Here's what I don't get. For at least two years, Facebook has been trying to tell us that it knows better than we do what information we're going to find interesting. Today's new "Recent Stories" function is simply a third (or possibly fourth) generation of similar attempts to read our minds—the previous version being two separate feeds: Top News and Most Recent. And, in my case, their selections have never been close to right.

The problem this time is that they've made it virtually impossible to ignore their choices by forcing them to the top of your one and only feed, which is why I think this is the worst implementation of this particular concept so far. And even worse than that—those choices stay at the top for a very long period. So even after you've read them already, you're forced to scroll past them each time you return to Facebook.

For me, the question is no longer, "Why can't they get this right?" It's "Why do they care?" I simply don't understand their obsession with wanting to make us read what they think we want to read. I'm perfectly happy scrolling through a long list and choosing for myself what looks interesting. I did like when they added abilities to filter out certain types of posts that might not be so interesting to me, but that was giving me MORE control, not less. Why do they want to make it so hard for me to see what I want to see?

Rant over.

So here is the best solution I've got so far—not ideal, but a reasonable workaround.

Create a New Friend List

When you look at the News Feed for any given friend list, it looks suspiciously like the old Facebook. All updates, no ticker. (By the way, has anyone else noticed that the ticker is just the old News Feed in a much smaller, harder-to-navigate-and-read space?)

Here are the steps for creating the list.

• In the left-hand column, click Lists. You'll be taken to a page that has all your existing friend lists on it, including ones that Facebook automatically creates for you, e.g. Close Friends. (Of course, how it knows you're close friends is still beyond me...)
• Click the Create a List button at the top of the page. A dialog box will pop up to let you name the list. I chose the highly creative name, All. Click the Create List button.
• You're taken to a basically blank page. Click Manage List/Add Remove Friends. A window pops up that shows all your friends.

  Note: Stupidly Unfortunately, Facebook changed these dialog boxes a while back so there's no way now to Select All. You have to click on each individual person's name. So adding friends to your list could take a while, depending on how many you have.

• After you've selected all your friends, click the dropdown box that says Friends and pick Pages. Now you can add all the Facebook Pages you want to follow into your News Feed.
• Once you've selected all your friends and Pages, click Done.

Your list is now populated and it should appear in your left-hand column somewhere (it appears to jump around for me). Click the pencil icon beside the name and choose Add to Favorites. Now it will move up to the first section in the left-hand column.

Now, when you click on All, you'll see an old-style News Feed with posts from everyone you want to hear from.

NOTE: There are three downsides to this solution:

1. Every time you log into Facebook, you'll have to click the All link to see the updates from that list.
2. You can use the Manage List dropdown box to choose what types of updates you want to see from the people/Pages on this list. However, it's an all-or-nothing option. Whatever you select will apply to everyone. You can delete someone from a list, but you can't make his or her settings different from anyone else's.
3. You'll have to remember to add any new friends or Pages you Like to this list or you won't see updates from them.

I've also started to try a solution that involves deleting the Top Stories until the Recent Stories are back at the top of the page, but I'm not sure what the long-term results of that might be. So I'm going to hold off on posting whether I think it's a good option or not.

Have YOU Found a Solution?

If you've got a better fix than what I've explained above, please share it! :) Post it in the comments area below.

Coming Soon...

There's a lot more I can say about all the recent changes to Facebook. But according to this Mashable article, the platform is going to announce some even more radical changes later today.

Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed

The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook. These changes will make Facebook a place where nearly everything in your life is enhanced by your social graph. These changes will make it so you know your friends better than you ever thought you could.

On Thursday, developers will be elated, users will be shellshocked and the competition will look ancient. On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn. Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking.

Sigh. I think I'll hold off posting any more until I have a better understanding of what's coming. Stay tuned...

Posted in Facebook,How To,My Two Cents,Social Media,User Interface