How long before Facebook users revolt against the latest update?
In October of last year, Facebook introduced a seemingly benign upgrade to its site interface: a switch that let users adjust the amount of information shown on the status feed. But a sizable portion of the Facebook population immediately revolted against the redesign, forming groups such as "Change Facebook back to normal" and "Members want the old Facebook format back."
"There was absolutely nothing wrong with how it was before and it just makes no sense at all as to why they wasted time and money to change it this way," one typically-enraged Facebook denizen wrote in the comments section of the Horizons blog. "I don’t need to know when my friend Felicia’s friend Astrid (a friend of Felicia’s that I’ve never met) makes friends with Joe Blow! I could care less!"
Here's hoping that the Facebook crew is preparing itself for a new onslaught of angry comments. Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled an array of upgrades to the Facebook experience. Here's the CliffsNotes: Over the next few months, Facebook will roll out a Digg-like function to dozens of news and entertainment websites. You'll be able to flag – or "like" – content you enjoy; that content will then appear in your status feed.
In addition, your "like" – along with your profile photo – will appear on the page you flagged, for all your friends to see. As Facebook is quick to point out, users can choose to opt out of the functionality. Still, there are concerns that Facebook newbies may not immediately realize how much of their personal information they are exposing.
"This is really not cool," a commenter wrote today on the official Facebook blog. "I don't want my info or my presence felt on the web outside of Facebook. I opted out this morning when I found out about all of this, but in the future, have these features be 'opt in' instead of opt out. You guys are going down hill with these changes."
Talk to us. Are you onboard with the Facebook upgrade? Or should it go the way of the dinosaur?
