In one word: YES. When thousands of your users are creating FB groups in retaliation and in the hopes of preventing the redesign becoming permanent, you have a problem (http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/8/facebook-users-complain-about-redesig...). Being the brainchild of FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was going to be hard for anyone to prevent the new design becoming permanent, but he proved his ridiculous stubbornness by going through with it, despite the fact that as of just a few weeks ago, only 20 percent of users willingly switched over. I can't even count how many of my friends have written in their profiles how much they literally "hate" the new FB look. There is nothing that distinguishes this brand from MySpace now. Nothing.
Never having been to Facebook, I can't see that one design or another makes a difference. But then, I'm far more interested in what goes on inside a person's head than in what the outside of it looks like.
I don't think so. There was a similar retaliation and outrage when the mini-feed came out and I don't see people complaining about that as much anymore. I think the users are just having trouble finding things and becoming frustrated, like myself, but after awhile the uproar will soon come to pass and most users will acclimate, if not embrace, the new Facebook.
If the UI (user interface) and IA (information architecture) makes sense, then no. If I don't have to think, then no. I can embrace change, but when you have to do more to get the same results not so sure how innovative the design is unless doing more cleans things up and makes them more simple. It needs further analysis and evaluation.
Most people just don't like change unless there are major benefits for them. This is one of the first things to consider before undertaking any big UI (user interface) redesign. I'm sure Facebook did this, but the benefits weren't very apparent the first time I tried the new UI.
That said, Facebook has been known to reverse decisions based on customer feedback (aka outrage). Think back to the uproar over Facebook Beacon late last year.
I applaud Facebook for making a change. Companies that fail to look for innovative ways to improve or change ultimately end up losing ground. At Spock.com we've gone through a number of UI changes, and while some changes have been more successful than others, we've made important strides in improving and getting to know our product. I think the initial backlash was a result of people unable to find their favorite items.
Hopefully Facebook will not abandon their UI changes entirely, but will look for ways to improve its design.
I agree 100% with Timothy above. This is very similar to when the newsfeed was introduced and now it's one of the best features. Because facebook is "social", one person's bad opinion spreads quickly and people just agree and join these groups to rebel because everyone else is doing it!
What bothers me is I don't think most people are taking the time to really play around with the new design/features before coming to a conclusion. I will admit, my initial reaction was negative when I first switched over but now I love it and even forget what the old design looked like. My advice to friends has been to give it time.
I believe they do listen to feedback unlike most web companies and it was nice of them to even give people the option to try it out first by switching back and forth, something we have never really seen before. Check out Scoble's interview with the lead product manager if you have not yet: http://is.gd/2IEE.
Of course the uproar will die down. When people realize Facebook doesnt care about what they want they will quiet down and keep using the social network. Why? because its FREE! I travel quite a bit and because of time zones I cant call my friends and family at the hours I have some down time. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch at a glance... now theyve made it harder to do that. Being on the go constantly and short amounts of free time I need to see everything on one page. I hate the new layout.
Reminiscent of New Coke - who asked for this? How many people wanted it? Is it a great change that will benefit us or simply an irritant? So far people I've spoken with say it's an irritant.
I don't see what the problem is...I LOVE the new look and feel ..I think it leverages the new tools in a great way..and I've all but abandoned my MySpace account for FB...Change is good!
So I didn't score that high on my verbal SATs but I think I can manage a simple analogy here. Coffee:Social Networking::Starbucks:Facebook.
Why do we love Facebook? It's not because you have the ability to poke someone on the other side of the world. It's not because for months you've been able to plant a comical or raunchy bumper sticker on your friend's wall. And it's certainly not because you can view advertisements that "magically" speak directly to your age group and music tastes.
We love Facebook because we are vain! We love reconnecting with every name we've ever come in contact with and watching our number of friends grow by the hundreds. We love filling out our profile with bands that show how cool we are or quotes that demonstrate our intellectual depth. We love that fuzzy feeling when someone writes on our wall (isn't that why we initiate the conversation on someone else's wall to begin with!?). And we definitely can't wait to open up that picture that was just tagged of us - even if we untag it immediately because we looked fat or possessed.
The original Facebook was about us. It was our platform where we could make ourselves look however stylish/smart/talented/contemporary/friendly/professional/original/single/in-a-relationship that we wanted to. Facebook was the tool. We were the artists.
The new Facebook is about Facebook and how stylish/smart/talented/contemporary/friendly/professional/original that the creators of Facebook are. Facebook has become the artist now. And everytime I've signed on since the "facelift," I feel like the tool.
Starbucks had an amazing business growing from just its simplest offering - consistently good coffee. Then the corporate office's head got bigger than a venti and as we all know now, the buck isn't stopping there like it used to.
Mark (Zuckerberg) my words, Facebook is soon to follow in the same fate...
The only huge mistake is not giving their users the ability to customize their profile pages like MySpace does. That way, we wouldn't have to hear people complain that they like the old design better...
No. They need to continually refresh their look to keep up with what consumers want. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but tech saavy folks will pick it up and be fine. The days of "its just fine, we don't need to change" are long gone.
Newer members may not mind the change as much as seasoned old school members who are used to the original setup. Bottom line: it is indeed still free and in my humble opinion quite superior to myspace. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
Newer members may not mind the change as much as seasoned old school members who are used to the original setup. Bottom line: it is indeed still free and in my humble opinion quite superior to myspace. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
People will protest, sign petitions, and continue to join anti-facebook layout groups until they either 1) realize that it doesn't make a difference 2) actually start to get used to it and stop caring 3) find something else new to complain about.
Yes there are going to be a bunch who will rebel by joining other social networks (Viral Networks, anyone?) that share revenue with its members. But realistically, Facebook is one of the best social networking platforms out there. Nobody's going to join another network and start from the ground up.
On the other end, I suspect Facebook made these changes because they were hoping to increase the length of time members are on it.
For example - by integrating the wall posts with your normal posts, they achieve a few things. It invites other people to read your wall posts, keeping them on your profile longer (I'm guilty of this!). And it increases the chance of you replying to a wall post more quickly than it was in its own section. It feels more like a "conversation."
I also suspect they increased the width of the layout to accommodate future plans for advertising. That would be my guess.
I am not against redesigns. But a massive overhaul of the UI has to come from solid rationale about why and what will change. The new design basically breaks in big monitor browsers that have a minimum font size (while the old design didn't) and the tabs are not as intuitive as before.
The bigger problem, however, is the opacity of personalizing the privacy settings. I would like my Notes to be visible to my friends, but I do NOT wish for my Notes to show up on my front page Wall. Try setting this up. I'll give a $1,000 award to anyone who make this VERY SIMPLE thing possible.
Its really not that big of a deal. I agree, people don't like change. Everybody on Facebook was equally as outraged when the mini feed was introduced. Generally, people don't understand what they want and just need a reason to complain. I like the new layout, what I really dislike is all these applications.
I'm using the new format and find it neither harder nor easier to use than the previous format. On the other hand, I think there are several features of Facebook that are not intuitive regardless of which format you're using. And, to me, that is the real problem.
20 Total
September 16, 2008 at 1:25pm by Rachel King
In one word: YES. When thousands of your users are creating FB groups in retaliation and in the hopes of preventing the redesign becoming permanent, you have a problem (http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/8/facebook-users-complain-about-redesig...). Being the brainchild of FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was going to be hard for anyone to prevent the new design becoming permanent, but he proved his ridiculous stubbornness by going through with it, despite the fact that as of just a few weeks ago, only 20 percent of users willingly switched over. I can't even count how many of my friends have written in their profiles how much they literally "hate" the new FB look. There is nothing that distinguishes this brand from MySpace now. Nothing.
September 16, 2008 at 1:45pm by Carel Two-Eagle
Never having been to Facebook, I can't see that one design or another makes a difference. But then, I'm far more interested in what goes on inside a person's head than in what the outside of it looks like.
September 16, 2008 at 2:23pm by Timothy Shin
I don't think so. There was a similar retaliation and outrage when the mini-feed came out and I don't see people complaining about that as much anymore. I think the users are just having trouble finding things and becoming frustrated, like myself, but after awhile the uproar will soon come to pass and most users will acclimate, if not embrace, the new Facebook.
September 16, 2008 at 3:29pm by Lynne d Johnson
If the UI (user interface) and IA (information architecture) makes sense, then no. If I don't have to think, then no. I can embrace change, but when you have to do more to get the same results not so sure how innovative the design is unless doing more cleans things up and makes them more simple. It needs further analysis and evaluation.
September 16, 2008 at 7:42pm by Patrice-Anne Rutledge
Most people just don't like change unless there are major benefits for them. This is one of the first things to consider before undertaking any big UI (user interface) redesign. I'm sure Facebook did this, but the benefits weren't very apparent the first time I tried the new UI.
That said, Facebook has been known to reverse decisions based on customer feedback (aka outrage). Think back to the uproar over Facebook Beacon late last year.
September 16, 2008 at 8:21pm by Jay Bhatti
I applaud Facebook for making a change. Companies that fail to look for innovative ways to improve or change ultimately end up losing ground. At Spock.com we've gone through a number of UI changes, and while some changes have been more successful than others, we've made important strides in improving and getting to know our product. I think the initial backlash was a result of people unable to find their favorite items.
Hopefully Facebook will not abandon their UI changes entirely, but will look for ways to improve its design.
September 16, 2008 at 9:31pm by Johnny Makkar
I agree 100% with Timothy above. This is very similar to when the newsfeed was introduced and now it's one of the best features. Because facebook is "social", one person's bad opinion spreads quickly and people just agree and join these groups to rebel because everyone else is doing it!
What bothers me is I don't think most people are taking the time to really play around with the new design/features before coming to a conclusion. I will admit, my initial reaction was negative when I first switched over but now I love it and even forget what the old design looked like. My advice to friends has been to give it time.
I believe they do listen to feedback unlike most web companies and it was nice of them to even give people the option to try it out first by switching back and forth, something we have never really seen before. Check out Scoble's interview with the lead product manager if you have not yet: http://is.gd/2IEE.
September 17, 2008 at 10:28am by Phil Clark
Of course the uproar will die down. When people realize Facebook doesnt care about what they want they will quiet down and keep using the social network. Why? because its FREE! I travel quite a bit and because of time zones I cant call my friends and family at the hours I have some down time. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch at a glance... now theyve made it harder to do that. Being on the go constantly and short amounts of free time I need to see everything on one page. I hate the new layout.
September 17, 2008 at 11:53am by Kathryn Deiss
Reminiscent of New Coke - who asked for this? How many people wanted it? Is it a great change that will benefit us or simply an irritant? So far people I've spoken with say it's an irritant.
September 17, 2008 at 1:42pm by Kevin Johnson
I don't see what the problem is...I LOVE the new look and feel ..I think it leverages the new tools in a great way..and I've all but abandoned my MySpace account for FB...Change is good!
September 17, 2008 at 2:38pm by Kristen Zatina
So I didn't score that high on my verbal SATs but I think I can manage a simple analogy here. Coffee:Social Networking::Starbucks:Facebook.
Why do we love Facebook? It's not because you have the ability to poke someone on the other side of the world. It's not because for months you've been able to plant a comical or raunchy bumper sticker on your friend's wall. And it's certainly not because you can view advertisements that "magically" speak directly to your age group and music tastes.
We love Facebook because we are vain! We love reconnecting with every name we've ever come in contact with and watching our number of friends grow by the hundreds. We love filling out our profile with bands that show how cool we are or quotes that demonstrate our intellectual depth. We love that fuzzy feeling when someone writes on our wall (isn't that why we initiate the conversation on someone else's wall to begin with!?). And we definitely can't wait to open up that picture that was just tagged of us - even if we untag it immediately because we looked fat or possessed.
The original Facebook was about us. It was our platform where we could make ourselves look however stylish/smart/talented/contemporary/friendly/professional/original/single/in-a-relationship that we wanted to. Facebook was the tool. We were the artists.
The new Facebook is about Facebook and how stylish/smart/talented/contemporary/friendly/professional/original that the creators of Facebook are. Facebook has become the artist now. And everytime I've signed on since the "facelift," I feel like the tool.
Starbucks had an amazing business growing from just its simplest offering - consistently good coffee. Then the corporate office's head got bigger than a venti and as we all know now, the buck isn't stopping there like it used to.
Mark (Zuckerberg) my words, Facebook is soon to follow in the same fate...
September 17, 2008 at 4:07pm by Gary Mason
No.
The only huge mistake is not giving their users the ability to customize their profile pages like MySpace does. That way, we wouldn't have to hear people complain that they like the old design better...
Get over it. It's gone.
September 17, 2008 at 11:49pm by Rajat Kapur
No. They need to continually refresh their look to keep up with what consumers want. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but tech saavy folks will pick it up and be fine. The days of "its just fine, we don't need to change" are long gone.
September 19, 2008 at 6:11am by Cyrus Baragosh
Newer members may not mind the change as much as seasoned old school members who are used to the original setup. Bottom line: it is indeed still free and in my humble opinion quite superior to myspace. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
September 19, 2008 at 6:12am by Cyrus Baragosh
Newer members may not mind the change as much as seasoned old school members who are used to the original setup. Bottom line: it is indeed still free and in my humble opinion quite superior to myspace. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
September 19, 2008 at 3:57pm by Cynthia Chan
People will protest, sign petitions, and continue to join anti-facebook layout groups until they either 1) realize that it doesn't make a difference 2) actually start to get used to it and stop caring 3) find something else new to complain about.
Yes there are going to be a bunch who will rebel by joining other social networks (Viral Networks, anyone?) that share revenue with its members. But realistically, Facebook is one of the best social networking platforms out there. Nobody's going to join another network and start from the ground up.
On the other end, I suspect Facebook made these changes because they were hoping to increase the length of time members are on it.
For example - by integrating the wall posts with your normal posts, they achieve a few things. It invites other people to read your wall posts, keeping them on your profile longer (I'm guilty of this!). And it increases the chance of you replying to a wall post more quickly than it was in its own section. It feels more like a "conversation."
I also suspect they increased the width of the layout to accommodate future plans for advertising. That would be my guess.
September 22, 2008 at 4:27am by Shashank Tripathi
I am not against redesigns. But a massive overhaul of the UI has to come from solid rationale about why and what will change. The new design basically breaks in big monitor browsers that have a minimum font size (while the old design didn't) and the tabs are not as intuitive as before.
The bigger problem, however, is the opacity of personalizing the privacy settings. I would like my Notes to be visible to my friends, but I do NOT wish for my Notes to show up on my front page Wall. Try setting this up. I'll give a $1,000 award to anyone who make this VERY SIMPLE thing possible.
September 22, 2008 at 2:24pm by aditi sharma
Its really not that big of a deal. I agree, people don't like change. Everybody on Facebook was equally as outraged when the mini feed was introduced. Generally, people don't understand what they want and just need a reason to complain. I like the new layout, what I really dislike is all these applications.
September 25, 2008 at 12:50am by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
I'm using the new format and find it neither harder nor easier to use than the previous format. On the other hand, I think there are several features of Facebook that are not intuitive regardless of which format you're using. And, to me, that is the real problem.
September 26, 2008 at 7:04pm by Shaun Haney
I really don't think so. Alot of my friends have been complaing about it but I really don't mind it.