Yesterday, I wrote about apparent dissatisfaction with Facebook’s change in layout. A Facebook app designed to take a vote on the matter is proving to be popular, and so far, it’s not looking good for the redesign.
Yesterday afternoon, there were just around 400,000 votes cast. This morning, the count has reached nearly a million. The app has an attractive, easy, and straightforward interface, the top stating simply “Vote on the new Facebook layout,” and beneath two large buttons, one with a large thumb pointing up, another with a thumb pointing down.
So far the vote is incredibly lopsided as the app counts votes in real time. The vote as I write this: 942,624 votes against, 57,540 against. Presumably one registered member can only vote once. It appears to update about once every ten seconds, and after a couple of minutes of observation, it looks like the no votes come in at a rate of about 30-50 votes per refresh, compared to about 2-5 in favor.
At that rate, the votes against could reach a million by the end of the business day, likely sooner. The percentage as reported by TechCrunch this morning—94 percent against—has held steady till now.
The app also has a curious message at the top reading:
“Dear Facebook, we created this neutral and democratic vote because we love Facebook. Please stop trying to suppress the vote and the muffle the voice of your users who desperately want to be heard. Let us know you are listening; let us exercise our right to vote and to invite our friends too.”
At the time of publication, Facebook had not returned request for comment regarding whether it is suppressing user activism or whether the company will reconsider its redesign if enough Facebookers protest.
