I have to intro today by saying that although there are design flaws in the current Facebook design, the concept of Facebook still is brilliant. Kudos to the team who developed the tool and executed on it to reconnect millions of friends and families around the globe. Quite an amazing accomplishment to say the least!
In yesterday's blog I referred to the Facebook 'facelift' that left so many of us feeling lost when we could no longer do the cool stuff we were once able to easily complete. I remember feeling overwhelmed by too much information being presented on my home page. The information seemed to be present without my consent and I didn't know how to manage it all. Facebook, a simple tool that I had come to trust was suddenly responding in unexpected ways!
What was once simple became complex. I felt frustrated and was having a negative user experience on Facebook. I stopped visiting Facebook for several months as a result of those design changes. When we have a negative user experience with a product, often we're reluctant to go back to that web site or to use that product again. More and more people are less forgiving of poor designs that result in negative user experiences than even just a few years ago. We may seek an alternative web site or product, or may even avoid similar products all together in the future as a result of the negative user experience. When there are no equivalent resources, we're apt to be more forgiving than if there were numerous options to fulfill the same need. Although I gave Facebook another chance, to this day, I think there are features of it that I don't understand well and I have not yet regained my trust in the tool.
There also continue to be a few things that frustrate me about it's design. The first is that I have 52 Requests pending. Some are two years old. Why can't I select all and delete. Why do I need to go through each on at this point when I just want them all to be gone? Another thing is why does every one of my activities show up on my home page. I know what I did. Does everyone really need to know that I just commented on my friends status? I don't think so. And why, oh why, when I select an item to delete from my home page, does Facebook repeatedly ask if I really want to delete it. This is social networking not medical information! I actually don't want it displayed to begin with but if you're gonna display it, make it easy to delete. Lastly, I'm really not sure if I understand who else sees what activities I complete. Kind of weird at some level, yet to stay in touch through a common portal with friends and family near and far, I continue to use the tool.
Is it only me who has struggled with the Facebook redesign? And why is it that so many people are tolerant of Facebook's design? Any thoughts on why we willingly accept Facebook at face value?
Jill
