Image via WikipediaFacebook was in the news today but there was a real contrast in the stories that were digested by readers of blogs and news sources. Firstly the continued improvements to the new Facebook received praise with the introduction of the News Feed Filters. Last week was the roll out of the Imports which were lacking when the site first migrated now it's the turn of the News Feed to receive an overhaul.The News Filters are a great addition and will likely become an addiction. With the extra tabbed headers we can cycle through the 'Top Stories' which is the traditional view that we are familiar with using and this will remain the default. Then there is Status Updates, I have really only used the Comment feature to respond to my friends status updates so this will be used heavily. I have shared other stories but these have been largely untouched so far with only really occasional interest shown from my friends.
Then there are Photo's which display all the recently uploaded photo's/albums and finally Posted Items which are stories we submit. I import a lot of activity from other sites so I am hoping that they either expand on the Posted Items header or introduce the ability to add customisation. The developers are moving in the right direction and Facebook is slowly climbing up the lifestreaming ladder!
The next story isn't associated with the site development it is a story that broke on the front page of all the evening newspapers. Not a particularly nice story either as a Facebook-organised water fight in Hyde Park ended up with violent scenes. Why are there always some that have to spoil it for the rest?
From the photo's in the newspaper you see a girl approach a man and throw what looks like Cherryade in his direction. This hits him in the face and on his clothing and he chases after her with a menacing look on his face. He catches her and then strikes her in the face knocking her off of her feet and to the floor.
Dozens of police then descended on the park and after cordoning off the area a stand-off between Police and the troublemakers took place before arrests were made. What should have been an enjoyable afternoon will be remembered for all the wrong reasons!
