A website’s user interface is a crucial point of connection to those who come, go, and hopefully stay as they browse the web. Updating and changing the user interface has a giant impact : influencing the desire or discouragement to sign up for particular site or service, as well as the motivation to continue use. So what’s at stake when a comfortable, familiar site makes a big user interface change?
Facebook is a great example of the complexities of this question. Obviously, Facebook wants to have a creative, aesthetically pleasing and functional user interface. But they are also under pressure to stay current, to continue appeasing users appetite for the newest application better tailored to their needs. When Facebook launched the News Feed, the strains of simplicity and function versus innovation catalyzed a divide among users. Well, it wasn’t much of a divide. Most people hated the change.
I’m sure Facebook figured people come here to browse each other’s lives anonymously in the first place, so why don’t we create a more seamless way for them to view recent actions and updates? It’s not a terrible concept. But users were horrified at the blemishes now littering their once-clean interface: even on Facebook there is such a thing as too much information. Users have since adapted and even come to appreciate the News Feed, updating privacy settings to control which of their antics are broadcasted to the eyes of their networks. I personally think the tolerance of Facebook users is unusually high simply because their desire to interact with friends in a familiar setting overcomes any dissatisfaction they have about the interface.
The itch for change has come to test the patience of Facebook users yet again. As of last week it became possible to switch over to the New Facebook – the latest in user interface updates for the giant social networking site. The homepage, I will admit, looks much better not too many changes, just some tidying. But why then, if the ambition seems to have been simplification in the face of piling applications, do the profiles look so brutal? Aside from finding them particularly ugly, I don’t like all the information spread out across tabs, and I don’t find the integration of News Feed items with the wall a self-evident switch.
A site with less loyal users typically can’t afford an interface that isn’t pleasing to the eye and easy to get started on. The more seamless and effortless you can make the user experience, the more users will be inclined to make that site a part of their browsing routine. Every newly added function to a site walks the line between improving performance and impeding usability. Facebook’s near-monopoly on the networking world seems to exempt them from this paradox, but judging by my own infrequency on Facebook as of late and my dissatisfaction with the latest changes, I can see them eventually losing some of their more committed users.
What do you think of Facebook’s new interface?
I Facebook made it really difficult for themselves when they opened their platform to third party apps. They got the good and the evil. The good was the drastically increased attention form the tech industry and the business world as well as a vast influx of outside innovation. The ugly part is the mess it created in the US and the overall user experience. Their recent design iteration is clearly an attempt to keep benefiting form the former while getting rid of the latter. We’ll all see how it works. I am personally always confused when I am on facebook. Maybe I just don’t spend enough time on it but it clearly doesn’t make me want to do that.
Not sure I agree with FB being a near monopoly in the “networking world” as you assert. When I think of monopoly I think of having a single choice and there are many, many other places to network and build relationships.
I am just in the process of making a major commitment to my Facebook (FB) presence. Personally I like the tab addition to the Profile page. There is a fair amount of customization and the ability to customize tabs.
I like the FB changes and control I now have. Is it intuitive and natural, no, but if you poke around and explore you will discover options to modify your FB.
Certainly FB is the biggest and most significant, a monopoly? I think not.
Peter, I really understand how you feel because that is the way I feel about the interface in Doorbell. Give me the user control to manipulate and mosh it.
Perhaps I should have been less extreme in my wording. What I meant to emphasize is that sites with such a heavy popularity like Facebook can take bigger risks without suffering user loss. If Facebook has a ‘monopoly’ on my group of friends (that is, it is the only site they use) it becomes a neverending cycle perpetuating Facebook’s popularity and use among my friends – a situation in which no one would switch to something else because they are going to go where their friends are. I don’t know any huge network of friends who would move to a new site because they hated the “New Facebook” changes, and that is the reality of Facebook’s popularity and clout.
Greg, Thanks for you comment. I am not sure what you mean by manipulating and ‘mosh’ it? We’re working on optimizing the UI of Doorbell and SmibsNet to make it easier for new users to understand and adapt to. It’s not perfect yet but hey, that’s why we’re in private beta. Send us an email or Smibs message with your ideas and concerns and we’ll get right at it. Everyone here is excited about the next major update that’s going to come out before the end of this month. It’s a huge jump forward in terms of usability. Keep up the good work beta-testing SmibsNet and Doorbell.
Hi Peter, to clarify. Let me as a user decide how I want to view my data. I will write you separately.
I did not realize Stephanie wrote this post. Sorry Peter. Basically, a UI most UI’s are challenging. Giving the user control over organizing and mashing up the content is what I was referring to.
Greg, no worries. Let me know what your concerns are and we’ll discuss it.
[...] a year ago in a blog post I discussed what makes a great user interface. I questioned Facebook’s big interface switch and I held up Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn to its standard. Looking back, everything I discussed [...]