This past week something awful happened in the world of cyberspace. Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook cronies had the audacity to implement changes to the free social networking site utilized by millions around the world. 

What is this new ticker side bar? Separate lists for family, friends, “close” friends and the different networks to which you belong? Is any of this necessary? What are you trying to do to us, Zuckerberg? Has this guy ever heard of a little phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?”

Gaels, I know you were outraged by the new Facebook changes—Zuckerberg sure has some nerve! 

Yet, by the time you read this, I’m sure the sheer outrage experienced at the outset of the latest modifications for Facebook will have dissipated and users will have adapted to Facebook’s new look. Let’s face it Gaels, the outcry over Facebook changes happens every year. 

In fact, last week Slate magazine tweeted an article written by Farhad Manjoo entitled “Stop Whining About Facebook’s Redesign” in 2009—two years after the publication of the article and still Facebook users have the same reaction to small changes to the popular social networking site. Manjoo tells Facebook users to quit complaining about the new Facebook layout because in a matter of days users will adapt to and maybe even like the new changes. 

What is interesting about the situation, Gaels, is that while users condemn Zuckerberg and the Facebook team for having the nerve to unexpectedly change the layout of the site, it is Facebook that is being used as a mode to enact change in civil society.

I’m not talking about small changes, either, like placing a blue triangle in the corner of a post to signify a top story. No, I’m talking about revolutionary changes.

Let’s take a look at Egypt.  While many Facebook users in the United States create Facebook events such as “Come celebrate Cristina’s 21st Birthday!” in Egypt, young revolutionaries created an event for Jan. 25, 2011 entitled “The Day of the Revolution Against Torture, Poverty, Corruption and attend.” On Jan. 25 when Salem arrived on the streets of Cairo, he was joined by thousands of protestors all sharing the same goal—to ignite change. Eighteen days later, the protestors’ goal had been met as the government under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak began to crumble.

Facebook protests continued to crop up in Egypt and many protests were not conceptualized by the administrators of the protest events, but by the people themselves. Facebook users actively engaged in the revolutionary movement using Facebook as a means to enact change in the real world. 

Let’s stop worrying about Zuckerberg enacting change on Facebook’s layout. Instead, let’s worry about how we can use Facebook and other social networking sites as the spark to ignite the flame change in our own society.

To contact The Ionian’s Amanda Kelly, e-mail her at [email protected]