New to Facebook – Circles, er uh.. Lists!

The new Facebook circles, er um, LISTS are now out this week. In what virtually the entire world perceives as a response to the coveted Google+ “circles” feature, Facebook users can now create lists of friends in the exact same manner. Facebook claims this is merely a coincidence, but is it?

In fact, that makes two rollouts of new features since Google+ went beta, both of which seem to mirror the upstart Plus social network. (The new privacy featurescame out a couple weeks ago.) Perhaps the only way to get Facebook to introduce such desired features is for a serious rival to offer them first. Don’t get me wrong here – the new lists are a welcomed addition. I like being able to limit who I see and who sees what I post. I like being able to select lists that will see my posts, and I like being able to restrict certain “friends” from seeing all of my deepest intimations.The problem with all of this is that it just seems a bit clunky in the Facebook incarnation. Google+ is slick and visual and intuitive. while Facebook lists are more about drop-down boxes and perhaps too many ways to manage the lists to the point of confusion.I’ve also noticed on some computers using Internet Explorer that the Facebook drop-downs are slow to load, making it seem even more clunky. Or is the word clunkier?Compounding the problem, the management of Facebook lists changed throughout the day for the first couple days. On 9/14/2011 you had to click on the “Edit Friends” button to and then “Create List” button. Those features had already changed by 9/15/2011. See picture below, as I took screen shots.I only wonder if they will keep changing/tweaking this feature, and if so – will it be for better or worse?In summary, Facebook should be applauded for adding a feature everyone has been wanting, but it’s ashame that they had to follow the lead of Google+ on this one.

Other posts about recent Facebook changes:
Tour the New Facebook Privacy Settings, August 2011
Facebook Public-Private Privacy Settings Debunked