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60% of Facebook Users Now Viewing the “New” Facebook
September 3rd, 2008
Web metrics firm Compete today released new data showing interesting trends in user migration/adoption of the “new” Facebook. Most Facebook users in Compete’s panel are using the new version, and increasingly fewer of them are going back to the old version.
1) % Users viewing the new site vs. those viewing only the old site
2) % Users going back to the old site in the same session vs those only using the new site
While there are some vocal users dissatisfied with the new design (check out the comments on our last post), the transition seems to be going relatively smoothly overall.
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September 4th, 2008 at 4:06 am
I think the only reason people are going back to the old facebook is because the new one is somewhat confusing. But sooner or later, people will catch on just like they catched on to all of the new applications facebook has (which by the way, there are way too many).
September 4th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I think the new Facebook is a much much much better iteration of the old. The patterns are smooth, natural, familiar and intuitive.
People dislike change, and they meet it with resistance every time. It’s not a rational dislike, it’s human nature. The last time Facebook made changes to the profile everyone was up in arms. What happened? They grew to love the new design so much that they’re up in arms again over the introduction of this new model. I say, let it go. Embrace change.
And if you can’t embrace change, be the change. I provided Facebook with a healthy amount of feedback during the betas, and some of the changes were noted. Others, not so much. Such is life.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Relatively smooth? Not if you read some of the discussions here.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21195574231
I’ve used the new one, I just find it inferior to the present version. I will be sticking to the present version for as long as it still exists.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
unless I am seriously missing something here… your graph/data is not correct!!
Take a look at the users in the second graph stated to “ONLY use NEW” for July 20th-26th… it’s at 50%
THEN look at the first graph… where it states that the users ONLY using the OLD version was at 85% for that same time line….. that’s completely IMPOSSIBLE!! 85%+50% is 135%….. you can’t have a total of users that equals 135%! If it was users who merely have used the new version it would be different…. but they use the word “ONLY” in both… the graph isn’t at all acute… and it’s not a streamline simple graph to read… you have to do math to to figure out the top line… instead of just putting the blocks side by side…
Anyway… someone correct me if I’m wrong… but there is no way to have a total of 135% of active users….
September 5th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Tara, your math is flawed. The second graph represents ONLY those facebook users that used the new design during a login session. So, either those users clicked to go back to the old design while they were logged in, or they did not and stayed with the new design.
So basically, 100% on the second graph equals the red portion on the first graph.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Hey Crystal,
Last time I checked 300,000 / 100,000,000 DAU = 1/3 of 1%.
Where’s the fire?
There are more people in favor of the new iteration than the old. Bottom line.
The only difference is this; they don’t care enough to build groups promoting their position.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Guy no there is not… they are wrong when they said “just a few vocal responses…”
there are 10 ppl a second right now joining the group to keep the old version as we speak… as well as two more groups just popped up with 150,000 a piece…..
the one I’m in is at like 290,000 and will hit 300,000 within the next half hour to hour if it keeps up at this rate…
September 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
“if this keeps up at this rate…” it will take another 1.5 months to go up to “2/3 of 1%”
Still no fire….
September 6th, 2008 at 7:25 am
The point remains that many users are dissatisfied with the new Facebook system. Even though the number of users in the joining the new groups which are opposed to the new Facebook are relatively small, Facebook can’t ignore the fact that according to the graph, 35% of users still use the old Facebook and that in the past few weeks, over 40% of users who try the new Facebook go back. True, the majority of users like the new Facebook, but 35% of 100,000,000 (assuming the figure provided by Guy is correct) is 35,000,000. Facebook does not want to have 35 million unhappy users.
Also, the secong chart only shows the number of users go back or do not go back in their first session in the new Facebook. I would be interested to see how many went back after two or more sessions on the new Facebook.
By the bye, I disagree with Guy in that I don’t think “human nature” is the reason I don’t want to use the new Facebook. True, I generally don’t adjust well to change, but the new Facebook is NOT easier to use, it is NOT intuitive, it is NOT familiar (after all, it is different).
As someone who wants to be a librarian, I know a little bit about the presentation of information. The new Facebook does not present the users profile in an well organized manner. Some portions are located in one place, the other half of that information is located somewhere else. Important information for business people (Contact information, Education, Work experience, etc.) is filed away, out of site. Not that Facebook is specifically for fining new employees, the old Facebook allowed the user to place user-defined important information where they chose.
As an artist and someone who seriously considered design or architecture as a profession, I find the design displeasingly asymmetrical, and yes, there is pleasing asymmetry.
Sorry about the excessive length of this post, especially the latter half, devoted entirely to what I don’t find pleasing in the new Facebook.
Oh, and I just looked at the graph again, and I want to note that the growth rate in the percentage of users using the new Facebook is declining. At some point, assuming Facebook never makes the change mandatory, this growth rate will reach zero, and all the users will have switched (or not) to the Facebook design of their choice.
I predict the number sticking with the old Facebook will be close to 30%, all things remaining equal, especially the parabola which most closely approximates the line made by connecting the midpoint of the boundary between the two groups of users.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Fourth paragraph of that huge post is a typo. “. . . is specifically for finding new employees . . . ” is how it should have read.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Eh. My having stuck with the new design is an indication that I like it?
It’s more of an indication that I’m reluctant to lose the set-up work that I did in it before I realised just how slow and buggy it would be…
September 7th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
All valid points.
New Facebook is still much better, and it’s still coming. Put up or shut up (as in, never use Facebook again, or … self explanatory).
September 10th, 2008 at 12:18 am
The new design seems to entail more clicking and scrolling to find the basic information about somebody that used to be available at a glance. I personally don’t like that, nor do I like the additional white space and scattered arrangement of things on the page under the “new.”
I *do* like the “photos” tab, though. Otherwise, I think it looks too “loose.”
Anyway, it’s just my opinion. Some may differ with it, or even think that I shouldn’t complain, or should just shut-up. I would suggest that they might be very rude.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Wow. “Put up or shut up.” Nice. Tell me when that approach was ever successful for implementing change. People aren’t complaining for the sake of complaining or for a fear of change. People are speaking up in hopes that their perspectives as users are taken into account. The new layout puts information on several tabs with no discretion or control over what information the user wants available at first glance. At least the “old” version allowed users to drag and drop applications to the placement desired. As a graphic designer, I feel that this new layout is completely counterintuitive, NOT user-friendly, and it lacks the individual control of the previous version. I don’t understand why Facebook needed this change, but I do understand design. And this design is horrible. I give it an F-. Your move, MySpace.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Awesome!