Let me start off by saying this: If you’re having trouble adapting to Facebook’s changes, you are going to have problems in life because in the whole scheme of things, this is nothing. When Facebook did the first major redesign of the site, there was mutiny; this is despite the fact that they offered the new version months before it went live to get feedback and help people adapt to it. This reinforces the fact that people are too wrapped up in themselves to realize what’s going on around them. Now, a second, relatively minor update to the homepage and friend feed and people are up in arms. And we were warned last week of this, with a diagram explaining the changes! I’m here to say the things that Facebook can’t say because they have to deal with PR: Don’t be such an idiot. Grow up and try it out before bitching.

If people actually took ONE minute to look around and check out the changes they would see they are much better, more organized, and more informative. You’re friends’ status updates are front, center, and updating live. To the left: options on feed filters- networks, and the ability to change between status, photos, links, events, and whatever else could update the friend feed. Anyone who says they can’t find anything didn’t take the time to look. To the right, the random popular stuff going on with your friends that used to be in the middle, and the day’s events right on top. A much better design choice in my opinion. On the profile, you now have three choices: Just you, Just your friends, or everyone. Simple. Let me repeat that: Simple. And then there are the people complaining it looks like Twitter.

Twitter is great. Why not borrow ideas from them? Especially because the statuses are updated MUCH more than just about anything else on Facebook. Why wouldn’t you want that stuff front and center. That would be like CNN not putting their breaking news on the homepage because Fox News already does.

All-in-all, you’ve got more information right in front of you. I’m already sick of reading status updates like this: “I F—– HATE NEW F—— FACEBOOK.” To me, that says you’re really F—– stupid, and are opposed to any kind of change, bad or good. Like I said, if 80% of the people complaining took more than a microsecond to look at the new design, they will see it’s much better. My friend Dan is the only one who gave me a valid complaint; as it turns out, he actually thinks before he speaks.

Posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 10:39 AM | Category Design, Manifesto, Software, Tech, Websites | Tags: annoyance, facebook| Both comments and pings are currently closed. |