A missing side bar (the effects of mechanics on rhetoric)

This is just a brief idea that I noticed that I felt like bringing up for discussion to the class.

When I am on Facebook on my laptop - the computer I am usually on 80% of the time - I do not have the sidebar on the right hand side that gives you constant feedback about what your friends are doing. I'm not sure why - my guess is some sort of glitch during an upgrade. But I have noticed the other 20% of the time I'm on another computer how amazingly different the experience of Facebook is without that bar. With the feedback Facebook takes on a new level of stalking because suddenly I notice every single thing my friends are doing on their  Facebooks. Things that don't even show up on my feed.

I think it's interesting that 1) Facebook does want me to know all this information in the bar (since my missing sidebar facebook is the glitch) and 2) that it does change the feel of Facebook - maybe even how I use Facebook - with this mechanic either there or not there.

This makes me wonder about other mechanics on website and how they would be different rhetorically if one of their mechanics are missing. It doesn't even have to be a major mechanic - it's not like my Facebook no longer works since I don't have it.