Facebook Boycott Called as Millions Blast New Design
From the article “Facebook Boycott Called as Millions Blast New Design,” it’s interesting that those who oppose the new Facebook layout are using the tool to form groups to protest. I suppose this is a love/hate relationship…you like the concept of the tool, but prefer it work the way you want, what does that say about the character of the users? This is ironic and similar to the printing press analogy Shirky mentions in the beginning of his book “Here Comes Everybody.” What is also amusing is Facebook itself is a vehicle for this sort of organize group activity, so is this a win-win situation for Facebook? What if they don’t change, will they risk loosing a large portion of their 100 million users, or will users join the boycott then just adapt?
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Subscribe to Comments
Follow us on Twitter
Get email updates
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
Cindy Wong
I’m a Facebook user and I signed the petition (along with joining a facebook redesign protest group) for the whole 3 secs it took me to do so. Don’t forget, Facebook has shot itself in the foot before by antagonizing its user base *cough* Facebook Beacon campaign anyone?
Oct 1st, 2008
brook
Site redesigns always result in enormous amounts of user frustration. It doesn’t matter how great the improvements are, people complain because it’s different.
When we launched the redesign of REI.com on May 28, our hope was that sales would be back to pre-redesign levels by Christmas. Since I left REI, I don’t have access to the numbers. My guess is that the improvements were so great, and so many of them would attract new users (improved usability, vastly better search engine visibility) that the sales returned much faster.
The big problem with the Facebook redesign is that it was hard to find stuff on the site before, and it’s still hard. So they alienated the existing user base without doing anything to make it better for new users.
Oct 1st, 2008
rita.rogers
I have no qualms with the redesign, but I’ve also been using it for the past few months and thus have grown accustom. I am sure some users do indeed feel alienated but to what extent? Is it time for those who are so upset over the redesign to “evacuate?” Somehow I don’t think that will catch on and it is only a matter of time before something else comes up to ruffle users feathers and create more petitions, groups, etc.
“evacuate”: http://vimeo.com/370846
beacon / new counsel: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10053364-36.html?tag=mncol;txt
Oct 1st, 2008
Arizona Eaglefeather
My biggest cry about Facebook and its unethical business practices has to do with there lack of help from their so called ‘Help Center”. You can never get answers to problems you are having with their site. They disable accounts of members without either notification or a reasonable explaination of why the account is being disabled. I have had two family members who have done nothing wrong had their accounts disabled. They have no recourse with facebook because they can never get in touch with anyone to explain why.So if they will not listen to their members and address their concerns, I guess the best way to get their attention is to boycott any advertiser on facebook. Facebook has annointed themselves as the new ‘Internet Gastpo.’ Facebook was made by its members and as any company in the past it can also be made to fail by those same members.
Mar 4th, 2011
Reply to “Facebook Boycott Called as Millions Blast New Design”