I almost never talk or write about changes that are made to the myriad of free online services or social networking sites that for the most part have offered tremendous benefit, access to people and information, and have generally greatly improved the overall internet experience. Facebook changes the news feed? Get over it. Twitter starts pushing ads into the timeline? Log off if that offends you. These services, while occasional straddling the line that separates personal and fun from professional and critical to one's business and livelihood; are still free to adopt, to use, and to leave.
Get in line.
No one has to be on Facebook, or Skype, or Dropbox, or any other service of their type. So if you decide you no longer like the rules of the game, due to some new or changed features, some additional loss of the illusion of online privacy many people still like to cling to, or perhaps a free service has decided that to actually continue to offer their service they have to generate some revenue and start charging for what had previously been free; then typically walking away, (or finding an alternate service), is your only option.
What started me down this line of thought was when last night I logged into what is still my favorite resource on the web - Google Reader, to find that - Hurray!, I'd received the new and improved version of the venerable RSS Reader, with an improved layout, cleaner interface, and the removal of the limited 'social' features in Reader, (following people and sharing posts), with the now ubiquitous G+ sharing button. Checking my Google Reader - 'Items Shared by my Friends' list was usually the very first thing I'd do when checking Reader. I'd been following about 75 or so people, mostly friends and colleagues from the HR industry, and do a quick scan and review of the few dozen or so posts these friends had shared in Reader that day often provided an excellent summary of the news and buzz from the day. It was my 'go-to' place online, and now of course it is gone.
Again, I, (nor anyone else), is really allowed to whine and complain when free services change the rules of the game. I am free to find another RSS reader, convince all my 75 reader friends to share items there, set up some kind of G+ Circle to replicate the sharing function on Reader, (like that will ever happen), or do something else entirely if I feel like my online experience is irreparably harmed. It's Google's ball, their field, their rules.
Google, or any other large online service, knows that any changes they make will understandably tick off some subset of their users. They make the call on changes by balancing the ire of the (small) group of angry users with the larger business strategies they feel are important, and by (usually), offering more and better functionality and capability somewhere else. They try to do a good job of warning users about these changes, of communicating the benefits of the 'new thing' that is coming, and doing the best job they can of helping users manage through the change.
But what Google, and even those of us inside organizations that are charged with developing or deploying new technologies, (often at the expense of old technologies), sometimes forget is that even the oldest, most arcane, most underused piece of technology or functionality still likely has some incredibly active and passionate supporters. Google doesn't really have to care all that much about this, I can't convince them to re-activate sharing and following in Reader, but inside organizations, the truth is user adoption, when 'forced', is often problematic and slow.
It is no secret that change is hard, and technology change can be even harder. Don't compound the problem by forgetting to empathize, at least a little, with those people whose worlds are having change thrust upon them.