User backlash over Facebook’s new features

Facebook’s latest updates have caused some backlash from its users. Users of the social network have taken to the web to complain about its brand new updates, with users across the world expressing their feelings towards the “radical” new changes.

The hastag “#newfacebook” is now being used by those on Twitter who wish to complain about the revamped user interface. In response to the theory that Facebook is changing too frequently, a user wrote:

Others believe that the new “Ticker” too closely resembles Twitter with users saying that:

People expressed their ire through an array of online avenues including a “Petition against the new Facebook homepage” on the social network. Some lamented the fact that latest Facebook changes were moves to be more like rival Google+.

“#NewFacebook is like America,” one Twitter user commented. “Plenty of people discontent[ed], but it’s not like anyone is actually going to leave.”

The backlash to the new design began almost immediately after Mark Zuckerberg rolled out the new changes in what he referred to as the “launching season for new features.”

Facebook members can now be more selective regarding the updates which they see on their news feeds. The new updates include:

• The Ticker, a real-time feed which displays user content on a side-panel. Users can see exactly what their friends are doing moment by moment and respond to them within the Ticker panel.
• A Priority News Feed which gives priority to “Important Feeds”, adding a “Top Story” mark to selected updates. Facebook has not explained how it picks the important feeds.
• A subscribe button which lets users follow strangers much like they would on Twitter. Members will still be able to share and interact with these strangers despite the lack of subscribing to these streams.

This Thursday at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco, the social network is expected to roll-out even more features, but these have been kept under tight wraps. Predicted updates have included a Spotify-like service, an online music platform which users will be able to subscribe, stream from and listen in to their friends music, live.

Facebook users are known for complaining fiercely about changes to the service but then adapting and sticking with the online community.