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PALO ALTO (CBS 5) ― Palo Alto-based Facebook - one of the most popular web sites in the world - says it recently re-designed its home page after listening to its many users.

But now it's listening to complaints. Already, more than 600,000 users have signed up on one of several Facebook complaint pages called, "We will change it back if 1,000,000 people hate the new switch."

"It's important to note that the change we made impacts 300 million people and the protest group you've identified represents less than 3/5 of one percent of those users," a source at Facebook headquarters told CBS 5.

"Given the scope of the change, we view the disapproving proportion as extraordinarily low and we're actually very pleased with the results thus far," the source continued. "Can you think of any new government policy – the only real analogy to a change reaching 300 million people – that has been opposed by only 1% of people?"

At issue is a newly redesigned home page for the social networking site rolled out Friday that includes options for a "News Feed" and a "Live feed;" functions that allow users to keep track of their friends.

The Live Feed enables users to view the real time moves of all of their Facebook friends. The News Feed is more picky; Facebook will decide for you which friend's status you might think is interesting.

"The News Feed algorithm bases this on a few factors," said Facebook spokesperson, Meredith Chin. "How many friends are commenting on a certain piece of content, who the person is that's posting it, what type of content it is (photo, video, status update, etc.)."

The redesign provides a tough choice for users, said Zoe Stagg, a multimedia journalist.

"Toggling between those two choices you either get an edited, 'What everyone else thinks is important,' feed, or an excrutiatingly minutae-filled fire hose of everything," Stagg said. "They seemingly deleted the old way in favor of two new ways on either extreme end of the spectrum."

"Whenever we launch new products, we listen carefully to our users about what specific changes we can make to improve their experiences on the site," said Chin. "One of our goals is to always be innovating and improving the site. We know that changing Facebook – something people have demonstrated is important to them – can be unsettling to our users. However, we believe that accepting the status quo as the best we can do is a far more serious affront to them."

"If it ain't broke why fix it?" asks Michelle Cavanagh-DeArkos, a Facebook user in San Antonio, Texas. "I don't get these surprise changes. I like simple!! It took some of us time to figure FB out and here we go again, grrrr!!"

"I really hate that they keep changing it all the time," ranted Rebecca Hallett, a Facebook user in Guildford, England. "I don't want to know EVERYTHING people are doing. What was wrong with the last version? Or the one before that? Argh!"

Facebook wrote a blog post explaining the changes. 

Some users believe they needed to elaborate on their justification, said Stagg, especially considering the fact that Facebook now claims millions of new users since the last major change.

"A lot of those new users are late technology adopters or older users who got used to the system the way it functioned," said Stagg. "Making a change like this is more critical to their enjoyment of the service."

"The reaction appears more dramatic this time, due to Facebook's success," said Stagg. "More users have signed on since the last big change, resulting in a louder chorus of dissent."

"We take their feedback very seriously," said Facebook spokesperson Chin. "We are listening carefully to what people are saying about the new home page through a variety of channels, including through user created groups, and this feedback will help inform future iteration."

The iteration that created the News Feed last fall also has generated tens of thousands of complaints over the months. The new adjustment appears to be a response to user complaints. For example, the home page now includes birthdays, new fan pages and "friend connections made."

"Is it just a coincidence that the moment we're comfortable and feel we've mastered Facebook, we've got to start over?" asked Beth Spotswood, a San Francisco-based blogger. "This is a genius strategy to keep us chatting/complaining about Facebook."

Of course, complaining about redesigns is as common as a Facebook friend you barely know wasting your time on a story about a mundane grocery trip.

One new facebook page with nearly 20,000 members is called: "I automatically hate the new Facebook home page."

"Most people get comfortable and don't like change," said Jill Nicole Peeler, a Facebook user in San Francisco. "Change gives us a chance to grow within ourselves, and who knows what's next for facebook? Could be something totally amazing."

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