Facebook stalking just got uglier…
The title of this article does not relate to new privacy measures introduced to protect Facebook users. Instead, since this incredibly popular community’s new look appeared a few weeks ago, Facebook has changed into something a lot more complicated and unusable.
Many people use Facebook with alarming regularity. For others it has become a convenient way to keep up to date with a social network, something to be dipped into rather than focused on. The new design does not seem to reflect this. I would argue that a large percentage of people use the site to snoop on other people, and they do so in three main ways; reading their friends’ messages, looking at their friends’ photos and reading their status updates. It is these actions that have been made particularly difficult by the new design.
The redesign offers more choice to users by enabling them to comment on all site content while providing more shortcuts, but it also forces them to do a lot more work to get even the most basic information. The most immediately noticeable change with Facebook is the move to a wider screen format, and the total overhaul of navigation. This is the first point at which complications arise, as there are now multiple navigation points across every page, as well as tabs within the page.
The site is also now full of jargon. Facebook does not seem to feel the need to explain itself, its new wording, or the new design. The homepage opens with ‘Top Stories’, but how stories qualify as top is unclear. The site uses proprietary phrases such as ‘Log mode’ and has the title ‘Boxes’ as a profile tab.
Emphasis has been placed on odd features of Facebook, such as the large space dedicated to ‘Bookmarks’ on the ‘home’ page, and the extremely large ‘What are you doing right now’ text box as a call to action to provide a status update. This means that quirky features such as the three latest status updates have been taken away, and instead of a quick glance at a page to receive updates of friends’ activities, users now have to actively go into a status updates tab.
In some ways the user is now given too much choice, by being able to comment on everything that is shown, even whether they like adverts or not. However, how to provide this input is not obvious, with the hidden ‘options’ boxes at the side of every story being hard to notice. With all this space for user feedback, Facebook has taken away the choice over where items are placed. Users are no longer allowed to move boxes within their profile, and therefore Facebook now appears to decide what is important on each user’s page.
The profile page is also extremely confusing. All of the content is mixed together, which makes it harder to see anything. It is true that filtering options are still there, but a mixture of wall posts and mini-feed items makes it hard to focus on any information. There are also a few major usability problems here, for example with internal tabbing. ‘Add photos’, for instance, adds a box to the page within which you enter the content. However the page then gives no ability to undo these actions if you change your mind. There is no cancel option, so the box stays on the page until you navigate away from it.
Facebook has made its core functionality more complex by making information searches on people more difficult, and by taking away the simple and orderly layout of the old design. With functionality more confusing, the other changes to Facebook become less interesting. This is a prime example of how user input and feedback is essential before any kind of redesign, because even a site with such incredible support as Facebook can get it wrong.