Facebook, I got lost in your redesign!

Facebook just relaunched their site with a new and (supposedly) improved interaction design.

This has completely ruined the user experience for me.
OK, I admit it: the reason I like Facebook is because it satisfies my inner gossip streak to follow my friends’ lives without direct verbal or physical interaction.

When on Facebook I don’t read all the messages, take quizzes or nudge/vampirebite/top friend rate people. I rarely zap around on my friends profiles. I visit the site almost every day, sometimes more than once, and I do the same thing every time.

On every visit, I check the feed that shows who has updated their photos. This used to be the fastest most satisfying way of staying abreast with developments in the outer circuits of my social sphere. Looking at the pictures people upload gives me a lot more information about them than reading what they say they do.

For example I can see that the girl I only talked to once but really liked had a hen party, and is getting married. I can follow the developing looks of the kid my son used to play with when they were in the same day care at 7 months old and I know that my nephew’s new techno-pants look exactly as hideous as his mother has told me and that he is an excellent dancer

…all useful information that I get through just a few clicks.

However, with Facebook’s new interaction design my beloved photo stream feature changed drastically:

1. I had big difficulties finding the photo stream at all because the link had moved from right to left on my front page
2. The stream in itself has become less efficient form a navigation perspective because it shows fewer icons above the fold of my screen and I have to scroll to get an overview.
3. Furthermore, the page that shows the photostream has become messier. It shows more comments and text and if one of your friends has a habit of uploading one picture at a time these one-shots will dominate the screen entirely, whereas a whole string of holiday photos will take much less room.

I don’t know what lead the Facebook team to redesign the way they did, but at least I, and the  232 other members who have so far joined the Facebook group: “New Facebook Design Sucks” agree that it completely clashes with our habits.

I think one reason the fan group of the new design is currently bigger than the protest group I joined might be that many fellow annoyed users have simply given up on the community entirely…

This all goes to show that a redesign can be good, but that it will always displease some of the users. On my behalf it will be interesting to see if this is the end of my life as a Facebook user or if the content is killer enough to for me to invest the extra clicks and scrolls.

When it comes to interaction design, I can only say that it is tricky business, which is why I have invited Donna Spencer to do a Masterclass on interaction design in Copenhagen in June.

What do you think of the new Facebook design?