Usability and Facebook

Suffice it to say that the new Facebook design has me and many others in a tizzy.   I won’t go into the multitude of usability, aesthetic, and brand errors –  but I will focus on just one.

When Facebook changes, it changes for everyone.  And that’s what this is really about.  Facebook itself admits that the average Facebook user spends 30-60 minutes per day on Facebook.  I would wager that most people spend more time in front of Facebook than they spend using Microsoft Office or even the applications on their mobile devices.  By now a large portion of Facebook users *are* advanced users.  And, although Facebook may not be a productivity application it has become just as important to many people.  Assuming Facebook has a usability staff, they should have learned the lessons of Office 2007 and Windows Vista as it pertains to the economics of usability and change.  You might think that the new design is all that and a bag of chips, and you’re probably right as it pertains to new Facebook users who will sign-up tomorrow.  A large change in design, layout, and semantics primarily impacts the experience of your previously satisfied established veteran users.

Social networks and cloud applications, particularly Facebook, need to realize that user interface changes *MUST* be implemented and tested for usability in *small increments* before being imposed on millions of users simultaneously.  It’s not only disruptive to their own user populations, but to the thousands of 3rd parties integrating with their platforms.

Sidebar:  Most analysts agree that the changes to the Facebook home page are a direct competitive response to the rise and success of twitter.  The new Facebook home page is essentially a microblog now.  This could have been done thoughtfully and slowly, like by testing the addition of the “What’s on your mind?” input box on users who have added the twitter or FriendFeed application.

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