One thing I love to study is Human Computer Interaction (HCI). It’s the intersection of psychology and computing, and is really fascinating to me. I love to watch people interact with computers, what they think, how they view things, etc. (Even though I feel like this far too often.) Facebook is a great way to study HCI, and if I ever study HCI at the masters level, I’m sure I’ll include Facebook in my research. People interact with Facebook, they share with Facebook, people’s lives are on Facebook. It’s the largest social information system in the world, and when Facebook changes something, everyone notices and has an instant opinion.
Facebook rolled out a redesign this week bringing all sorts of CAPS filled status updates, threats of deleting their accounts, and even leaving for Google+…and I think I even read something about MySpace somewhere in there…just like every other redesign…including the one prior to this.
Personally, I like the new design. It’s efficient. It’s clean enough for my taste, and works just like Facebook has since I signed up in high school. There’s a slight information overload with the news feed in the middle column and the ticker in the right, but it can be mentally filtered if you try. Once you query large databases a few times, this becomes easier.
I’ve spent some time thinking about why people get upset, and here’s what I think it boils down to: people who don’t have significant computing experience don’t process technology changes well. It’s not something they have to deal with on a regular basis. We saw the same thing in the shift from Windows XP to Windows Vista and a minute change from Vista to Windows 7. People, rather than making an attempt to adapt, panic at change either because they freeze, they don’t know what to do, or they don’t have ability/desire to try and figure something new out. People would rather things stay the same than have to re-learn even if they newer system is better.
I think people’s reactions to Facebook’s redesigns speak volumes about their respective generations. In particular, mine. To me it appears that my generation doesn’t like change at all. I think that’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
There’s also another side of this. When people rant, flame, and/or leave because of these redesigns, they’re forgetting something: a team of very talented people (not necessarily Zuck) worked on this to try and make it better for us and the “appreciation” they get is rude and inconsiderate. I know how hard it is to design and build programs, I’ve done it! It bugs me a little bit.
In all of it, there’s irony. People bitch, wine, and moan now, but in a week they’ll love Facebook again and keep using it just like they always have. It’s a cycle.
Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Do you like the new design? Why or why not?
