Hate the New Facebook? You're Not Alone

Chances are you have seen the new changes in Facebook because the social network launched them late Tuesday night. And if you don't like the new layout and real-time news ticker, apparently you are not alone.

A Wednesday poll on Mashable shows that out of 2,425 respondents, 74 percent (1,788) hate it, CNET offers a way to minimize the offending news ticker and still others equated Facebook's fixes to the controversial retooling of Star Wars.

From what we can see the problem isn't so much the ticker, but this:

Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won't have to worry about missing important stuff. All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, the first things you'll see are top photos and statuses posted while you've been away. They're marked with an easy-to-spot blue corner.

Essentially, Facebook has come up with an algorithm to show you the most "important stuff" rather than a strictly chronological listing. In previous incarnations, users could change the settings to show the latest status updates, but now there doesn't appear to be any settings to change. Users are stuck with what Facebook thinks everyone wants. That's the problem.

"I would much prefer to read the posts in chronological order of posting, thank you. Don't assume, FB, you know what would 'interest me,'" wrote Kris Malec Becker, a Facebook user from El Centro, Calif.

Lisa Welch-Nehring, a user from Los Angeles, wrote, "You know FB, there's better ways to try out new ideas without pissing off ALL of your consumers."

Facebookers have also started their own Facebook group which says it all: "We Hate the New News Feed and Ticker."

Will Facebook respond to all of the user discontent? We will have to wait and see.

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