FACEBOOK: CAN YOU TAKE THE NEW DESIGN IN STRIDE?
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What Facebook Was Intended To Do
Facebook was my first social media site and also it is my favorite. It is easy to keep in touch with friends and family. A place where we can share each other's lives by passing along messages, photos, videos and many other interesting applications.
That is what Facebook was intended to do.
Internet Network Marketers have taken Facebook by storm after seeing it as a powerful medium to interact and attract business prospects for free. It has become so popular that is has crossed the 100 million member mark and is expected to climb to 500 million by 2011. That's a long way from being created by a bunch of college students from Harvard.
This week Facebook.com made a huge change in their design. Although many preferred the old style, to put it mildly, the Facebook product manager said users, although living with some confusion during the changeover, would come to appreciate the advantages of the new.
Change comes hard for some. To some, it appeared to be the "end of the world" as they knew it. There was even a special petition-bearing group that rounded up over a million dissatisfied Facebook users in supporting "no change."
To many, it was having your home decorated and arranged just the way you liked it. Maybe it was a little messy but still it was YOUR mess and you were comfortable living there. You knew exactly where all your stuff was located, so you didn't even have to think about it.
Then, the landlord decides to come in, uninvited, and completely overhauls your little place with no input from you. You walk in and it doesn't look like home anymore. You can't find anything and it seems very unhandy.
This may be an outlandish exaggeration, but it is human nature to fight change.
For Facebookers to be that upset about change must demonstrate how much ownership they have in their little place on the web---even if they used it for FREE.
Just like the unwanted remodeling / redecorating project, you live with the new for awhile and it begins to be more familiar and feel more like home. You discover that some of the changes weren't so bad and you even like some of the nifty new features.
Still Some Growing Pains
Like most new products, the new Facebook design has some growing pains. Some say it is faster but more confusing.
- Some applications are hard to find. They are there, but are hidden behind new tabs.
- The single profile page has been replaced with tabbed sub pages for photos, applications and info.
- Some people don't like the combo wall/mini fieed
- The friend's birthday is a little harder to read
- Some say the Twitter application doesn't work.
- There is too much white space on the home page.
It's Not All Bad News
New Features:
- There's a small spot to write a short bio on your profile page under your picture.
- Filter feeds where you can check out most recent actions from friends on top stories or see them as they happen on Live Feed.
- Customized tabs which give access to photos, info and applications with new tabs on the profile page.
- You can navigate faster and quickly jump to profile, applications, info, search, home and friend updates with the nav bar at top of each page.
- You can comment on status updates and filter which type of stories you'd like to see more of.
- You can decide whether you'd like to hear more or less from certain friends.
- You have publish control where you can post comments, links, photos, music and videos to your mini feed or friend's walls with the publisher box.
- There is a much improved integration of 3rd party applications which has been welcomed by the music-sharing site iLike. 16,000,000 users signed up through Facebook.
There are too many features to go into here, but, it might be interesting to check them out yourself.
A little advice, Facebook users, quit complaining about the changes, get busy and use your time and energy to whip that little spot of internet real estate into your, messy, lived-in looking, comfortable home again.
How Do You Like The New Facebook Design?
I'd be interested in seeing your comments about this.
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Comments
Yes, I remember you, Eric. And thanks for your kind words. I am in your sphere of influence as well. It is interesting how you can know people through their social media articles, chatting on Facebook and photos. I was thinking about getting a new picture to get that phone out of my ear, but I am afraid I would lose my identity. Thanks again for commenting. Judy
Judy Jackson
Hi Judy
Extremely helpful information on the facebook changes, many thanks for sharing it.
Christine Blowes
GREAT JOB
Glad you brought the facebook re-design up, personally I think its an improvement for usability as well as design / aesthetics, and just has a bit of a learning curve that WILL pay off. Facebook knows what they're doing.
Judy,
You were on target about knowing FaceBook was messy but also knowing where everything was. I'm funny about things being moved! I know I'll get used to the changes. Thanks for explaining them.
Becky Joubert
Hi Judy,
I don't like change but realize it's usually for the best. Thanks for all your tips and information. Very helpful.
Michelle
Hi Judy,
I enjoyed the HUB! The tips are very helpful. Also, I will stumble it!
Donna Wells
great hub! well, the only thing constant is change...it's just normal that there are people who would resist for change..people are alredy used to the old facebook, kind of exploring still on the new look and spending too much time on it. anyway there is nothing really new except where you find and click now its applications and tabs.
HI Thank you all for you great comments. I love reading them. Somehow these little articles become like your children--you appreciate it when people say something nice about them.
Judy
good
good
I was able to test the New Facebook, even when they said check it out, but your information helps me understand the changes I should check out.
Good hub. I just wish the "new" facebook wasn't so slow. I found the old facebook way faster. Very good information.
I actually like the new design. Everything's in one main feed, and you can comment on anything. But I agree with ADB that it's much slower to load. They must be having some infrastructural issues.
I agree. The old facebook is faster than the new one. I still prefer using the old design unless they make the new one to load faster and that will be much enjoyable. :)
I see the whole discussion about the new Facebook as the psychology of change. Most people just don't like change. Even if it's for the better.
I fully agree with your hub and it's a great overview of the new features so far.
Aesthetically and functionally, it's been an improvement. Most of our PC screens today ARE wider now and it's nice to see the extra space being used. Also, being able to add a comment on almost anything does engender a 'social' environment (carefully said).
FB has to come up with better ads or a better ad system to place in the extra space.
FB application developers have to start using the extra inch of screen space constructively and not use it as another column for their own ads.
Sure, there are technical problems. Speed, broken links, errors, blank page loads. But come on. Has anyone launched anything of this scale fault-free on Day One?
I really liked having my hubpages RSS feed visible on the main page with the old facebook. Now it's hidden behind a tab, and people will only see it if they click on that tab. I expect my hub traffic from facebook will decrease because of this change. Thanks for writing a hub about this!
I'm new to Facebook and not so used to the old design so I guess I can't complain anything here. It's more like a gradual change to me but I've heard lots of people complain about it. Hope the new design improves though.
Thanks for a good hub.
It's funny to stumble across your words at this moment--serendipitous really. I joined Facebook in May as a facility for linking up with folks from the past that I'd lost along the way. It has served it's purpose to a remarkable degree but at the same time I've racked up scores of "peripheral faces"--people that use the site for the gratification of friend collecting. I feel like I've reached a critical mass of sorts in that everyone I'd hoped I might summon from the ether has materialized while I now have hundreds of other incidental folks to whom I've nothing real or significant to say that exist in this cyber-community.
In direct response to your excellent article I think that the changes I've experienced since May have been negligible: ultimately for the best. I don't consider myself computer savvy in any way, shape, form, or function and FB has never even caused me to scratch my head. It seems to me that it serves as an excellent social [and professional] tool if that's what's being sought.
I suppose I felt cause to weigh in because I was literally considering pulling the plug on FB when I came across your Hub. Now that I've gleaned the friends and info I was seeking--the lustre and novelty have worn off. I read a report this week that claimed 35% of all PDA users would give up their significant other before they gave up their PDA. I find that rather disturbing and would be incredulous if I didn't see how many friends monitor FB from PDAs on a constant basis and I hadn't tasted the addiction for myself. I think FB can be an asset no matter what incarnation gets put into place--the danger is in the substitution of FB usage for more substantial and realistic interactions back here in the real world. Thanks for your words; maybe I'll see you on facebook--maybe I won't...
Facebook is definitely leading in some social media sites..
Facebook is definitely leading in some social media sites..
Judy, very well written hub. I enjoyed reading it. I'm another one who don't like change, but I've learned to grin and bare it. Everything changes except me. I'm still the handsome teenage boy as always since I broke my mirror years (many years) ago.
I think in 1 month's time, everyone will get use to the new design!
Hi Judy, your article is right on point. Even though I new to Facebook some of the changes were kinda confusing at first, I didn't get a chance to get use to the old Facebook. But change is always a good thing people should learn how to embrace change.
Great hub Judy, I just came across this today. It is amazing how people major in minor things.
I like FaceBook either way because it is only a small part of my online life.
I am a new fan of yours so that I don't miss your next post.
Bob
Hi Judy great Hub
It' all easy for you to say. But I still feel like I am going to do something wrong when I go there . like you said I can mess it all up until I feel at home. Wish they would do something about the speed though, It has to be the slowest place I visit
Thanks for thr info.
Grant Logan
Facebook - crazy site that for the most part is useless --- people join groups but seldom return, add to many friends and get disabled and on and on --- it has become a gloified "forward some crap email funny" alternative. - I'm not at all impressed with teh site in general.
Great hub though - extremely well written and understandable!
Neil
Eric L Walker says:
16 months ago
Judy,
Very well done. This Hub looks great. Do you recall...We met on Facebook, and we also have Renegade University in common. Also, I found this article because you submitted it to Digg, which brought me here to read it. That's the power of using social marketing to attract others to YOU. Now, whenever I see Judy Jackson I will be interested...you have Eric Walker as part of your sphere of influence. Who knows, maybe someday we'll do business together. But for now, I'm glad to know you and encourage you to keep growing and keep going. Thanks for the value.
Eric Walker