The Facebook backlash has gotten out of hand.

Yes, the social-networking giant deservedly has taken its lumps recently, with disclosures of the dizzying changes it made in its privacy settings. Many critics were justified in questioning why these changes weren’t opt-in features, instead of forcing users to educate themselves and choose to opt out. Facebook has its work cut out as it tempers what Matthew Ingram of GigaOm calls the “snowball effect” of all the bad publicity.

However, several online items today point to just how silly things have become in the assault on Facebook. Just a few:

–The IT research firm Sophos found in a survey, being circulated widely, that 60 percent of Facebook users were mulling shutting down their accounts.

–Web entrepreneur Jason Calacanis was publicly announcing that he was shutting down his Facebook page, joining some other high-profile tech luminaries.

–The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had been sending data to advertisers that could be used to identify users and learn other personal details.

All this comes on the heels of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg coming under fire from disclosure of IMs from when he was a 19-year-old Harvard student. And reports about how the upcoming movie “The Social Network” depicts him as a “sex-crazed nerd.”

OK, let’s take a deep breath and take a closer look. First, IMs from a 19-year-old? Seriously? Even Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington, who has raked Facebook over the coals on countless occasions, admitted this was going too far. And a 19-year-old as a “sex-crazed nerd”? Sound familiar? That description probably applies to 60 percent of male college students on this planet. (Disclosure: I’m sure I fell into that category, way back when.) Most of them grow up.

The survey? Sophos admits it was unscientific. How many times have you read surveys with people saying they’re thinking of doing something? How often are they overblown? A large number of people would truthfully say they’d like to quit their jobs. But are they going to do that? (Not in this economy)

With all respect to Mr. Calacanis, who I read often, I’m not sure his decision is going to sway too many outside the Web tech elite to close their accounts.

And Read Write Web’s Marshall Kirkpatrick — one of the Web’s best bloggers/reporters — quickly clarified WSJ’s report — the info being passed to advertisers was not all intentionally set up by Facebook; the way Web browsers are configured played a role in what URLs were passed to advertisers. And other sites face the same challenges in sharing data.

Yes, Facebook has a lot to answer for. Yes, they have made some big mistakes in trying to monetize its huge audience. They have infuriated me on many occasions. But let’s keep a healthy perspective and not fall to the overheated nature of the tech blogosphere.

And let’s get real. Facebook has more than 500 million users, does anyone honestly think 300 million of those users are about to leave?