There has been a lot of web chatter recently about Facebook.  First they altered their privacy statement, got slammed in the media, and then changed it back.  Now a few weeks later they have changed the layout of the site.  Many have commented on how the new look is very similar to that of Twitter.  Implications are that Facebook saw Twitter as a threat so rather than wait, they proactively made the change.

This change has generated it's own Facebook page where users can express their feelings about the changes by voting yes or no.  As of this morning, there were over 380,000 votes and comments on this change.  From what I can see, a vast majority are "no" votes. 

This brings up a couple of interesting questions.  The first being did Facebook know that this would cause a stink among users and there fore generate more PR?  After the recent bad PR from the privacy change, I would say bad PR is the last thing they would want or need.  The second question is why do it?  Facebook has over 175 million active users.  Presumable a vast majority of users signed up because they at least somewhat approved of the layout.  So why make the change?  Or better yet, why completely change the way a user interacts with your product without at least doing a little research about likes and dislikes?  I know the final decision lies with Facebook, but once you have 175 MILLION users, your product is no longer really yours.  It's now belongs to the general public.   Too many people are emotionally invested in Facebook, and the related connections with friends, loved ones, etc to go changing it without asking.  Why not keep both the old and new version and let users choose?

If Coke and more recently Tropicana can alienate customers by making product and packaging changes, what did Facebook expect?  Always stay true to what it is that made you successful.  Just ask Starbucks.