Click here to see Thursday's story.
UPDATE: [9:24 p.m. EST, Weds.] Just after 9 p.m. EST, membership for the "Students Against Facebook News Feed" group surpassed 400,000.
UPDATE: [8:17 p.m. EST, Weds.] Members continue to join the largest Facebook protest group, totalling 379,096 as of 8:15 p.m. EST. Look for insight from social researchers and statistics on the protest group's growth in tomorrow's Daily News. Coming next week, an exclusive look at the student drive to social networking sites and what it says about the generation.
UPDATE: [6:22 p.m. EST, Weds.] In four hours, the total membership for Facebook's News Feed protest group increased by 100,000. As of, 5:13 p.m. EST, the count sat at 300,033.
UPDATE: [1:11 p.m. EST, Weds.] More than 200,000 have joined the "Students Against Facebook News Feed."
UPDATE: [12:22 p.m. EST, Weds.] In what is being described online as the first large-scale student protest since the 1960s, the "Students Against Facebook News Feed" membership continues to climb toward 200,000 members. At this time, there are more than 184,000 people attached to the group.
UPDATE: [3:19 a.m. EST, Weds.] More than 100,000 Facebook users are members of an online petition within the site's groups feature. "Students Against Facebook News Feed" hit the 100,000 member mark at 2:11 a.m., Wednesday.
With membership increasing by the hundreds each minute, the group's participation grew rapidly. By comparison, the group's participant count sat at 66,000 at 11:41 p.m., Tuesday.
Mark Zuckerberg has posted an open response to users on the Facebook Blog:
"We're not oblivious of the Facebook groups popping up about this (by the way, Ruchi is not the devil). And we agree, stalking isn't cool; but being able to know what's going on in your friends' lives is. This is information people used to dig for on a daily basis, nicely reorganized and summarized so people can learn about the people they care about."
Look for updates from the DN throughout the day.
=====
Although updates went up on Facebook Tuesday morning, the Web site was down for Ball State University students.
The changes turned Facebook from a directory into a streaming news service.
Ball State students were unable to access the Web site from campus for the majority of the school day due to problems with equipment service that temporarily and unintentionally blocked the Web site.
"It doesn't have anything to do with that (type of Web site.) We're not blocking it," Loren Malm, assistant director of computer services, said.
Once students could log on to the site, however, they could see dramatic changes to the networking site.
The developments were published to the Web site on Monday around midnight, Dietrich said. It took three months to do quality insurance and bug testing before the changes could be implemented.
"The goal of Facebook is to make this easy and efficient as possible to understand the world and people around them," Melanie Dietrich, director of marketing, said. "We just wanted to make it even easier to get information about their friends that they already have access to."
Changes include a News Feed on the user's home page. It provides a fast link to information on friends' histories, walls, comments and changes such as photos, status, location and relationships.
On each user's individual profile there is a Mini-Feed. This shows the user's friends and walls the user has marked on. If users don't like the feed, they can reduce it so it is not visible, like other features on the site. If he doesn't like the entire idea of News Feeds, he can change his privacy settings.
According to Dietrich the reasoning for the changes is simple. Facebook should be as easy as possible for people to use, she said. News Feed is a great way to use what is already on a user's site and increase efficiency, she said.
Multiple groups have formed against the Facebook revamping. Groups claim the changes feel like an invasion of privacy. One group, "Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook" had 88,387 members as off press time.
"You went a little bit too far this time, facebook. Very few of us want everyone automatically knowing what we update. We want just a LITTLE bit of privacy, even if it is facebook," the description of one group said.
Despite the problems students had, and the anti-News Feed groups being created, Dietrich said she still had high expectations.
"It's a big change and users are still adjusting to change," she said. "As people use it people will grow to love it like we do."
LINKS:
Click here to see the Online Facebook Petition
Post Your Comments to the DN Facebook Message Board
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
