The redesign, rolled out last week, added the Twitter-like update box at the top center of the screen, and includes every activity that a person’s friends have shared in the news feed, which Facebook now calls the real-time stream.
But many members have rejected the changes, complaining that the site is now too busy and confusing to navigate, littered with information they aren’t interested in seeing but can’t escape in the new design. In consolidating the activity updates in the new real-time stream, Facebook added new filters to the left side of the page to give people greater control over what appears on their home page, but that’s small solace to the thousands of users now in open revolt over the changes.
A group has formed on the site bearing the name, “Facebook Users Want the Old Facebook Back!” As of this writing, the group had more than 270,000 members.
The group hopes to gain enough support among the community that Facebook will ultimately and permanently reinstate the old layout.
“Let’s admit that we were very disappointed when we noticed the new layout, which is awful and hard to navigate unlike the old version of Facebook,” the group declares.
Separately, an application has also appeared where people can vote (thumbs up/thumbs down) on the new design, and weigh in with comments on the changes.
In a statement e-mailed to InternetNews.com, Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said the company is taking its users’ feedback “very seriously,” but declined to comment on the company’s thinking on the matter.
“We are listening carefully to what people are saying about the new home page through a variety of channels,” including the comments on the voting app, Barker said.
Scanning through the mostly negative feedback on that app a few themes emerge. The comments are peppered with words like “confusing,” “too much information,” “messy” and “disorganized.” Many comments contained some variation of the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
