Comments on: Lessons to be Learned from Facebook’s Latest Homepage Changes

By: arravyDeeme

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By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:20:36 +0000

Yeah, a lot of people don’t really notice the changes. It’s more the power-users who are trying to connect Facebook with other web activities that are the most annoyed by it. I’ve also noticed that since these homepage updates, they’ve made minor adjustments here and there, most of which are completely pointless additions.

As for how I got screen shots from both versions, Facebook released the homepage update in waves. Mine got the new view while my boyfriend’s account was still in the old style, so I simply took screen shots in both accounts. Eventually his account was brought into the new style too, so I knew I had to move quickly to get the examples I needed. I’m sure if I’d had more time to use them both in parallel, I’d have found even more annoying changes. >.<

By: Celebrity Cartoon

Celebrity Cartoon — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:03:43 +0000

Aah… now I know why some facebook users hate the new design (and they even created a group to protest it). I am not a facebook maniac myself, so I couldn’t see what’s wrong with the new design. I just accept it as what it is

Nice review you have here.

(btw, I wonder how did you get the screen shot of facebook old design to accompany this review. If I may know?)

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:42:51 +0000

You’re probably right about the platform thing. A good platform would allow multiple structures or styles of use to be built on top of it. The latest changes have made the platform less versatile in how a person can use it. They’ve actually deviated from the platform concept in favor of restricting users down a specific path.

For users who want just another twitter, Facebook should enable customizations that allow that – without removing features and forcing every user down a path that may not be useful for them.

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:33:07 +0000

Yeah that tabbed structure really bothered me before, for pretty much the same reason. I’ve learned to deal with it though – by not using applications whose central purpose is to display things in boxes. I liked the customizable nature of the profiles before. I’m decently content with the new tabs, but my behavior has had to change to accommodate them.

By: Aranjedeath

Aranjedeath — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:20:32 +0000

I’ll have to basically agree with you on your points. I have even another example that my mother (not the most technological person I know) experienced, and was asking me to help her fix. Remember in the (old new) Facebook where you could take application boxes and add them to nearly any column you so chose on your profile page? You can’t do that any longer. You can only put them on the “boxes” tab (below the fold, effectively). She got this little app for showing pictures of our golden retriever to all her friends (that also have that app) and she wanted to put the little picture slideshow preview box on the left column (like you used to be able to do) of her profile and you just can’t do it. Pissed her off something fierce.

By: TWD

TWD — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:20:47 +0000

Well I think the other thing is that Facebook looks at it’s self as more of a platform than anything else. In their mind there’s no reason that they can’t dominate on both fronts equally. If you look at a lot of the changes they’ve made with applications, data sharing, it’s apparent that they feel they can dominate any social application. They may very well be right too. It’s just that right now their implementation isn’t up to par. In my mind they have failed to grasp what made twitter popular and effect. Not to mention that so far the facebook userbase seems to be absolutely clueless as to how it should be used.

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0000

I’m sure after this they’d hate me too much to consider that lol.

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:53:29 +0000

It seems pointless to create just another Twitter/Pownce-like service, when Facebook was so popular for what it already was. But I agree, their blog entries seem to indicate that this is the direction they’re taking.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:00:45 +0000

Excellent evaluation of facebook!!!!! Obviously, they should hire you to be in charge of their UX dept!!!!

By: TWD

TWD — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:59:18 +0000

Facebook did not completely remove the ability to broadcast from other services. For instance it will still import all of my Digg activity. However, it doesn’t import my blog. I am certain this is probably just an oversight.

I also want to address your questions about the what’s on your mind limiting what you can post, and the different types of updates all displaying the same. I think the general direction they are going for is a system where different types of updates don’t matter. It’s all just a part of the stream. Similar to how notes on pownce could be links or files, but were all still just a part of your stream.

Similarly I think they are trying to encourage people to participate directly in the stream, instead of mostly through the latest greatest application like most do now. I think this explains a lot of the changes on that front.

However the chronological stuff just perplexes me. It seems like they want to have all the benefits of twitter, but they aren’t willing to fully commit to it. They can’t just go half way.

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:47:25 +0000

Thanks for your comments. I agree about the publicity thing. Sometimes I think Facebook, like Microsoft, feels it can abuse customers because it has so many of them and they’re all so used to it that they won’t leave.

For anyone interested, here are some ways you might be able to have some small influence over future Facebook changes:

Be part of Facebook user research: http://www.facebook.com/research/
Join the Facebook advisory board: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=uex_ad_board

And here are some posts on the Facebook blog regarding changes to the site:

Creating the Best Experience on Facebook: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=57407012130
Improving Your Ability to Share and Connect: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=57822962130
Welcome to Your New Home Page: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=59195087130

By: Gary H

Gary H — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:09:21 +0000

The redesign has been bothering me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. It’s just not as user-friendly as the old site. You’ve done an excellent job of breaking it down and articulating why the redesign makes FB harder to use. It’s a lot of little things that brings down the overall experience.

But, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity and FB is getting plenty of publicity these days.

All that being said, FB is still 1000x easier to use than MySpace. That’s a design/usability train wreck.

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:46:13 +0000

Yeah, I think a lot of people notice the design elements first, but those are really the least intrusive changes. Whether or not someone likes rounded corners on the profile images isn’t my concern. I’m just upset about the removal of all the things that were working fine, were very useful and weren’t in the way of people who didn’t feel like using them.

Go ahead and spread the discontentment around, if you feel so inclined…XD

By: Wolfman-K

Wolfman-K — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:43:43 +0000

Wow… I knew I didn’t really care for the redesign but I had no idea how truly annoying it was until I read through your most awesome and thorough review.

Now I hate it. Thanks a lot

By: Georgia Otto

Georgia Otto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:43:49 +0000

Yeah, one thing I’m curious about is why would Facebook remove the ability to broadcast activity from other services through the news feed? That part was my favorite, and now it’s gone. Are they moving toward a “does not play well with others” mentality, did they just forget to add that back in, or what?

I also wonder if they have some kind of beta testing group I can join. I should look into that.

Thanks for the comment!

By: SpE

SpE — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:49:35 +0000

Very thorough analysis — says what I’ve been saying for a few days only more articulately and with examples. I also liked the “old new” redesign, but this latest move has broken my Facebook addiction. I find it much harder to use, less informative, and lacking features that made the experience fun and unique.