I didn’t score that high on my verbal SATs but I think I can manage a simple analogy here.  Coffee:Social Networking :: Starbucks:Facebook.

Why do we love Facebook?  It’s not because you can poke someone on the other side of the world.  It’s not because for months you’ve been able to plant a comical or raunchy bumper sticker on your friend’s wall.  And it’s certainly not because you can view advertisements that “magically” speak to your exact age and music tastes.

We love Facebook because we are naturally vain creatures!  We love reconnecting with every name we’ve ever come in contact with and watching our friends count grow by the hundreds. We love filling out our profile with bands that show how cool we are or quotes that demonstrate our intellectual depth.  We love that fuzzy feeling when someone writes on our wall (isn’t that why we initiate the conversation on someone else’s wall to begin with!?).  And we definitely can’t wait to open up that picture that was just tagged of us - even if we untag it immediately because we look fat or possessed.

The original Facebook was about us. It was our platform to make ourselves look however stylish/ smart/ talented/ contemporary/ friendly/ professional/ original/ single/ in-a-relationship that we wanted to.  Facebook was the tool.  We were the artists.

The new Facebook is about how stylish/ smart/ talented/ contemporary/ friendly/ professional/ original that the creators of Facebook are.  Facebook has become the artist. And every time I’ve signed on since the “facelift,” I feel like the tool.

Starbucks had an amazing business growing from just its simplest offering - consistently good coffee.  Then the corporate office’s head got bigger than a venti and as we all know, the buck isn’t stopping there like it used to.

Mark (Zuckerberg) my words, Facebook’s fate is soon to follow…

Agree of disagree?

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Inspired by Fast Talk Question: Has Facebook made a huge mistake in taking away its old design?  FastCompany.