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Photo Gallery | 5 Things That Should Change About Twitter, Gmail, and Facebook

5 Things That Should Change About Twitter, Gmail, and Facebook
Submitted by Simon Landau, Community Web Producer
Monday, May 7th, 2012, 9:17am
5. Facebook should have an age minimum to join: I’m only 25 years old and I don’t foresee becoming a father anytime soon (knock on wood), but when I do have children I will not be letting them join Facebook until their mid-teens at least. Call me an overprotective father in training, but there are just too many sketchy characters crawling around that social networking site for me to feel comfortable allowing my kids-to-be to become members until they are old enough to handle their own. Why do 9-year-olds even need Facebook anyway? I just don’t see the purpose.
Photo from Getty Images
4. Twitter needs to do a better job anti-spamming: I know this is a difficult one to change, but at times Twitter Spam just seems to be out of control. A spam-free Twitter world would be such a better one, devoid of annoying sales pitches and dirty messages.
Photo from Twitter
3. Facebook should bring back the dislike button: Remember when Facebook had a “dislike” button that users could click on wall posts as an alternative option to “liking”? That button was awesome. The argument against it was that the dislike button was too negative, but I don’t buy it. If one of my Facebook friends writes a bad Kesha lyric as a status update, I feel as though a dislike is fairly warranted. Without the dislike button in play, bad Kesha lyric-infused status updates are given a pass and I cannot perform my true civic duty by virtually reprimanding my friends for their actions. Bring it back!
Photo from Getty Images
2. GMail needs to add an “unfollow” button on email threads: We’ve all been there: You get attached on a email with a dozen or so friends about a topic you don’t particularly care about and people keep “replying all”. It’s a real sinking feeling when you realize that you have been copied on an email that you don’t care about but that you know will receive about 20 responses in 10 minutes. An “unfollow” button, like what Facebook has added on their posts, would allow people to detach themselves from these chain emails, in turn eliminating that sinking feeling.
Photo from GMail
1. Facebook should add an “acquaintance” section: Maybe I’m just a terrible person, but I really wish Facebook had an “acquaintance” option for those people that I don’t really consider “friends”. If I meet someone once in my life and receive a Facebook request from him or her, I would much rather classify them as an acquaintance than a friend. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it would just acknowledge the fact that we’re not actually friends/know each other well in real life. I would estimate that I have 50 Facebook “friends” that I haven’t actually talked to for longer than 30 minutes. I would love to make them acquaintances.
Photo from Facebook

I’m a regular user of Twitter, Gmail, and Facebook and appreciate what each of them brings to my daily life.  The ease with which I can communicate with friends, family, and colleagues these days is simply astounding, and while I don’t believe many adjustments need to be changed on the three online applications, I do have five things that I think should be changed. 

Take a look above at 5 things I would change about Twitter, Gmail, and Facebook and let me know your opinion in the comments section.

What would you change about Twitter, Gmail, or Facebook?  Sound off below.

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