I’m beginning to notice a pattern: every few months, Facebook changes something and every body protests the change, threatening to delete their accounts in response. I’m also aware of a trend: Facebook membership is increasing. If every person who protested the Feed, applications, the old new Facebook, the new new Facebook, etc were to actually leave, I’d have about 5 friends and Facebook wouldn’t have 175 million users. I don’t and it does, so I have to conclude that all the threats are empty. And of course, I’m sure Zuckerberg has concluded the same thing.

Why are people so afraid of new things? It’s not just Facebook. People protested the round start button in Vista, the new start menu in XP, the ribbon bar in Office. I can understand why my 70 year old relatives–who learn to use the computer by memorizing very specific instructions–don’t like it when things change, but why are people in their twenties and teens demanding that everything stand still?

Change is good. Change means progress. The new Facebook is better than the old one. Even if were not better, the answer is not to step backwards, but to take yet another step forwards.