We're going to SHUT. YOU. UP.




I just read this Time article about the upcoming nth wave of changes Facebook is making to its site. Ok, so I know I'm kind of a Facebook whore in that I keep the page open right next to my email whenever I'm online. These changes are crazy. I don't mean bad crazy or good crazy, but if I were to use an analogy it's like Facebook is trying to make the internet revolve around it. I guess if I could draw a picture it would be Facebook in the middle, with all these nodes coming out of it connected to other parts of the world wide web.

I don't really like the idea of "frictionless" sharing. I like friction. There has to be something to stop me from knowing when this friend of a friend is going to bed for the night or is tired from work or is getting cramps from her period (yes, I have seen that one multiple times), or when so-and-so is using that stupid check-in app at McDonald's and just became mayor of blah blah blah (thank you, Foursquare. I like you almost as much as all those requests I used to get to play Farmville). Don't get me wrong, I like sharing. But please share interesting things, like insightful articles or things that will make me laugh. I'm ok with some integration. I integrate my Twitter and Yelp accounts with Facebook, which I think are kind of cool because I don't have to double-post articles I want to share. But the other day I linked my Spotify account with my Facebook account to see what it would do, and Facebook started posting each song I was listening to in real-time. That got a little too invasive. This is an example of the part in that video up above when it says when you link certain apps to your Facebook account, the system will automatically update your profile with your activity. Look at me, I'm cooking! I'm running! I'm watering my plants! I'm having sex!

I used to be ok with being kind of personal with my status updates, because I didn't feel that by doing that the whole world would know. But for me now, it's gotten to the point where I don't really feel like sharing anything personal on Facebook. Maybe I won't be careful enough with my filters and I'll share information or pictures I don't want certain people to see. And it's not so simple to just click and make some changes so some people will see while others won't. Besides, having to custom-create all these settings is pretty annoying.

For a short while I was entertaining the thought of moving my social networking over to Google+ because I liked the idea of circles. This made it a lot easier for me to post things I wanted some people to see, but not others, because much like real life, you don't act the same way with your co-workers as you do with your best friends. But I didn't because it would have been too much of a hassle to find everyone on the Google+ network, essentially re-add them, move my pictures over, and basically start from scratch. Now I'm thinking, if it was hard then, imagine now, when Facebook is rolling out a platform that may integrate every aspect of your life, virtual and physical, into its network. It's like a huge black hole that is setting out to capture every action you take (and if you're not careful, announce it to the rest of the world). Don't be surprised if you wake up one day and you can't tell if you're in the virtual or real world.

I think I liked Facebook best sometime when it rolled out its 'Like' button and still served as a useful tool for me to keep in contact with people while occasionally seeing what other people who I hadn't talked to in a while were up to. I will try this 'Timeline' thingamabob for a while. If it becomes too difficult to manage, or if I find it's taking more time for me to improve my online persona than myself as a real person, it may be time to go off the grid, so to speak.