Apparently, the new facebook layout fetched protest due to users' unfamiliarity with the new layout. Protest groups have sprung up, such as " I Hate the New Facebook", "Petition Against the "New Facebook" and "1,000,000 Against the New Facebook Layout!" Suzanne Carbone, an active facebook user claims that, "With the old Facebook, we knew where everything was. It was our reliable, trusty confidant. Comfortable and safe." (The Age 2008)
*The Old Facebook Layout (Source: Thekmiecs.com 2008)
*The Old Facebook Layout (Source: Thekmiecs.com 2008)
Obviously Mark Zurkerberg, the founder of facebook.com did not see this coming. Why a simple change on facebook layout could lead to so many dissatisfaction from users? Let's refer back to issues in publishing and design theory, Reep (2006, p. 134) opines that, 'the purpose of design features is to direct the attention and guide the reader's ability to easy-understanding of a highlighted, important section of a topic'. It demonstrates that user acceptance to adapt to a new design layout is a major issues to take into consideration. When users do not understands how to function and has adapt to that given envoronment (the old facebook), they refuse to change.
Chamath Palihapitiya (Australian IT 2008), Facebook vice president of marketing claims that, "The new design lets Facebook members use tabs to give priority to fresh pictures, messages, or "feeds" on main profile pages and compartmentalise mini-applications and "static" information such as curriculum vitae. The changes are motivated by feedback from users as well as a trend toward people flooding the internet with videos, pictures, and musings they want to instantly share.
So, will the users change their perception against new layout or will the facebook team accomodate their user's need and change back to the old layout? According to Nielsen (2008), if a website is not user friendly, users would most probably leave. Therefore, it is not a failure for facebook when it launches something new and received complains from its users. Eventually, users get free knowledge when navigating new layout . The only failure would be when the users stop using facebook.
References
Reep, DC 2006, 'Chapter 4: Principles of document design', in Technical writing, 6th edn, Pearson Education, Inc., New York, pp. 173 - 190.
Australian IT 2008, 'Facebook makeover leaves some devotees fuming', Australian IT, access 10 June 2009,
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24328928-15318,00.html>
The Age Blogs 2008, 'Facing Up to Facebook', The Age Blogs, The Limelight, access 10 June 2009,
Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox, Reading on the Web, access 10 June 2009,
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html>
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