Terry George: Why it’s better to embrace change

Sep 15 2008 by Terry George

IT’S really dawned on me recently how much people dislike change, and do everything they can to resist it.

Take Facebook for example, the social networking site which now has 100 million users worldwide. Over the last few weeks it has re-designed its site and is now forcing its members to use the new version.

But it has created a public outcry and petitions and protests sprang up all over the place because many users were resisting the changes.

I know how it feels first hand, as I re-launched my free memorial website GoneTooSoon a couple of weeks ago.

The site has grown phenomenally since its launch three years ago and now has millions of visitors every month, so it was definitely in need of updating, not only to cope with the growth but to provide new features and improve security.

I’ve had people crying on the phone, emails from users who’ve had sleepless nights and a number of letters, all asking to go back to the original version.

There was even an online forum created to bring back the old site!

I had anticipated it would take people a couple of days to get used to the site but nothing on that scale. But a couple of weeks on, everyone seems to love it and has forgotten about the original one.

The only thing I’m disappointed about is my group of friends will be capped to 5, 000 now on Facebook, but I won’t be launching a protest.