Facebook's Redesign Came in Two Stages to Avoid Greater Backlash

Why user's are complaining, if the complaints are valid, and Facebook's two-stage strategy to avoid a larger backlash

It's already starting. Facebook has begun converting users to its newly redesigned site and the complaints are coming strong. Since I am one of the few who does not yet have the new Facebook - call it Facebook envy, I can't actually comment on the new design and if the design changes are actually worthy of the complaints that it has been receiving. However, I did some thinking about why every time Facebook makes any sort of redesign, the 'I want my old Facebook back' users come out of the woodwork.

Fear of the New
From a designer's point-of-view the Facebook site has been consistently rather bland and melancholy. From the images of the redesign it seems to follow suit proving that the design itself isn't necessarily the issue. What I find the most entertaining about the complaints, they seem to come from the same people who complained after the last Facebook facelift. And, in six to eight months when they do another facelift, those will be the same people who want the current version back. It is fear of the new.

Size and age of the User
To a certain extent it is Facebook's size that is a problem. Not only the size but the age of its users. I think that it is safe to say that the younger generations will have an easier time adapting to change than older generations. The younger the user the less likely they are to be stubborn to change and will also have better odds of being able to adapt to the new technology. It is the nature of the beast.

Over the last year, the percentage of total Facebook users who were 13-17 years old dropped nearly 3%, the 18-24 age bracket dropped 15%, 25-34 group 2% while the 35-54 age bracket jumped 15%, and the 55+ jumped 8% and are the largest growth percentage at 922.7%. Younger generations are leaving Facebook for other forms of social networking and older (and in all likelihood less tech-savvy) generations are embracing Facebook which is a contributor to the backlash.

User Interface
Another important contributor I talk about in so many of my posts, the idealogy of ignorance. Users who are used to a certain User Interface (UI) have a habit of instantly hating a new UI simply because they don't understand it. Let's be realistic, Facebook is a monster company at this point. Does anyone really think that they just brought in the neighborhood kid who knows HTML to design their Web site in exchange for pizza money? No, they hired trained professionals who have been working in the business of UI, usability, development, and design for years. They have studied what works and what doesn't work and will base redesigns on those experiences. However, users who are used to a certain UI will rebel and state that it doesn't work to their liking until they get used to it and then will forget about the old UI.

Valid Complaints and The Two-Stage Redesign
Now, to be fair, I have read a few articles that have stated that the preliminary backlash of the new design is nowhere near the ramifications of the March, 2009 redesign which users lost their minds. The arguments that I've heard that Facebook is taking less control from the user and, in turn, are forcing the user's hand into privacy holes are valid. Especially those users who are inexperienced and wouldn't even think about adjusting their privacy settings with concerns of 'breaking Facebook'.

I use the 'breaking Facebook' example because, after a decade of teaching, that has been a statement I hear consistently from inexperienced users. "Change your cookie settings for better privacy," I will say in an Intro to Internet class and will hear the reply, "I don't want to break the Internet." "Adjust Microsoft Word to not change quotes to Smart Quotes," I will say when teaching Office and will hear, "I don't want to break Word." It is a user mentality that adjusting the default settings will make the program inoperable. Facebook has unfairly used that to their advantage by making the defaults of the privacy settings looser than they should knowing that some users will be reluctant to change them with fears that they will no longer be able to use Facebook.


In my opinion, to avoid a backlash like they got in early 2009, Facebook's redesign came in two stages. Facebook made the privacy changes a few months prior to the Web redesign with the hopes of avoiding a more powerful backlash, and it worked. Make changes to the privacy settings and deal with a small backlash then once users are used to the changes, redesign the site to work better with the adjusted privacy settings and deal with a small backlash due to the redesign. Smaller backlashes are safer and easier to deal with and will get less press. Facebook has been threatened by users for the last six years that users will boycott and move on to another social networking site. However, the numbers haven't shown that users are holding true to their threat. Twitter's numbers have stalled and MySpace continues to bleed users. For the time being, Facebook is king - and they want to keep it that way.

All in all, the redesign (and its backlash) are a necessary evil. Web sites need to be redesigned in order to keep it fresh and to stay on top of current trends. If you are concerned about Facebook's privacy defaults, check 'Tell Google to Stop Searching your Facebook Page' here and 'Update your Facebook Privacy Already' here and then rest easy that your privacy is better protected.