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"As I suspected, Facebook users aren't too happy about the new features rolled out yesterday (see Facebook\u2019s Facelift - An Invasion of Privacy?).  However, the backlash has been more than a mere grumbling - a petition against the new features has been posted, and some users are calling for a Day Without Facebook on September 12th.  \nWhat's more, the Talkface forums are full of complaints about the News Feed and Mini Feed additions, pointing out the privacy concerns and the fact that the additions add unneccessary clutter to the interface.  Meanwhile, a site called OldFacebook is calling the relaunch \"Stalkerbook\", setting up yet another petition against the changes and forming a Facebook group to oppose them.  The backlash has been so intense that founder Mark Zuckerberg issued a call for calm, pointing out that Facebook's privacy settings remain intact, and that no new information is being displayed.\nThere are a lot of take aways here.  First off, the fact that the feature was so widely praised around the blogosphere suggests a disconnect between bloggers and social networking users: Facebook members are a conservative bunch who don't welcome radical change.  What's more, the argument about no new data becoming accessible doesn't hold: there may be plenty of data about you available on Google, but would you want a service to piece it all together and republish it?  \nThe revolt also underlines that with social networks, the users are in control.  When MySpace attempted to block YouTube back in December 2005 (presumably to encourage the use of their MySpace Video product), users reacted rapidly, forcing a rethink.\nIt's true that fans of the new features are unlikely to voice their opinions as loudly as the objectors, but with one of the opposition groups having in excess of 20,000 members, Facebook need to react.  Frankly, the only possible outcome is that Facebook will be forced to provide an \"off switch\" - the majority of users will then opt out of the system, making it far less useful.  Facebook are unlikely to remove the feature entirely, but they'll need some sort of compromise to keep the users happy.\n\nOld Facebook brands the new site \"StalkerBook\"\nSee also: Facebook's Election 2006, Facebook Notes."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2006/09/06/the-facebook-backlash-begins/>