DISQUS

Judson Collier · 9 months ago

The common theme for UX and Web Designers is "Understand your users, then ignore your users". Unfortunately this takes a turn for the worse for facebook.

The problem is they skipped the "Understand" ;). Facebook lost sight of the fact that it's users run in a cycle: "New layout released; Users Complain; Users Adapt; New layout released; Users Complain; Users Adapt;". Now Facebook has unleashed a new layout just as they start to adapt and it's managed to upset the system a bit.

My advice: Release early, release often. Facebook keeps introducing MASSIVE changes to the world en mass, and it's confusing everyone. Release a feature at a time and it's less of a big deal, not to mention, they can take tiny steps back at a time.

Chris Charabaruk · 9 months ago

Well said, Judson. It really does seem to be more a matter of too much at once. The fact that users continue to adapt and then complain about the previous form when a new one is released, without reminiscing about yet older ones, shows that users are accepting of the changes, but have them pushed so suddenly that the only reaction those users could possibly have is one written off as knee-jerking.

On the other hand, gradual changes can be an issue as well, as they might not really be noticed much by users, who will then complain about how the service isn't adapting to meet their needs. The trick is for Facebook, and many other online services besides, to find that sweet spot where it's not too much, it's not too little, where the amount being changed is juuuust right.

Scott · 9 months ago

If it gets anymore Twitter-esq, I'll just use twitter. I don't want facebook to become anything but what facebook has been. If it's not broke don't fix it.

Guest · 9 months ago

I could not have said it better myself.

Paige · 9 months ago

Scott I agree with you about FB not changing to other formats like Twitter. as you said if it's not broke don't fix it.

Anna Youniverse · 9 months ago

Absolutely- there was no need to fix something that wasn't broken. But this is keeping Facebook's name in the headlines as much as Twitter's seems to be... any such thing as bad publicity??

Facebook User · 9 months ago

I agree! That's pretty much what I said on the poll that was going around...Why did they want to change? Again? They had an update last year... and now it is too twitter-y, which should be kept on twitter

LukeM · 9 months ago

Well at last they've said something.

I like Twitter, but why did Facebook panic when they saw it becoming popular? It's a microblog that allows you to post 140 characters and THAT'S IT. You can't upload photos, comment on photos, watch video, join groups (effectively) or lots lots more that you can do on Facebook.

Couldn't it just let Twitter get on with doing its thing? They've really undermined their brand - once innovators, now a reactionary corporate obsessed with owning the space.

Austin · 9 months ago

Awesome post! The blog post only came out half an hour ago, you must have started writing the second that it was published!

Adam Ostrow · 9 months ago

thanks, hehe ... just had a lot of thoughts ready to go about the new design :-)

Bombchell in Atl · 9 months ago

the photo app is absolutely horrid. b4 at least there were dozen albums, now its an annoying stream.

and may the internet gods help u , if its someone u detest, and u have to go through update upon update of just that person.

Adam Ostrow · 9 months ago

that's why you setup friends lists ... pain in the neck, but it helps a lot

Shankho Mukherjee · 9 months ago

You have friends that you detest? Strange person...

xbuzz · 9 months ago

I use to use Facebook daily. Over the past year and a half Twitter has received more and more of my attention. The recent changes to FB has actually brought me back in! From past experience it seems that many users both novice and web savvy dislike change. The truth is that if FB doesn't move and adapt new technologies and constantly looks to ways of improving they will fade out. Look at MySpace, they maintained their less than appealing interface and dated features.. then FB made an appearance and focused more on usability and exciting new features (Such as image tagging, news feeds, applications, and now real-time streams... remember that wasn't done before on a large-scale social network). The point is people need time to adjust... I think given enough time people will embrace these changes. I remember when they did their first redesign, people complained and complained. After a few months people adapted.

Forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm typing this while watching Obama <-- speaking of change ;)

Trudy Baxter · 9 months ago

thanks for great and exact info....trust u for the scoops

tshelton · 9 months ago

Their "apology" is laughable. The real problem is a strategic rot - they want to aggregate all forms of online communication: the old ones - email, forums, IM -- and the new ones: activity streams, status updates...

But this is a mistaken understanding of the usage pattern that has gotten them to where they are:

It is not being everything to all people, but being really good at intentional reciprocal relationships.

I start to explore this in my post "Facebook Missed the Whale (and its OK)" http://bit.ly/dAP74

Andy Zweibel · 9 months ago

I agree completely, and this is the most well-worded response to the new Facebook layout that I have seen in the few weeks that I have been reading about it. ETREMELY well put!

Anna B. Scott · 9 months ago

I completely agree. I had that thought last night as I worked my way through secondary apps for Twitter: Face Book doesn't understand that users make use of it to feel at home on the internet, to reconnect, not to find a bunch of strangers who think like them. They did that incredibly well. I did not mind the last makeover, but this one is such a copycat, Google-esque attempt at social networking domination that I find myself on Twitter and Friend Feed, eaves-dropping, because it's easier than "communicating" on FB now.

Allison · 9 months ago

I like all these changes. It's also good that this came from a product director person. Despite Zuckerberg's stubborn-as-a-mule ways, these changes don't concern Zuckerberg's role as CEO, but they do concern the product, design, and backend work. Thumbs up!

aziz gilani · 9 months ago

the half baked ui change says a hell of a lot about what facebook is really worried about cough-twitter-cough.

Adam · 9 months ago

I really dislike the new facebook. To me it seems like Zuckerberg is showing his fear of twitter. That fear could drive facebook into the ground if somebody came along and created a simple social networking site along the lines of the older facebook looks. I hope facebook doesn't try to launch an IPO while Zuckerberg is CEO, all the changes he implements and his general socially inept attitude would cause huge fluctuations in the stock price. Every change has created a huge backlash, but users stay because there is no good alternative. Hopefully that changes.

MStiles · 9 months ago

I don't know about other user's "layout" on Facebook, but mine is completely scrambled with my friends "streams" and "status" running into each other. It looks like a complete mess on my screen. Other friends have stated the same thing. It would be nice if we could even decifer what's on the screen to see any of these new changes! In addition, there is no place to directly contact Facebook personnel.

Sean Patrick Simpson · 9 months ago

Ahhh Thank GOD they are finally addressing the concerns of everyone.

I have a great amount of respect for Facebook and the work Zuckerberg has done in creating it...I was wondering if they'd continue their excellence y responding to their members and updating the way the site runs.

Awesome!

--Sean Patrick Simpson
The Mindset Apprentice

ChaCha Fance · 9 months ago

Sounds good. I like what I hear.

swag · 9 months ago

Given that my once-every-two-weeks Facebook login habits dropped to once-every-two-and-a-half-weeks, I can see why they sounded the alarm.

Zoltan · 9 months ago

Agree that organizing friends lists is the key to the new UI. A hard to find feature is that you can drag the list e.g. Inner Circle to the top (on the left) and then your FB homepage only shows updates from this list by default. It's the best way to eliminate the noise. I guess, only a very small percentage of the users know and do this. It's not obvious, neither intuitive with the current design.

Lisa · 9 months ago

I think they have crossed the bridge of no return. No matter what they do now they have alienated (to a degree) their bread and butter, fat content users, who will still use the site but are already seeking other offerings. I'm Twittering much MORE since the new layout. Facebook is now essentially just a photos and curio site for me.
Their fastest growing demographic is women over 65. This demo is about photos and checking what their families are doing. They don't disseminate information as much as the demo FB are alienating (with the new layout) and they still have a mistrust of transacting online so are highly averse to clicking on ads or following tempting link leads to a transaction.
Oh well, that's life in the digital domain. NEXT!

kittymcfizz · 9 months ago

I like the new facebook layout - although it's apparent that so many users are not web savvy or they would appreciate the new functionality.

Patty Caya · 9 months ago

You poor unfortunate "less Web-savvy" friends. So lost in a sea of unusable web applications and crying for help. Silly them, they didn't want to spend their days hunting around for hidden controls in a chaotic interface. It's not the "less web-savvy" part of the equation that is the problem. It is the poorly designed interface. And it shouldn't take over a million people complaining. It should have been tested with humans before being unleashed. There is more to a successful web app than a business plan and Mr. Zuckerberg seems to have forgotten that.

heather · 9 months ago

Thanks for posting- I just added this to my facebook for my hater friends to read! :)

heather · 9 months ago

Thanks for posting! I just added this to my facebook to give my hater friends a heads up :)

olaj · 9 months ago

All i want is some kind of filter so i can remove all those quiz and other crappy applications that ppl does. I only want facebook own stuff ..

KarenTweet · 9 months ago

Personally I use Facebook as a completely different platform to Twitter, and it's now too twitter-ish for me. FB is a place for friends and family, TW is a place to meet people and see about humanity... in all its glory and all its gory details. Very different mediums. I do know a lot of people who use both in the same fashion, and I don't think I'll stop using either at this stage, but with the changes proposed to FB it's going to become even more twitter-esque, and only time will tell.

web design · 9 months ago

WOW! Nice post and i totally agree with all.

travisthetrout · 9 months ago

Glad they finally seem to be listening... I've actually begun using twitter a lot more since the changes, if so many friends weren't on fb I'd use it a lot less.

I made friends list ages ago (based on how I knew a person, from which school or year at university/sports club, really helpful, but only now with the redesign have I realised how great it is for getting rid of the stuff you don't want all the time. but you shouldn't need to "fix" the feed yourself by creating lists, there was nothing wrong with it before the re-design.

Mike · 9 months ago

Thanks for the info! I still find it difficult to enter my Page Manager and Groups from the new layout, I am just missing something?!?

zohaibusman · 9 months ago

aaaa. if the new design is so controversial then for the time being just let the user to choose between the old and new design and keep working on the new one.
but i think new design is not bad at all

d3bruts1d · 9 months ago

I'd be happy if the live feed wasn't using what feels like a 700px font. Jeez. Thankfully there are user scripts and styles that can easily remedy this issue. A number of people are also working on scripts to "bring back the old face book".

Luc · 9 months ago

I think the changes will be great.
I seems to facilitate the users ability to receive or reject information.
GREAT JOB FACEBOOK!!!

Luc Despres
Coach/Mentor
Mentoring For Free
(506)382-2481

Dawid Pacha · 9 months ago

So Facebook will sell Volvo instead of Porshe. Anyway, maybe the problem lays different. Maybe their recent changes which were huge went the wrong way. Maybe it didn't go the Twitter way enough. Why do they show all invites in activity feed? I want statuses, I want messages, I want photos, not quizes and presents there!

Geoffrey Bernardo Van Wyk · 9 months ago

Facebook has lost it. They should have left good-enough alone.

Diane Connor · 9 months ago

AMEN!

andrewroche · 9 months ago

Good news, this looks like it will address most of the issues I had :)

Diane Connor · 9 months ago

Why the push to be twitter-esque? If we wanted twitter, then newsflash, we would BE on twitter! Just plain dumb...on the positive side, I know that myself and about 15 others on my friends list alone have spent at leat 50% less time on the "new and improved" (what a JOKE) facebook. It plain sucks - if it wasn't broke, WHY THE HELL FIX IT? You are shooting yourself in the foot.

Jim Leedham · 9 months ago

The main problem that I have is that artist pages have been stripped of all their originality. Signups have dropped by 80-90%, which is incredible. Not only this, but I now have no way of contacting our members with page updates, unless they remove themselves as a fan and add themselves again. Try getting 250k people to do that.

Because of this our communication has been crippled. Nice one Facebook.

Manos Matsakis · 9 months ago

Photo tagging (and all other things mentioned) are a nice step but we still need more info that were available before: New friendships (the best way to find new friends joining), photo comments (it is also important to see all comments in the stream), group & Page joining, event participation, application installs. The Highlights section is OK but it is also important to have the above in the stream. Especially new friendships and photo comments!

Mike · 9 months ago

What they still have failed to address is the fact that all the Wall-to-Wall posts are the same size/font as my Status Updates, so it looks like other people are posting status updates on my profile. I also would like to have dates added to the Recent Activities on my profile....those seem like very simple, common sense things to fix.

Marc David · 9 months ago

I've found myself using it a lot less. Too many changes and the learning curve to use a social site isn't worth it. A big long list of status updates with group stuff along the side with ads... crap. Personal preference I guess but I just found myself using it less and less. It's easy to send updates via Hellotxt.com and forget the rest of it. Import notes.. who needs to actually logon anymore?

Paul Carter · 9 months ago

I dont mind the new profiles on facebook but i'd like to be able to edit my options on the left side like buddy lists which im sure is coming soon but most people will probably not like the changes for awhile only because their still getting used to it but once the changes are polished im sure the users will not mind so much.

peter gibson · 9 months ago

I just read the blog post over a t facebook. Meh, that was no response, jst some sort of lame "look what the new version can do" crap. Facebook has failed. Period. They are completely ignoring their user base with this redesign. In the first place you have to be a bit tech savvy to properly utilize it, and most facebook users are NOT tech savvy. In the second place no one wanted or needs another twitter or friendfeed because they already exist.

Microblogging is what it is, and facebook was what it was. Now facebook is what Myspace was.

midorie · 9 months ago

Facebook's redesign would be okay if there are tidbits of instructions NOT through advertisting, rather through blogs or updates like Tweets to inform users of how to use new features. I find the homepage virtually messy to look at from the beginning of my opening of the account. There wasn't really a test phrase for users to opt-in or out, like some (MySpace) did for new homepage. In FB, I need to navigate around to control my updates or to see what updates to see or not to see. Samples like page navigation(s) or videos of how to change the updates or the way homepage looks would be a great idea.

shar · 9 months ago

i didn't much like the last redesign in the fall, but compared to this one, the last one was the jewel in the crown. it's interesting that others here have said the same thing i've said - if i had wanted twitter gibberish, i would have gone to twitter. facebook was always so much more, AND so much more friendlier. now it's just a mishmash of crap, one right after the other with the added function of REFRESH - wtf? how last century is THAT?

the other thing mentioned is people are logging into FB less, and yes, that is certainly me, too. i used to go to FB all the time throughout the day. it was FUN to watch the live feed, one of the very best things about the last redesign. i LOVED the live feed. i also liked the fact that our pictures weren't attached to everything we did. i liked that the type font was small (and i am way older, so i'm surprised i liked it better than what we have NOW.)

FB now is an "oh, yeah, i'll log in and take a look, and get out as soon as possible. maybe update my status. yeah." before, FB to me was "ohmygod - i gotta get on FB and see what everyone is up to, read the statuses, post some pictures, play with some apps, poke a few...etc."

see the difference? i now have absolutely NO excitement at all about FB - and from my more than 350 friends, i can tell they they aren't signing on as much as before. most posted status lines expressing disenchantment with the "new" facebook - and then went silent.

and in regard to the supposed changes they will soon be making - uh, ahhhhh, so let me get this straight. they added things back IN to facebook because people complained and missed it or found the newer version undoable or annoying? do i have that right? so, tell me, what was the point again of CHANGING facebook?

that's like an automaker recalling its best designed vehicle, redesigning it to look and work like a car from 10 years ago, and expecting everyone to not only buy it, but also, love it, too. and then when buyers (users) point out all the flaws, the automaker issues add-ons, which were already factory-issued on the previous model, and says, "see, we listen to our customers!"

i'd say that facebook hasn't jumped the shark, as much as it's issued its very own Edsel.

congratulations, zuckerberg! it's a lemon!

davidsim · 9 months ago

Is anyone else reading the blog post as "we're going to make Facebook even more complicated to use".

If they're trying to compete with Twitter, they should pay attention to the simplicity of Twitter - or stay out of the area.

Facebook User · 9 months ago

I also agree with you Adam.

tatiana wills · 9 months ago

Great post! As a photographer and follower of the arts, I've joined Society6, a well designed and much more user friendly site. It solves a lot of the problems I have on FB and plans in the works to offer much more. I expect to see great things...

hellaD · 9 months ago

To be honest the changes don't seem so bad to me. I really appreciate what they have done with the pages at least.

It is very true that it is a pain having to learn something you thought you knew all over again but it seems we better get used to it in this day and age. Although I guess there are ways to soften the blow as mentioned above....

Plus I have heard that it is good for your brain--keeps your neurons firing in new directions, not just in the same pathways all the time

Heather · 9 months ago

One thing I wish they would bring back is the way that your friends used to be organized by city. Where did that feature go? How do I easily find out how many friends I have in say, Atlanta? Two revisions ago, this wonderful feature just....disappeared. And I haven't found a work-around since.

Brandi · 8 months ago

As a constant Facebook user, it did take some time to get used to the new changes. Many of my Facebook friends are definitely NOT happy with the new layout!

Aaron Roach · 8 months ago

I've found things to be a lot more dense since they made the upgrades. Can I say 'shithouse' on Mashable?