DeKALB | Kelly Blackwell got home from class around noon to find her entire life suddenly thrust into the spotlight on Facebook.

Facebook began using a new feature yesterday known as the “News Feed.” This feature allows every person on a student’s personal friends list to see a recent history of each action taken through the site.

“It’s way too easy to know way too much,” said Blackwell, a junior music education student. Blackwell feels betrayed by Facebook’s decision to feature the News Feed without asking or notifying her first, a sentiment shared by other students who would rather maintain a broadcast-free level of discretion.

“It’s just a little too much power,” said Brian Collins, a senior liberal arts student. “It puts stalker to a whole new level.”

Students seeking a link to limit the broadcasts can delete items on a piece-by-piece basis by editing one’s profile page. Another option is to change profile status to “private,” but Blackwell and Collins both feel this option should not be necessary merely in response to a new feature.

Facebook offers a help page, explaining that the News Feed uses “information about how you interact with your friends on the site to automatically generate stories that could be interesting or relevant to you.” This line has some students confused as to how Facebook knows what is relevant to them.

“It’s exhausting just looking at everything that people have done,” said Irene Jagla, senior English student.

The News Feed offers an array of information from break-up status to who is attending which parties to who joined or left which groups. Students like Jagla are curious as to how to turn off the more superfluous pieces of information, a feature that does not appear to exist yet.

Although recent national news stories about sites such as Myspace.com and Facebook have highlighted the danger of posting personal information on the Web, Blackwell and Collins both felt Facebook was more discrete and respectable before introducing the News Feed, and they hope Facebook will decide to cancel the new feature.

“Everyone can watch every single step you make,” Collins said. “I’m going to cover my tracks now.”

Colin Leicht is the Campus Assistant Editor for the Northern Star.