The first time the popular social-networking site Facebook changed its design, its members weren't happy. Neither were they happy the second time Facebook tweaked the site. And they're not happy after a third round of changes.
Now Facebook is paying attention to thousands of new members and several petitions from users to go back to the old design. In the next few weeks, Facebook will begin tweaking its design based on feedback from users who sent in thousands of e-mails, according to Christopher Cox, Facebook's director of product.
"Whenever we build something new or tweak something old, our motivation is the same: To help you share with the people you care about and find out what's happening with them," Cox said in an explanation to users.
Before launching a new feature, the company first puts the product in front of a small audience, then makes it available to its user base, which has grown to 175 million since 2004.
"We know that no amount of testing is as valuable as what you have to say," Cox said. "For this reason, we will always look to you, our users, to tell us what is working and what isn't so we can continually make improvements."
Users didn't hesitate to tell Facebook's designers exactly what they thought of the changes. Tens of thousands of users joined petitions, while others simply posted disappointments on their walls and in messages to friends.
Finding the Right Balance
Finding the right balance between giving users what they want and avoiding too much change has been a balancing act for the company. Facebook admits its challenge has been to provide a product that makes people happy across the board. The problem, however, is that people on Facebook use the site for different purposes and navigate through it differently.
The past several weeks, Facebook has been shifting the site to operate similarly to Twitter, a Web site that allows users to constantly update their thoughts and whereabouts. Facebook was heading down a similar path and placing more emphasis on real-time conversations and updates, but users have made the company stop dead in its tracks.
One user, not happy with the changes, said if he wanted a Twitter-like experience he would have signed up for Twitter instead. Another said: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." And one poster suggested that if Facebook wanted to give users more control, it should implement an option for users to choose between the old and new version so everyone can be happy.
"The new Facebook home page is one step in the continued evolution of the site, designed to give people more ways to share and filter all types of content, such as status updates, photos, videos, notes and more," said Brandee Barker, a Facebook spokesperson. "We are listening carefully to what people are saying about the new home page through a variety of channels -- including through a popular application, built by outside developers on our platform, that allows users to vote and express their opinion."
Barker added that the company is also reading industry blogs, the Facebook company blog, CEO Mark Zuckerberg's public profile, Facebook user groups, and information through a link on the Facebook new home page tutorial. "We encourage people to send us constructive, detailed feedback and are committed to using it to inform how we build and improve the site for everyone," Baker said.
Changes to Come
Some users have asked for controls in their stream and for streams to update automatically. Facebook will respond by adding the ability to turn on auto updating in the "near future" so users no longer have to refresh the page.
Photo tags will also be tweaked in the coming weeks when Facebook will add friends' tagged photos to the live stream.
Application content is cluttering the stream, complained some users to Facebook, and as a result Facebook will provide users with controls to reduce application content. Other changes include a more prominent placement of friend invites and requests.
