Now Facebook is paying attention to thousands of new members and several petitions from users to go back to the old design. In the next few weeks, Facebook will begin tweaking its design based on feedback from users who sent in thousands of e-mails, according to Christopher Cox, Facebook's director of product.

"Whenever we build something new or tweak something old, our motivation is the same: To help you share with the people you care about and find out what's happening with them," Cox said in an explanation to users.

Before launching a new feature, the company first puts the product in front of a small audience, then makes it available to its user base, which has grown to 175 million since 2004.

"We know that no amount of testing is as valuable as what you have to say," Cox said. "For this reason, we will always look to you, our users, to tell us what is working and what isn't so we can continually make improvements."

Users didn't hesitate to tell Facebook's designers exactly what they thought of the changes. Tens of thousands of users joined petitions, while others simply posted disappointments on their walls and in messages to friends.

Finding the Right Balance

Finding the right balance between giving users what they want and avoiding too much change has been a balancing act for the company. Facebook admits its challenge has been to provide a product that makes people happy across the board. The problem, however, is that people on Facebook use the site for different purposes and navigate through it differently.

The past several weeks, Facebook has been shifting the site to operate similarly to Twitter, a Web site that allows users to constantly update their thoughts and whereabouts. Facebook was heading down a similar path and placing more emphasis on real-time conversations and updates, but users have made the company stop dead in its tracks.

One user, not happy with the changes, said if he wanted a Twitter-like experience he would have signed up for Twitter instead. Another said: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." And one poster suggested that if Facebook wanted to give users more control, it should implement an option for users to choose between the old and new version so everyone can be happy. (continued...)

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