Fred Griffin had an excellent post, Major Changes to YouTube and Facebook - What Do You Think? that's stirred up a lot of discussion. Reading the comments has been quite interesting.
In those comments, I see several people here who seem to think that if some of us don't care for the truly abysmal appearance of the Timelines and don’t welcome it or the way the introduction of it has been handled, that means somehow that we are resistant to all change.
Well, I've been coping quite nicely with more change than some of you have perhaps even thought about or really comprehend existed over the past 60 odd years, and I've been coping with change in the computer world since I was learning the New! Cutting Edge! programming language, COBOL. I jumped on the Active Rain bandwagon the moment I heard about it back in 2007, and I've helped in the development of equipment and processes and been the first in my office, or city, or region, with more than a few innovations in my professions (which have been assorted, another indication of embracing change when it's appropriate).
However, when you've coped happily with enough change for enough decades, you learn a few things.
One, change in and of itself isn't a desired end. Change, inevitable or not, can be good, or change can be bad. It's imperative to learn the difference, and to make changes with consideration for their impact AND for the possibility of unintended consequences.
Two, a lot of change exists in the business world simply because people need to justify their jobs – they’ve run out of anything substantive to do so they need to rearrange the furniture in order to appear busy. That’s their main focus, NOT what works best for the consumer.
Three, a lot of times change is to see just how much can be lured out of the consumer's pocketbook without them noticing because they're all excited about "New! Cutting Edge! Everybody wants one! Must stay ahead of the pack!" even if the pack is running hell bent for leather off a cliff. This works on some, but the truly aware will see right through it every time. Happens often when something is working really well and it's purchased by a company that only sees dollar signs, not what made it successful in the first place. That happens way too often, and it usually tolls the eventual death knell of the thing that was so great in the first place.
Four, overload your target market with too much change, too fast, and you may end up going the way of MySpace and friends.
So, while you're so busy saying to anyone who objects to being pushed into the new Facebook Timeline, "Change is great! You're just an old foggy who's resistant to change! I, on the other hand, embrace all change enthusiastically", you might want to consider that perhaps there's a little bit more to the complaints about the Timeline than just resistance to change in general. (Really? Ugliest most user-unfriendly thing to come down the pike in donkey's years; in looking through the ones that are already there I've yet to find one that isn't.)
Now, get off my lawn, you young whippersnappers!
Photo Credit Diane Diederich
Tricia
The one thing I have found that comes with age, is complacency and this is often not a good thing. Change is often something that challenges us and keeps us young. Too much change may also not be good for many, but I truly think a little all the time keeps the gray cells working and alive. cheers cvc
Curtis, I'm wondering where you got "complacency" from my post. What it's really about is that, with a little experience, you learn that change is not change is not change, and that there is good change and bad change. You learn to examine change before jumping over the cliff, rather than accepting it simply because it is change and/or because someone else tells you it's a good idea. In other words, you learn to think about change before making or accepting it, and that's pretty far from complacency.
When you consider it, even being on Facebook (or Active Range) indicates an acceptance of change, if you're old enough that computers used to fill a run and you used punch cards to program them, and only professionals had access to them.
Tricia,
Awesome post, I too started when COBAL was young. Change is necessary, we grow or we die but change for the sake of change, accomplishing nothing, is stupid.
What a gorgeous horse! Rocky? Paso? Beautiful!
Marge, I agree. And she's an old-style Morgan.
Change to simply keep people guessing about the "Next New Thing" is tiresome, and I agree, has the potential to drive away those folks not as adept in 'keeping up'.
Love the Lippitt Morgan! Back in the day, I had a UVM bred mare :-)
Or people who are experienced enough to know when their life is being made more difficult than it needs to be in obeyance to Change.
I'm rather fond of them myself, Jan! We just had a surprise foal a little over a week ago out of this mare. First foal on the place in just over a decade - I'm a bit goofy about him.
My most recent foal is now 7! LOL!
Did your girl not ultrasound in foal last year? That's what my mare did, and *Voila* filly in June!
For some reason, your name is really familiar to me as a horse person. Do you advertise in the Lone Star Horse Report, too?
My most recent is the sire of this foal! Actually, we'd had the mare and stallion running together for about 3 or 4 years now with no luck and had decided that the stallion was sterile (since none of the three Donkey Girls popped up pregnant, either). This is the last of my breeding program (and the third generation of it); he was a happy surprise. Memory did get a little fat, but she's a Morgan, she ALWAYS gets a little fat this time of year, and she didn't bag up until an hour or more after the birth, so there were no hints that way.
I no longer advertise in equine publications, but I was one of the editors of Simply Morgan, I am President of Heart of Texas Morgan Horse Club, I'm President of Forever Morgans rescue, For the past few years (but not this one, 40th anniversary intervened!) I've been show secretary for the HOTMHC Open Fun Show,m and I did a whole lot of different things with the Lippitt Club, so you might have seen my name in one of those contexts.