Facebook Changes Ahoy: Bigger Photos And More Ads

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Facebook can never stay still. It’s changing its Web site around every few months, claiming the constant changes are going to improve our happiness or something. And to be fair, Facebook has some serious competition coming up on it – mostly from its own company, Instagram, so constant change seems like a good idea to those in charge. If you can’t predict what’s going to happen to Facebook next, why wouldn’t you stick around to see the big changes as they happen?

Because this next big change means you get to see more ads. Surprise!

Just a few days ago, Facebook announced that it is YET AGAIN changing its site, and this time it’s mostly to make its investors happy (does anyone remember that botched IPO launch event? Because that was hilarious). Since the biggest revenue-generator is ads—and that revenue has been down a bit for Facebook lately—the company has decided that it doesn’t give a damn if you like ads or not. You’re going to see more of them.

Sure, there’s some revamps that make sense for users, too, like Instagram integration and a revamped (more useful) music feed.  Actually, there are a few other new feeds as well, because people are information junkies, and Facebook wants to claim those junkies for its own. Still, those feeds are pumped full of ads, too, which are really just another form of information. Unwelcomed information in a number of ways, but information all the same.

Zuckerberg is calling this new feed “a richer design,” but honestly I don’t think it’s getting anyone rich but him.

Anyway, there’s also some new functionality on the main page and the apps, too. The Facebook apps for phones, up to this point, have been largely ad-free. There’s been a movement toward small text ads and “recommended pages” in the past few months, but these have been largely ignored by the public (the numbers show this to be true), and the glorious reading of statuses continues. However, the app’s ability to access specific lists has been weak, not to mention it’s not making the company any money. And since more than half of Facebook users view the Web site on their phones, no money means a pissed off investor or two.

So this update, which is happening today, includes new ways to access feeds and new ads on your mobile version of Facebook, too.

Well to hell with this. I don’t care how many new feeds I get, or how much more I can stalk my friends on my phone. This is ridiculous, and I honestly think this is just the beginning. You might think I’m crazy, billion Facebook users, but your feeds are going to be so jam-packed with ads that you’ll have no choice but to upgrade to Facebook Plus, some BS product the company hasn’t gotten around to releasing yet. I guarantee it will, though. For only $6 dollars a month, you can enjoy an AD-FREE experience… when a few years ago, that same experience was FREE!

It just pisses me off, and I really hope Facebook sees its numbers drop because people are unhappy with its ridiculous antics. But it’s not like this is the first Web site to monetize via ads and then charge people to get rid of their ads. Facebook has a very loyal fan base, and its worked very hard to build their reputation in the social media industry. People will keep using the Web site through this, I promise you that – but I don’t know how much longer Facebook can keep pushing the ad boundaries and get away with it.

But that’s business.