Today Facebook announced two of the biggest product changes in its history. First, Facebook is making it easier for people to share the action they take on Causes and get their friends involved in real-time. Second, Facebook is launching Timeline, which will allow people to curate all of the information on their profiles to better share the moments in life that matter most. Because taking action and then sharing it with friends is the core of what people do on Causes, we think that these changes will have profoundly positive effects on people trying to help the world by using Causes.
Causes was founded with the mission of empowering anyone to change the world. Our model is based upon the belief that everyone has the power to have an outsized impact on the world by banding together with other like-minded individuals, taking direct action, and inspiring their friends and their friends’ friends to join in. In short, we provide the grassroots with organizing tools for creating large-scale collective action.
We could not have launched Causes without Facebook Platform, providing real identity and real friends. Facebook Platform was created so that experiences that are inherently social in our off-line lives could be brought online as an authentic expression of who we are; Facebook did this best in revolutionizing photo sharing. Altruism is one of the most fundamentally social impulses, and doing things for others without expecting anything in return is core to what makes us human. This is why from the day Facebook Platform launched in 2007 Causes has been honored to be one of the most popular applications, with over 140 million users.
One of the most popular features we included in the launch of Causes was the ability for Facebook users to feature their favorite Causes on their profile. With Facebook updates over time, those featured boxes were removed, leading to the greatest user uproar in our history. Our users’ reactions demonstrated that people feel that their causes represent an integral part of their identity, and that we need to make it as easy as possible for them to express that. Since then, we have worked with Facebook to once again empower our users to make their causes a core part of their Facebook profile, which is now an even more expressive and powerful tool called “Timeline”. Your timeline will include “reports” that roll up all of a user’s activity through a given application in a comprehensive report of what he or she has done. This change, combined with our newly re-launched Causes profiles, provides people a central public place to organize and promote all of their giving.
Until now, Facebook profiles have been dominated by recent information, such as a friend’s posts on your wall, or relatively static information, such as your hometown), but Timeline now offers an important middle ground for people to feature and curate lower frequency, but highly meaningful information that changes and builds over time. My mom, for example, can join the Arts in Education cause, which supports her favorite nonprofit, choose it to be her featured cause, recruit friends to join it, and donate. Currently, all of these actions can be published to my mom’s friends in real-time, but there is not a good way for her to showcase this cause and the work she has done to support it on her profile, which ideally should be the most complete representation of who she is. The reality is that my mom’s involvement with the Arts cause may be less frequent than playing a game on Facebook, but she may care more deeply about the Arts organization and its mission. Frequency and recency don’t necessarily correlate with quality or “coreness” with respect to her personal identity. Facebook’s willingness to tackle this issue and give people the power to curate their timeline to feature depth of attachment and not pure frequency of engagement is exciting for developers like Causes that power deeply meaningful social experiences.
From the day Facebook launched in 2004, the profile was the most critical page on the site. People used to navigate the site by surfing friends’ profiles, and used their own profile as their navigational starting point. The profile mostly contained a list of interests, actively curated by the profile owner. Only with the addition of News Feed in 2006 did attention shift away from profile and toward recent activity. This shift certainly allowed Facebook to capture what someone was doing in the moment, but that information did not represent the whole of the person. Now Facebook is making your profile into a more holistic timeline, or scrapbook, of your life. This will enable a new class of applications focused on helping people express themselves to emerge and revolutionize existing industries and experiences. We are grateful at Causes to be in a position to lead this sea change in the way people give and get involved in social change and will continue build a platform that empowers anyone to make a difference by taking action with their friends.
Look out for new ways to integrate Causes into your online identity and check out this piece in TechCrunch for a first look at the Facebook Timeline.
Welcome to the Causes Blog
"No public Twitter messages." — causes
Connect with us:
55 Responses to Facebook changes will help you change the world
Can’t wait for this. Very excited to see how it will all work.
By partcipating in Causes intiative , I feel i started one of my best thing in my life..
But have you read what FB users are saying? We hate the changes made. I don’t need FB telliing me what I am interested in. Why don’t they stop telling me everytime a friend becomes friends with another person? Finding friends not on FB has become an ordeal. Perhaps the users need to be consulted about the proposed changes prior to implementation. Please rethink your approach and listen to your users. Some are already moving to Google+. And btw, I block all ads.
Thank you.
Helene Meyer
That is great one for all facebook users
Keep on connecting
Hi
I hate the change and on my profile and reading I found 1 person who liked the change. We all figured that person was either telling a lie or paid to say it! None of my friends like the change at all!
I guess when you own the company you do what you want to do and since we don’t pay we either have to put up with it or move to google.
Thanks,
Faith
I believe that Lifeline is the answer to a longneeded service ,not only to those who receive but also to those who give from their heart. It is a win, win situation that will change the world forever.
give me a break. Yeah- it’s going to change the world.
QUIT changing FB and leave it alone.
Above I used the word LOife LOine and should have said “Causes”.
This is what works.
I am sick and tired of all these changes every 6 months or so. ALL of my friends are too. We just get used to one way, when you change it all up again. It’s hard to teach other people how to use FB when you keep changing. At least do a survey first. Maybe then you’ll see how many people really want this.
why can’t you leave things the way they were? I personally do not like the new changes, Why did we not have a say in this? want the old fb back!
change is good looking 4ward 4 it!!
Not for me i’m on twitter now much better
Hate the changes & so do all my friends & most of my game neighbours. I also want the option to opt out of broadcasting what games I’m playing & when I’m playing them. Have you deliberately brought these changes in to coincide with Google+ launch – if you hav I think you may have shot yourself in the foot. LISTEN to your FB users & change it back to how it was – majority of users were happy with it
I’m sick and tired of Fb changing everything up every few months, you just get used to the new changes and then you do it again.I don’t care who’s playing what or who’s talking to who. It wasn’t broken, so why fix it. Put back the old FB, or I like alot of my friends will switch to another program.
I am not pleased with these changes…it is more difficult…the older format was so much easier to see what people were up to at a quick glance. I could check in a couple of times a day….read and move on…and then comment when I wanted to. Additionally, I started using FB to support my non profit organization…in order to populate a cause we need FB friends….now I love FB but am currently frustrated.
I don’t want to change the world with Facebook. I just want to interact with friends – make some new ones – look at everyones’ photos – in other words, PLAY – not WORK!!!
i dont like the new facebook cause i puy friends subscribe message goes to my husbands page i just dont get it
really.really. reeaallllyyy. i don’t know anyone i am friends with that like either of the last two changes face book has made, change is for the good SOMETIMES not here and users don;t like it. sure we can go to google /but if we wanted google we would have gone. we like face book and very glad to be associated with it it helps us a lot , gives people a place to catch up with friends and family and a place to relax with. but these changes are more aggravating to the people and upsetting. does make us want to switch, everyone knows if you start to loose customers you will start to loose sponsors , which means lose of .MONEY MONEY MOONNNEEEYYYY YES MONEY. THANK YOU FOR HEARING THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE,.
This new look FB has made it harder for people who dont have computers, and only connect via their mobile phone. Change it back PLEASE. you should read status’s no-one is happy with the change, you will lose your members if you continue changing facebook. IT SUCKS.
You are wasting yours, mine, and other ppls time and causing aggravation by constantly changen FB! RETURN IT BACK TO THE WAY IT USE TO BE!!! Or, lose alot of facebook fans. The ones that you havent lost already!
Hey Mark Zukerburg people are tired of these changes,as long as you sit back @corperate headquarters and keep changing things that’s not good.Where in the world do you think you can tell people who they can or cannot talk to on here,nobody likes these changes.You make the decesions there you need to listen to people and when you start losing the entire facebook people and your sponor that support you then you’ll start to lose money.So you need to reconsider these people out there and take into reconmendation of the people of facebook, thanks
Very mad about the new FB. I’m a game player. The feeds dont come in fast anymore. Thats how I collected my coins that are reqired to play with. My point is by the time the feed comes out they have all been collected. So I miss out. I refuse to buy FB credits. Number one I cant afford to. And yes I have High Speed net. Every morning starts with coffee an FB an here & there all day, about 8hrs. a day I spend on FB. I find it really UNFAIR. I’m sure it will be alot less now. CP
I don’t like the way facebook keeps changing.I like making new friends without you telling me I can’t,that I’verequested too many, and blocking me.You give us these options and when we use them,we are punished for it.I hate the way the pictures are not clear and we have to wait causing major eye strain for them to become clear.Why do you want to keep messing things up.I’m sorry but it’s the way I look at it.I’m thinking of getting off here and going somewhere else.
I don’t like the way facebook keeps changing.I like making new friends without you telling me I can’t,that I’ve requested too many, and blocking me.You give us these options and when we use them,we are punished for it.I hate the way the pictures are not clear and we have to wait causing major eye strain for them to become clear.Why do you want to keep messing things up.I’m sorry but it’s the way I look at it.I’m thinking of getting off here and going somewhere else.
That is great
why did you have to change the way facebook was? the new way is to hard and confussing to so many of us i used to love facebook now im thinking about walking away from it i play games on it and could care less about them also……i think the people that use facebook should of had a vote on it …you guys made a big mistake PUT IT BACk PLEASE
Going to google you facebook do not care what we want..Put it back or welcome to my spaces fate…WHO ????? My point !!!!!! Facebook…going going gone !!!!
Fb doesn’t care how we feel about the changes their as billionaires because of us. So they don’t care. Even of everyone stopped using FB they already set for life .
Fb doesn’t care how we feel about the changes their all billionaires because of us. So they don’t care. Even of everyone stopped using FB they already set for life .
I am 71 and I have just join facebook…still learning how to do it now you have change it and now I am confused even more..think of us old people..I will need lots of help
What is stuck up everyone’s rear!?
There’s not much different (yet) on fb. More changes are coming but what has recently been released is NOT as bad as nearly everyone is claiming.
Try navigating around a little before you have a fit as well as claiming things as true that really aren’t.
The changes aren’t the least bit ‘hard’ or ‘confusing’ or anything of the like. It will simply take some longer to figure out the changes than it will for others.
(It only took me about five to ten minutes … and I have a neurological disorder, although it has been much better since diagnosis about 16 years ago.)
I fucking hate the new look!!!!!!!
I am with 99% of the other users. I do NOT like the changes. I don’t like the way you have broken down my lists, and I REALLY don’t like the messages on the side. I don’t need or even WANT to know what my neighbors are doing every time they get online. That is almost an invasion of privacy!!!! I DON’T CARE THAT JOE LIKED SUE’S COMMENT!!!!! I PROBABLY DON’T EVEN KNOW JOE!!!! You are sending out way too much information. You need to put FB back like it was, and leave it alone!!!!
Change can be negative or positive, for now is two step backward that is negative. Therefore CHANGE is not welcome!
I work in a forever changing environment. I got used to the way FB looked. I really don’t like the change for change sake. Especially with my friends making comments on their friends pages – that I don’t even know. I have searched endlessly to continue some of my friends anonymity – without success. Surely in this day n age there should a higher priority with this or giving users the CHOICE to elect displaying this? Majority of Users r not mindless robots, plse stop treating us as though we r.
Awesome job, I think it’s great!
I am part of a group of people who graduated in the late 60′s. We all HATE the changes you are making to Facebook. I have seen several people who are my friends leave already. I do not feel like you have the right (just because FB is free) to tell us where our loyalties should lie or what causes we should be interested in nor do I need to know every single time Joe or Jim whoever makes a comment or goes to the bathroom. Let us have some privacy and stop displaying every single comment that is posted. You are also changing the layout of the page and it only makes it more difficult or use and move around or find what the heck you are looking for. Please, please, put it back the way it was or you are going to lose a host of FB users.
I’m a big fan of wired magazine and I’m thinking next months issue may have an article on how Facebook destroyed themselves. You guys were tops until you got it in your mind to attempt to improve what didn’t need to be improved. You’ve made a mess and now you have alot of explaining to do and probably an apology wouldn’t hurt. But first ya should change it back to what we,the people, want and loved.
Bye Bye facebook!
I’m leaving once these are implemented. Hate the changes – will just go back to e-mail. thanks anyway.
Sorry. I am scared anytime someone says that they will change the world. The first time I heard this was about three years ago. Since then the decline of America has been steadily going down. So FB, please don’t tell me you are going to change the world. I will not go along with it.
The decline of the US started years and years ago and Obama’s taking the blame. Duh. Elect another Bush moron.
This is very exciting news. We are a health organization-charity to support patients, families and caregivers. Our goal is to bring awareness of Aplastic Anemia, which is a bone marrow failure blood disease and it affects millions of people worldwide. With this new blog we will reach our goal and will be able to have a lot of sponsors and support. We are dedicated to find a cure for Aplastic Anemia.
Thank you Causes and Facebook.
Victoria Yousefi-AAOMF.org & Staff
Change is required… But dislike now…
Dear FB authority…..pls dont make FB as …by the FB…for the FB…of the FB…..pls do it for the people….by the people….of the people…..thnx…..Chinmoy Chatterjee
No – finally too intrusive – boring – big brother is watching you
Dear FB authority……….pls do it for the people….by the people….of the people…..thnx…..Chinmoy Chatterjee
Mr Z…….you just shot yourself in the foot! A lot of us are outta here!
[...] to say about the changes and their affect on fundraising, under the in-no-way bombastic title of Facebook Changes Will Help You Change The World [...]
So I see you want to hook up with netflix and other to “make information flow more freely”. Not only will I leave FB but Netflix too tell all your money making friends that Mr Z. You have gone too far in the information highway. These changes suck and you need to Go back the way it was.
I really dislike the new FB and hate to think of more changes you are planning on doing. I’m not really good with computer’s and took a while to figure it out. With the help of family and friend. (Including FB friends) I want to keep things private! I don’t want to know what everyone else is doing. Just the people I have as friends on FB. Why is that hard to understand. If you want to do it, make it so we (who don’t want it) can opt out of that part that you just put in. Give us the choice of all new things your putting in. Where we can go into different area’s to turn it on of off.Please listen to us. I know we don’t pay for this service, no doubt we will in time if we stay with you. My family is checking out different avenue’s. We’ll see in time, won’t we!
I don’t want to know what everyone else is doing… please leave things as they are…. if it gets too complicated and less private, we will stop using it….
[...] found this interesting article about Facebook Causes, an app that strives to empower people from all walks of [...]
This new interface by Facebook is literally rediculous. I try to support and promote Internet Safety, and stop the exploitation of children.
In the past, we had the ability st share videos from other websites and previews of websites with simular goals in mind. Sites such as ECPAT and INHOPE.
Now they taken away that ability and reduced it to only the ability to post a clickable hyperlink. Ones that most people will easily completly overlook and not even notice.
In turn, what has been presented is a lot of pop-up boxes asking questions of confidential details asking questions such as “Who was I with?” “Where was I at?” “What time was it?”.
And then they want to know “Would I like share all of confidential information with 20 illion strangers that I don’t know?” and “Would I like to be friends with them, and their friends, and their friends’ friends?”
How much sense should that make to people and organizations whose concern is Internet Safety and promoting child protection and safety?
This is rediculous and I am ashamed of Causes.com for even promoting such nonsense!