Resistance to Change
It’s difficult to tell whether the revolt each time Facebook makes significant changes is because of a resistance to change or having to learn.
Maybe it’s just a knee-jerk reaction to the sudden realisation of what people consider their own being entirely out of their control. Facebook makes up the massive majority of many people’s online time — my sister can spend hours on the computer exclusively using Facebook. My non-technical friends who struggle to operate an iPod are experts with the Facebook UI. When you invest that kind of time in something, realising it’s not yours, that Facebook can do whatever the fuck they want, must be a shock.
People went ape shit when the last changes launched, now those same people are going ape shit about keeping the last changes. Groups will be created, notes written, statuses updated all using the new Facebook to complain about how the new Facebook is so difficult to use. Within a week they’ll forget Facebook ever looked or behaved differently.