Facebook redesign gets thumbs down

BANGALORE, INDIA: The redesign that social networking site Facebook has undergone recently is getting a big thumbs down the users it seems.

Nearly 94 per cent of the 800,000 odd Facebook users, who participated in a poll on the site, said they did not like the changes rolled out by the site during the last couple of weeks. Only 6 per cent said they approve the redesign.

"It feels counterintuitive and less technologically advanced than the last layout," commented one user. Another user, identified as Nik McCarthy, said the change “Pretty much sucks. Better before.”

Another user, Pink Kerry, has gone one step further and commented "I hate the new Facebook layout. It's complete rubbish”.

Many users who took part in the poll feel that the new design is too cluttered, with 'way too much information'.

The changes to the home page of Facebook include making the status update question 'What's on your mind?' and a link to rival Twitter. Now it also has tools that let people organize and filter messages or updates from those listed as 'friends'.

According to a Facebook spokesperson, "The new Facebook home page is one step in the continued evolution of the site, designed to give people more ways to share and filter all types of content, such as status updates, photos, videos, notes and more.”

As of now Facebook has more than 175 million members and the owners of the site believe that the user base will touch 200 million by the end of this year.

Interestingly the usage of Twitter, which has 1.78 million users, has grown nearly 17 times in the last year.

Reacting to the opposition to the redesign, the spokesperson said, "We encourage people to send us constructive, detailed feedback and are committed to using it to inform how we build and improve the site for everyone."