I Love The New Facebook
Am I the only one? Sure seems like it.
That can't be true though, it just can't be. Since the switch I've noticed a huge increase in usage, from both myself and my friends. For people who hate it so you sure seem to be liking and commenting my shit more than ever. I think you want something to complain about, or you just hate change. Maybe its because Facebook's UI has always been so utilitarian, and now its well, fun.
In any case, you're still there and guess what? You're generating even more page views than before. While I'm sure they value your feedback, they run the service like any good business with a focus on the bottom line. For right now the bottom line here is traffic, unique views and or course page views per session.
So why do I love it, let me count the ways:
Simple Status Updates:
Do you think this status update thing might be catching on? I get the feeling it might, call me crazy. Facebook was smart to expose this better and make it uber simple to use. Think about all your "normal" friends on Facebook, they probably don't use Twitter and think its silly. Now the same concept has been brought into something they're very familiar with, I can already see them engaging it more.
Highlights:
With increased noise in the newsfeed the "Highlights" box is a life saver. As your Facebook network grows (mine has about 800 friends) it becomes increasenly more difficult to catch everything. In between the updates of what your friends had for lunch, you may miss the real gems that float by. Evertime I've looked here I've found a great piece of content I probably would of missed. It's hyper relevant because its from my friends, its also curated by these same friends. As more of them "Like" a particular item, it eventually finds it way here for me to enjoy. If social media is a latte you would call this the cream.
The Hook:
Getting people to come back to your site daily is a challenge. Facebook has helped to encourage you to return daily with an onslaught of emails. Annoying sometimes sure, but I can guarantee many of you can't resist clicking through to see whats being said. In a world of over sharing, these emails add some affirmation to your body of "work". Now along with photo/video tags, these emails about your status updates will bring you back many times over. I'll probably disable them, but most users (especially with smaller friend counts) will not.
What are your thoughts? Please let me know how I'm right and wrong in the comments.
What Others Are Saying:
(Cartoon by Hugh Macleod)
