Facebook users rebel over permanent redesign

Facebook braves the visual naysayers
Facebook braves the visual naysayers

Social-network behemoth Facebook has announced to the online world that its recently debuted re-design is to be a permanent fixture, and that there's no going back to the original layout.

This announcement has sparked anger with those of the site's web community who fear change.

In fact, there are numerous Facebook groups dedicated to the 'new' Facebook, with one titled '1,000,000 against the new Facebook layout!' (which kind of presumes that one million people would join the group) but (luckily) so far over one million people have joined.

In defence

Defending the decision to completely ditch the old layout, company founder Mark Zuckerberg, said: "Any change can be a big deal to our users because this is how they connect with their family and friends.

"So when you move things around, it can be perceived as being not a positive thing even when it's a positive change."

The makers of Facebook have also revealed that out of the 40 million people who adopted the new look, 30 million have stuck with it. This is a rather positive spin, given that a quarter decided to ditch the re-design.

Beginning the process

Although there is no official date for the 'switchover', Mark Slee has posted on the Facebook blog that the company is "just beginning the process of moving people over to the new Facebook and saying goodbye to the old Facebook."

He also writes that: "The new design is different, and we understand that some people will be uncomfortable with the changes.

"But over time, we think people will appreciate the advantages of the new design and the new features it offers."

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.