Calling all designers!!!
Ok I lied, I have no idea what sort of positions are open at Facebook but I can tell you this, they need designers. Not developers, but designers. Look at this screenshot. No seriously, click on it and look at it. Someone at Facebook, in fact, probably many someones allowed this page to go live. Facebook needs to pay more attention to the design decisions they make and how it impacts the user experience.
How much crap can we fit on one page?
Maybe in the next iteration we can get a toolbar at the top. Perhaps there could be a scrolling banner on the bottom displaying my friends most recent “likes?” We could call it the “Likebar.”
I still see white-space on the page, I think we need to do something with that. Maybe we could fill up all the white-space with a tiled logo wallpaper of brands we “like” on Facebook. That’s a great idea!
Fixing problems that DON’T exist vs fixing ones that DO exist
Facebook is the innovator in fixing problems that don’t exist. They are constantly shuffling the layout and keeping the users on their toes proclaiming the next great evolution in Facebook user experience. Here’s the problem, that’s NOT what users are complaining about. In fact, they are often complaining about the changes that were just made. No one complained about the old chat, or the one before it. It was pretty easy and took up way less screen space.
I’ve been complaining from the beginning that it is far to cumbersome to get to my friends lists as I despise the Facebook default newsfeed.
How about fixing the wonky iPhone app? How about tagging people in status updates from the iPhone? How about posting videos from the iPhone?
How about the myriad of spam issues?
How about giving ME control of how MY Facebook is laid out?
Social Media
One of the great benefits of social media is the ability to get feedback from your customers, from your prospects, from your critics and your fans. In spite of the fact that Facebook virtually owns all of our Social graphs and is synonymous with Social Media, they have yet to understand how to listen for feedback? In the history of Facebook, the only time I remember them changing as a result of user feedback, was when the privacy settings were “simplified” as a result of a pending lawsuit. Beyond that, they seem to be deaf to criticism.
So now we’re stuck with this page and all it’s clutter and nonsense and noise. It’s really no wonder I like Twitter and Google+ better. Here’s that pic one more time, just in case you missed it the first time around:
