Hate the New Facebook? Too Bad.
The redesign is aimed at better competing against real-time microblogging services such as Twitter. Because it's a SaaS offering, users receive changes as they occur within the product. But that's precisely what's caused many of the opposition to object.
But social networkers being, well, social, have organized themselves. The I Hate the New Facebook group is one example, with more than 42,300 members, it's growing rapidly.
As one member of the I Hate the New Facebook group put it: " i don't want to publish EVERYTHING i write on ANYONE'S wall to all my friends. if i publish something on someone's wall, it's because i want THEM and their friends to read it. not everybody on the entire freaking facebook network."
A petition continues to circulate that requests Facebook scrap the new design. That petition has 1.7 million signatures, impressive but still only 1 percent of the total 175 million registered on Facebook.
"The homepage is a disaster! Highlights? Who cares?" wrote another unhappy user.
Despite the tempest, it's still just in a teapot. A Valleywag item alleged that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent an e-mail to employees explaining that the most disruptive companies don't listen to its customers. Certainly, users are feeling disrupted. At any rate, it's an interesting take on customer service, and implies Facebook's new look is here to stay.