Medium Is The User

I don't know what policy Facebook follows in regards to the new layout upgrades. You could read every day more and more people were reporting they already had the "new Facebook". Now it's my turn. I have always been in this small group of users who never said they hated changes in Facebook. Anyway, I haven't seen any protests on Facebook recently against changes. No people screaming "we want the old Facebook back!". Did I miss something?

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Do you remember those times when you had this one place at home or at the office and these places were the only ones where you could access the thing we call World Wide Web? It seems that we forgot about those limitations and think of the Internet as something we can experience very easily.

It's no longer a question of WHERE to connect with others. It's a WHEN question.

I'm on the train from Katowice to Warsaw. Sitting with five other people. You can see the picture. To clear things out, it's not a fancy bussiness class. I bought a cheap 37 worth PLN (11 USD) ticket for a low-budget connection.

If a person from late 90's had the chance to travel in time and watch us in 2010, one would definitely say it's a strange world. And I totally agree. We live in a whole different world. Better connected one. But I wish we always knew that these railway trips we take are to meet people in person and still it is far more important than sending an email.

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New technologies, like Facebook, accelerate and intensify changes that had already been taking place since the implementation of the alphabet. There is no doubt that Facebook has changed the way people talk to each other, remember about each other, keep in touch. For instance, I haven't seen my good friend Robert Zembrzycki for a longer while, but I have the feeling I know a lot about him, what's going on in his life. Why Facebook, not any other Social Networking Sites in the history has such a great impact on our relations? Because it is simple and put a lot of effort in its design and functionality in order to encourage us to interact with each other.

But what happens if we browse Facebook in a different way? You can use the lighter version of Facebook via lite.facebook.com or you can just download a client like TweetDeck to stay updated with your Newsfeed. However a new client has been delivered called Microsoft Silverlight 4 beta. It is very advanced in comparison to TweetDeck and it tries to provide users with a better experience than the standard Facebook.com website. A user can access groups, inbox, friends / pages lists, and even upload and manage photo galleries. A great importance has been put to event section, which I feel is underestimated by Facebook in terms of providing easy access to this functionality. It is a great alternative for those who like great design and hate Facebook ads.

This post is titled "Facebook through Microsoft Silverlight 4 beta users eyes". I asked my friend, Robert Zembrzycki about his experience:

First thing you notice about Silverlight, is how awesome it looks compared to plain facebook page. Thanks to dark background, the photos pop out, look more crispy and colorfull. The viewing pleasure is great, with this app, thanks to lovely typography, nice transition effects and overall smoothness. But enough about the visuals, how does it actually work? Well, it's a bit different then using regular facebook.com - you've got the same stuff but organized in a better way. You can access your friends profiles faster, and you've got more stuff displayed at once, without cluttering the screen - everything is easily accessibble, and just makes you want to click it! I suggest checking it out for virtually everyone interested in geek apps ;D

 

 

But there are a few bugs there - it does not support mouse scrolling (at least on a mac), and it does not notify you, if your friends have ansawered you - there's mp refresh button which should be there....

 

All in all - check it out to see what the hype is about, but wait for final version to fully endulge yourself in what shapes up to be the best way to book your face :D

Thank you Robert for sharing your opinion with us. This was Facebook Silverlight through our eyes.

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Nine years ago Manuell Castells made a reference in his book: 'The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society' to the Marshall McLuhan's 'Gutenberg Galaxy' from 1962. 'Gutenberg Galaxy' was the idea about the world changed by mass media, especially printed press. It was about mass communication that allowed the entire world to be like one global village. Castells went one step further to describe the concept of the world that we live in as 'The Internet Galaxy'. Castells praises internet as a communication medium. It allows, for the first time, the communication of many to many, on a global scale. Indeed the evolution of the Internet has a great impact on our society, economics, politics and culture. On the global scale we are being structured by the Internet and its networks. Not being a part of it is the most damaging form of exclusion in many form of activities. 

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Hi, I just wanted to let you know I'm in the process of writing why I
believe we live in a Social Media Galaxy and why "medium is the user"
rather than "the message". Follow me on Facebook or Twitter and you
will stay updated when the new post is ready! Thanks for patience.

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