Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Facebook revamps interface again

"Change" is one of the hottest buzz words in 2, but for many Facebook users, it's as unwelcome as that annoying christmas relative. This week, the 40 million users awoke to realize that their favorite social underwent a complete re-alignment.

Considering Facebook's popularity surge and influx of new users during the past six months, I think this was terrible timing on Zuckerburg's part. Just as many relatively new users were growing comfortable with the quirks, features and nuances of the interface, they were forced to navigate through a complex new apparatus and unfamiliar layout.

 In anticipation of the overhaul, many members vented their rage by creating groups, and one particular image that caught my eye was the face on the original facebook logo with a caption that read "I miss the old me."  In the AP's article, college student Scott Sanders' comments highlighted the reasons why many loyal users sneered about founder Mark Zuckerberg's decision.

"It's not that we don't want change, period, it's that we don't like these particular changes," said Scott Sanders, 19, an Austin Peay University student who started one of the petitions opposing the redesign. "You have to navigate more and you have to click more to get to personal profiles. It's too much effort to get to basic information."

Personally, I wasn't overwhelmed by the new layout,some of the vertical applications were re-aligned horizontally. Basically, you just have to regain your bearings, and navigate from there.

Facebook's latest renovation indicates misplaced  priorities within its leadership. Rather than re-aligning the basic layout, they should be simplifying the navagitional aspects and tweaking the audio/visual aspects which will attract a larger audience. Facebook's rival competitor, Myspace, has successfully integrated movie trailers and music videos for users to enjoy on the homepage.

Posted By Matt O'Hern at 01:04 PM
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