That’s right, as of today all Facebookers will be forced to adapt to the social networking giant’s redesign unveiled seven weeks ago, whether they like it or not.
Since launch nearly four and a half years ago, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has discovered that any significant changes made to the popular online destination cannot be delivered without sparking a major uproar amongst die hard users who prefer to have things the way that they are accustomed to.
Since the release of the redesign, Facebook users have had the option to make the switch with the simple click of a button, yet were able to go back to the old format. Thus, Zuckerberg’s new approach will be put to the ultimate test today as Facebook’s community, now 100 Million strong, will no longer have the option to revert to the previous site design. The old format is said to be completely phased out by the end of the week. While Zuckerberg knows full well that this mandate may alienate some of Facebook’s community, he is apparently willing to take that risk, which may ultimately drive users to rival social networks such as Bebo and Myspace. Yet he still maintains that a firm approach will be the best route to eliminating the need to issue public apologies as he has done in the past.
“Any change can be a big deal to our users because this is how they connect with their family and friends,” Zuckerberg said. “So when you move things around, it can be perceived as being not a positive thing even when it’s a positive change.”
He went on to mention that nearly 40 million users have checked out the redesign and about 30 million have welcomed the change choosing to not return to the old design. However, it appears that a mutiny may be in the works, as several groups and petitions have been formed in protest of the change.
“It’s not that we don’t want change, period, it’s that we don’t like these particular changes,” said Scott Sanders, 19, an Austin Peay University student who started one of the petitions opposing the redesign. “You have to navigate more and you have to click more to get to personal profiles. It’s too much effort to get to basic information.”
Facebook’s audience is now nearly ten times what it was when Zuckerberg and the Facebook team unveiled the “News Feed” feature that displays user’s personal information, leading to thousands of angered users.
“There is more weight on making things smooth when you are dealing with 100 million people,” Zuckerberg said. “No one cared as much when a bunch of students from a few colleges were complaining about some changes to some Web site.”
It looks as though the Facebook community will either need to embrace the new design, or at least put up with it, if they would like to continue using the mega-network.
[via Wired]
