"You went a bit too far this time, facebook. Very few of us want everyone automatically knowing what we update. We want to feel just a LITTLE bit of privacy, even if it is facebook. News Feed is just too creepy, too stalker-esque, and a feature that has to go.

We demand that either the feature goes, or that we have an option to remove ourselves from the feature. Nothing people write on our walls, or what we write, or what we update goes up on the "News Feed." These are small demands of your users, but we are here to complain and protect our privacy.

I know it's odd to protest facebook through facebook, but this perhaps is the best way for them to get the message.

Until this feature is removed or changed to protect my privacy, I WILL NOT update my profile, and I hope you will too.

So join here, and you're part of the petition to remove the most undelightful feature to have ever hit facebook."

This uproar isn't good news for popular Facebook. According to the Wall Street Journal, the online social site has more than 9 million members, had 6.1 million page views in July and is one of the 10 most viewed sites on the web.

Much to the dismay of Facebook, the anti-feed groups and backlash from members have been picked up by just about every MSM outlet as well as blogs across the globe. The topic was the top story on the WSJ's Marketplace section today and due to vandalism over at Wikipedia, is no longer open for public editing.

Adding insult to injury is the response from Facebook itself. WIth a blog post tile of "Calm down. Breathe. We hear you.," you can imagine how well that was received by the mad users. Take a look at part of Mark Zuckerberg's blog post in response to the controversy:

"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. You don’t miss the photo album about your friend’s trip to Nepal. Maybe if your friends are all going to a party, you want to know so you can go too. Facebook is about real connections to actual friends, so the stories coming in are of interest to the people receiving them, since they are significant to the person creating them."

It's probably a good thing the blog doesn't show comments posted on this entry... I was disappointed with the response from the company as it seemed to almost talk-down to its users and make them feel as if they should be grateful for the new service they clearly down't want.

Overall, I couldn't agree more with the angry users. The feature crosses the line of being useful; it's too invasive. Facebook should have allowed members to sign up for the feature and make it a tool they could customize to personal interests.

But who knows, maybe I should be happy for the feature. How else would I have learned about my brother's birthday party?