Update: Mashable's Facebook account reinstated! We love you again Zuckerberg. ;)
I was up in my treehouse plotting a vicious Facebook hate campaign after they sent me a nasty mail to say they'd pulled Mashable's account without recourse - but even Mashable's overwhelming influence in the social networking market (ha!) couldn't halt this site's awesome growth over recent months. What's more, they were gracious enough today to tip us to a new "Facebook Sneak Preview" group being promoted to users.
No doubt to limit the risk of another news feed-like mutiny, Facebook Sneak Preview is a group that members can join to get early notifications about new features on the site. Users can then point out changes they don't like, preventing a backlash like those we've seen in the past. They sent over screenshots to us that put forward ideas for a simplified design, a unified inbox for your messages and Facebook Share, and network pages to browse through the networks you belong to.
It's likely to be heralded as a great way to embrace the user, but here's my question: did Facebook's previous mistakes help or hinder the company? Facebook likely got more press coverage during its controversial changes than at any other time, and although some minor revisions were made to keep users happy and avoid all-out war, the bulk of those features have remained and were responsible for Facebook's recent growth. Maybe sometimes it helps to ignore the users?
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