Comments on: On the New Facebook http://www.evanmix.com/2009/03/22/on-the-new-facebook/ Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:57:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Eric http://www.evanmix.com/2009/03/22/on-the-new-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-636 Eric Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:33:18 +0000 http://www.evanmix.com/?p=694#comment-636 And honestly, I don't understand why people would want to change it back. I disliked the previous iteration of Facebook and wanted them to go back to the layout they had before that because I thought their changes made the pages look messier and harder to navigate. This new update is an upgrade of the annoying layout they changed from. I do think, though, that at some point Facebook is going to have to stop coming out with new designs every six months. And honestly, I don’t understand why people would want to change it back. I disliked the previous iteration of Facebook and wanted them to go back to the layout they had before that because I thought their changes made the pages look messier and harder to navigate. This new update is an upgrade of the annoying layout they changed from. I do think, though, that at some point Facebook is going to have to stop coming out with new designs every six months.

]]> By: Evan http://www.evanmix.com/2009/03/22/on-the-new-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-635 Evan Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:33:24 +0000 http://www.evanmix.com/?p=694#comment-635 Absolutely. One thing that interests me is the content (or lack thereof) of the complaints voiced on the message board for that poll. Most of them just say, "I hate it!" and "Change it back!" and "Sucks!!!!1" without making any substantive complaint. This, to me, points to discomfort with change rather than a real problem with the site's design. Absolutely. One thing that interests me is the content (or lack thereof) of the complaints voiced on the message board for that poll. Most of them just say, “I hate it!” and “Change it back!” and “Sucks!!!!1″ without making any substantive complaint. This, to me, points to discomfort with change rather than a real problem with the site’s design.

]]> By: Adam Hobson http://www.evanmix.com/2009/03/22/on-the-new-facebook/comment-page-1/#comment-634 Adam Hobson Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:40:09 +0000 http://www.evanmix.com/?p=694#comment-634 I think there is a very real limit on what you can get from user feedback. You shouldn't ignore your users, but you shouldn't let them design your product either. The key is to find out from your users what problems they want solved, and then solve them yourself. Don't listen to your users' solutions, they are probably pretty bad. Instead listen to their problems and then build your products to match them. I think facebook was right to listen to their users during the whole TOS fiasco a couple of weeks ago (that was about privacy and content control, not design and features), but I hope they have the balls to ignore them now. I think there is a very real limit on what you can get from user feedback. You shouldn’t ignore your users, but you shouldn’t let them design your product either.

The key is to find out from your users what problems they want solved, and then solve them yourself. Don’t listen to your users’ solutions, they are probably pretty bad. Instead listen to their problems and then build your products to match them.

I think facebook was right to listen to their users during the whole TOS fiasco a couple of weeks ago (that was about privacy and content control, not design and features), but I hope they have the balls to ignore them now.

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