Much is being said about Twitter altering the way you see and interact with your network. So what? Things are changing all the time, with or without our consent before the fact. You must adapt to the social network as much as it must adapt to you.

Even though Facebook went through some growing pains with making major changes to their system, people got used to it. No one is really complaining about Facebook’s interface anymore. Why? Over time they have come to accept that it just will not change. This speaks directly to the Kübler-Ross model which “describes, in five discrete stages, a process by which people allegedly deal with grief and tragedy”:

Denial

Initially people are in disbelief that a system change could happen. “Oh, no. Not my beloved social network. That will never change.” A social network is a fluid creation held together by loose tenets. Twitter is a microblogging instant messaging platform with specific character constraints. That’s all. Any other ideas how things should be or stay are preset notions of how it should function.

Anger

After the gravity of the full situation sets in then people get pissed. “What the hell?!? I miss that old feature/hate the new feature. Why did they do that? Bring it back/take it away!” This is a visceral reaction that most of us have. It’s as if someone punched you in the gut. This is the part where you heave and breathe heavily. Instead, take a breath. Reacting violently to change does something- it alerts the person who made the change that people are not happy with the change and it allows you to vent your frustration. Ultimately realize that your reaction is only a piece of the puzzle in which system administrators of social networks weigh their decisions. Often times they have expert information that you are not privy to.

Bargaining

This stage is an interesting one. This is where both you AND the social network begin the elaborate dance of getting resettled. “Well, I really liked the former feature. What if you implement this workaround in the meantime?”"This is what we’re going to do to pacify you while we transition to something completely different”. There WILL be a stopgap. The temporary fix may be a feature fix that gives you back some functionality or a customer relations feedback forum or a combination of both. A large enough outrage will have some sort of reply and action from the social network. This is pretty much just to pacify you enough until they can change things completely. No one ever said that changing things in stages would be painless.

Depression

Now comes the realization that your beloved old features are not coming back. This is where you pine for them. “I LOVED the old system. It was so great. I’m so sad I could just stop using this social network… well maybe not that sad.” Yeah, you’re sad but then…

Acceptance

You get over it. When you realize that there is NOTHING you can do to bring back the way things were (as progress moves forward) you move on with it. “Oh well. I’m getting used to the way things function now anyway. There are some things that aren’t half bad about this new setup.” Eventually you get tired of ranting and raving about how the new changes suck. Most of you aren’t professional gripers so most of you will get on with your life. Our time is precious.

Here’s the solution: Stop the shit and just accept it. Go ahead and voice your valid well-thought out complaints to let those in power know. After you do that, just shut up and move on. Going through an array of emotional discourse does nothing except feed non-productive emotions. Here’s your new process that you should follow:

Realization, Feedback, Acceptance, Followup.

This process loops infinitely.

Be productive and constructive not destructive. Complaining endlessly without a goal is just self-indulgent. Do us all a favor and get on with it. You’ll get so much more out of your social networks once you adapt to the changes as quickly as they change. Adapt to change quickly or risk being left behind.