Facebook users content with redesign. For now.
If Facebook has learned one thing over the past couple years, it's this: You don't change any part of Facebook without half of its users working themselves into a tremendous snit. The most recent flare-up happened back in October, when the popular social network rolled out a minor redesign of its status feed.
Fireworks!
Twitter was ablaze with Facebook haters, and our comments section filled up with angry letters.
"I don’t mind having options," a reader named Dave told us. "I just wish [F]acebook hadn’t forced everyone to change... Why not let users pick which design they wish to use? It’s all electronic, so it’s not like there’s a lot of wasted paper or resources involved in offering users different display formats." It was a pretty widely held sentiment: Listen, Facebook, it's cool that you're going to changing everything on us, but let us choose what we like best.
Well, guess what? On Thursday night, Facebook began implementing another redesign, this time of its homepage. The idea is that users will now find it easier to access the most important stuff – the games, the apps, the picture tags. Among the best new features – all of which are documented at length over at PC World, if you're interested – is a one-click notification icon, allowing you to easily access new activity on your profile or on a friend's.
Horizons like this Facebook redesign. And surprisingly – wait for it – everyone out there in cyberspace seems to like it, too. There are no tirades on Twitter; no hastily-organized protest groups. Yes, there are a handful of angry comments on the official Facebook blog, but more users are willing to stand up for this redesign.
"Don't know if this has already been said," one Facebook user wrote in the comments section of the blog today, "but why doesn't everybody stop whining and moaning. [T]his is a service that is provided completely free and without obligation. If you don't like, don't use it." Well said, sir.
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What about you? Are you a fan of the new Facebook? Drop us a line in the comments section, or contact us on Twitter @CSMHorizonsBlog.
