Facebook is heading for disaster. The online social network originally exclusive to college students with a .edu e-mail address has come under criticism from users outraged at every change that made Facebook less exclusive and less safe for its members.

The original users bashed Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, when he opened the site to high school students last September. The anger passed, but resurged last month when Zuckerberg released the News Feed, which displays members’ every action to their friends. Zuckerberg lost even more members when he proceeded with his plans to open Facebook to the public, a change delayed due to the News Feed backlash. This unprecedented reduction in exclusivity means users will be susceptible not only to parental monitoring, but also sexual predators.

From the entrepreneur’s standpoint, this act is an excellent money-making opportunity, but from the users’ point of view, it is a horrendous mistake. Making Facebook available to everybody goes against the one reason there are over nine million registered members: the site’s exclusivity.

In fact, the exclusivity is why many chose Facebook over MySpace.com, a more popular social network open to anyone. Unlike MySpace.com, Facebook used to be open to only certain members. Unlike MySpace.com, Facebook allows only your friends to view your profile. Unlike MySpace.com, Facebook has kept students safe from sexual predators.

Opening Facebook to the public has greatly jeopardized users’ privacy. Users have formed a plethora of groups and petitions on Facebook itself in rebellion against the act. One of the most popular groups (with 8,000 members and counting), appropriately named “Don’t Let My Parents onto Facebook!” reveals many students’ chief complaint about the change: they do not want their parents on Facebook monitoring their every move. Of course, as Zuckerberg and his crew repeatedly state, there are privacy features, but to many users, Facebook is like a secret club they are in with their friends. Letting parents into the club, no matter how much they can or cannot see about their children is—there is no other word for it—uncool.

Another group, which makes a stronger statement, is named “All good things must end: I’m deleting my facebook if facebook goes public” (sic). At its height, the group drew over 6,000 members. Now that Facebook has gone public, only 58 members remain in the group (at the time of publication). Although it is a bit extreme, the group has made a statement by facilitating a mass deletion of accounts.

All that said, the number one reason for the outburst against this change is the fear that Facebook will become like MySpace and attract sexual predators. Many students agree—Facebook was a much safer place than it is now.

While many users will keep their Facebook accounts active despite the decreased exclusivity of the site, this change will affect the way members use Facebook. Users should be prepared for an influx of friend requests from people they have never met and wall posts from strangers they have never talked to. Stay tuned: Facebook might make the six o’clock news—“Second MySpace provides flocking ground for sexual miscreants.”