Comments on: How Are Facebook Users Responding to the “Real Time” Home Page Redesign?

By: The Facebook age | b r a n t s

The Facebook age | b r a n t s — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:20:13 +0000

[...] redesign continues to make news on a regular basis. With a whole lot of vociferous users making their dislike quite clear, with the help of a layout poll, it was interesting to see that a lot of advice was given to [...]

By: New March Data: How Are Facebook Users Responding to the Redesign?

New March Data: How Are Facebook Users Responding to the Redesign? — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:38:19 +0000

[...] a month now since Facebook rolled out its new home page redesign. As usual, there was a lot of fanfare, and many users protested the change. However, now that March data is rolling in, let’s take [...]

By: Facebook Announces Updates to New Home Page in Response to User Feedback

Facebook Announces Updates to New Home Page in Response to User Feedback — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:42:36 +0000

[...] Facebook launched the redesigned home page two weeks ago, there has been a variety of feedback from users and press. Today, Facebook announced that it will be making some changes to the new home [...]

By: Jon Garfunkel

Jon Garfunkel — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:24:55 +0000

Justin-- thoughtful post, thanks! I referenced it favorably in How Facebook can one-up Twitter

By: Katy

Katy — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:40:32 +0000

I’m sure the data will speak in your favor…in certain user cases it’s RIGGED to do so. I was a big fan of the live feed. Got turned on to it by a friend who was, who got turned on to it by a friend who was etc. Small sample size I know, but leads me to believe that there was a solid percentage of the audience using this tool. I liked it cause I could just keep that window open and the stream would *update automatically*.

Under the new system, if I want updates, I have to refresh my home page, which will read in your data as activity as opposed to the passive action of letting the stream update itself. So now, even though I find myself visiting Facebook less often than I did before (because I dislike the new layout and can’t find the info I want as easily), on your end it will look like I’m more active.

So while I’m sure “the data will tell the tale,” in this case it’s conveniently rigged to tell the tale you want it to.

By: Brent Baisley

Brent Baisley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:13:52 +0000

I think what I miss the most is story aggregation. If I see one friend doing something, it’s interesting. Two friends doing the same thing, it’s intriguing. Three friends, now I think I’m missing out on something.

By: Felix Rohrbach

Felix Rohrbach — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:13:58 +0000

The Layout itself is completely fine for me, it’s just that a lot of functionallity has gone missing… Where is the ability to filter my news feed? Where can I turn of all these annoying quizes and otherwise turn back on the “joined a group” or relationship feeds?

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:17:06 +0000

i was a big fan of the previous facebook revamp, but i am liking the new home page less and less as time goes by. i hate the fact that it no longer shows important information like when my friends are tagged in a picture or when they add a new friend. plus it doesnt show events, groups, fan pages and notes now. i really hate that its now full of junk app stories like “xxx took the yyy quiz and the result is zzz”. i also dislike that it takes up much more space than before.

if they had a settings link which let us choose which content we wanted to see on the news feed (so i could select all facebook apps but nothing else) i would be happy.

the other mistake they’ve made is with the new publisher. its much harder to use now. its ok for us as we are computer literate, but for the average user (especially a new facebook user) i cant see them understanding what it does!

By: El comportamiento de los usuarios en Facebook « Blog de Antonio Guerrero

El comportamiento de los usuarios en Facebook « Blog de Antonio Guerrero — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:00:04 +0000

[...] leo en Inside Facebook un primer análisis sobre las consecuencias del rediseño en términos de uso de Facebook por parte [...]

By: Ted S

Ted S — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:51:30 +0000

There’s definitely a lot of negative comments about the layout changes and functionality but that doesn’t mean usage will go down — the two are only slightly related. Facebook is ingrained and this won’t change that for most people (I have heard of a few users not visiting much because they’ve had trouble using the new site). What has been impacted is positive brand recognition and long-term loyalty. Users dislike the changes then grow accustom to them just in time to have things changed again. While this is normal with sites there’s also usually an identifable benefit but that’s far less visible with Facebook’s changes and for the most part what you see is people upset that they have to learn something new while getting very little benefit from their perspective.

Personally I like the real time nature of the new interface but it’s odd seeing updates about events on my phone that don’t appear on the site. I’m also disappointed to see every update styled the same making it difficult to understand what a user did versus what they said without spending more time looking at the exact text. It all blends together now.