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Which viral channels do Facebook users hate most about apps?
April 23rd, 2008
When the Facebook Platform launched in May 2007, it included access to a number of Facebook’s powerful communication channels right from the start (unlike some other platforms that have launched since). Access to these channels - profile boxes, invitations, notifications, and feed items - allowed applications to spread quite quickly. However, due to user experience complaints, Facebook has been putting in place limits on how much apps can use these viral channels throughout much of 2008.
While Facebook has not been explicitly clear in explaining what that feedback is, we thought we’d try to gain some at least anecdotal quantitative evidence on what users are complaining about. So we ran a Facebook Poll (which was really easy, by the way) to ask them. While the sample size was very small (only 200 responses, and disclaimer: this is not a proper way to do real user experience testing, etc etc), the results may offer some clues on upcoming Platform changes.
First, the question:
What do you hate most about Facebook apps?
- Too many invitations
- Too many notifications
- Too much clutter on my profile
- Too much clutter in my mini feed
We ran the same poll in 2 geographical regions to compare results between technophiles in Silicon Valley and folks in more “normal” places - in this case (lovely) Topeka, Kansas. The results, however, were quite similar (guess there’s not a red state/blue state bias either), so we’ve included only the Silicon Valley data below.
The results:
- Invitations are still the most annoying thing about apps (especially for women).
- Mini Feed stories are clearly the least annoying thing about apps.
- Profile clutter is still a big problem (especially for older folks).
So, assuming Facebook is seeing roughly the same data in its user experience testing, what are some possible conclusions for the Platform?
- Facebook will likely update the rules on invitations again. Per-user limits or stricter per-app limits are possible changes.
- Given that the new profile page is about to become dominated by the Feed/Wall, expect apps to be given more room to run here.
- Facebook is also solving the profile clutter problem with the new profile page design. Only 3 apps will have a box on the default tab. The rest will be, um, migrated.
Thoughts?
Poll data:
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April 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 am
[…] a sight dedicated to discussing new developments within the social network, recently wrote about what people hate most about Facebook. Granted, this was targeted at Facebook applications, but it still ironically highlighted one […]
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 am
There really had to be a poll about this? I thought it’s been pretty obvious for a year now that too many invites means people won’t even look at what the applications do - when you get 10 a day the dismiss all button is too tempting.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
[…] One of the questions he plans to ask is about viral channels and balancing user and developer interest. I will just point to the survey he posted today about Which viral channels do Facebook users hate most about apps? […]
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
They’re moving all of my apps without my permission? That sucks, big-time. I see the clutter argument, sure, but I like having tons of apps on my one front page — I just keep most of them windowshaded up most of the time.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Facebook devs should be aware of these facts. Nice post !
May 4th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
[…] arisen as a significant problem of using the site for political purposes: clutter. Anecdotal and survey evidence suggests that as soon as Groups and Apps spread widely, Facebook users became overwhelmed by the […]