FB's year in review not for you? You're not alone

Facebook just wouldn't be a good marketing company if it didn't hop on the bandwagon and take advantage of certain time-based events to get its users clicking away.

Screenshot of what my Year in Review closing shot would have looked like. Note the celebratory dancing folk above my head - they're not optional.

Unfortunately, its latest innovation has more than a few Facebookers complaining. The 'year in review' feature, aptly timed for the end-of-year work lull, lets you customise a quick overview of your year in photos and status updates to sum up your 'great' year. But it hasn't been a good year for many. There's always going to be death, illness, heartbreak and more to bring the overall cheer of a year to a crashing halt. Of course you can elect to delete the specific images and status updates you don't want to include - or better yet, don't post the 'year in review' feature at all. But it's the design that's got people hot under the collar.

Seemingly innocuous clip-art type pics of 'Fall leaves' may not gel well when the associated photos are of all manner of Spring things in the Southern hemisphere, but the unfortunate placement of celebratory items like balloons and streamers around bad news items is even worse.

And Facebookers don't just take this with a pinch of salt and ignore the feature. Oh no. Instead, Fox8 reports that some users are so upset by the feature that they've asked Facebook for an apology - luckily Facebook has complied. Perhaps they'll put more thought into the design next time round...

For more:

• Washington Post - Facebook's 'Year in Review' app swings from merely annoying to tragic
• The Daily Mail - Facebook is forced to apologise to users after new 'Year in Review' feature confronted some with photos of recently deceased friends or family members
• <The Guardian - Facebook apologises over 'cruel' Year in Review clips