This image was lost some time after publication.

Seriously, who let the hyperbole out? In a classic Wired-Magazine-esque move, the Wall Street Journal opened a story about protests over Facebook's new friend-tracking feature thusly:

Facebook.com, the popular social-networking Web site for students, is suddenly getting the cold shoulder on campus.

There are plenty of reasons this summary is unfair, and the article deconstructs itself:

  • Facebook has over nine million members logging 6 billion page views a month. Under half a million members protesting does not a revolution make.
  • Those who do protest, mostly protest by making Facebook groups and chatting on the site. That's not a cold shoulder, that's solid traffic.
  • For every user that doesn't like the new feeds, there are ten who love them.
  • And that traffic will add up fast.

Oh well, at least some college kids got their names in the Journal and made Mom and Dad proud, so it's not a total loss.

New Facebook Features Have Members in an Uproar [Wall Street Journal, free]