blogonawire

New Facebook is here! And for once Facebook might actually be approaching this the right way. If you’re a veteran Facebooker I’m sure you remember the mini-feed fiasco a year or so ago. The mini-feed and news-feed both showed up one day, unannounced and unexpected. There was a universal uproar as privacy settings hadn’t been considered pre-launch and thousands of groups with titles like “mini-feed sucks!” and “the mini feed is for stalkers” popped up everywhere. Over time everyone settled down, privacy settings were added, and people learned how to hide the mini-feed and stop the news-feed if they wanted to (or maybe they just stopped posting incriminating things they didn’t want their boyfriend/girlfriend, boss or teacher to know about.) But a surprising amount of people, myself included, simply got used it. 

This time around they’re approaching this with a much better strategy in my opinion. They’re allowing users to opt in and out of the new format for a while. This lets people get used to the new way, send feedback about their dislikes, and switch back if they want to. Personally I switched into the new way for a day or two and after deciding I didn’t like it - I switched back. And that’s the beauty in it. When I switched back I immediately began to miss a few of the cool new features. I kept thinking things like “oh, well I liked that I could see just the wall and not have to scroll through everyone’s details first…” And you know what? I switched right back again.  

Really I think that more companies should consider this type of release style for any major update. The truth is that most people are initially resistant to change, so if you spring that change on them they are going to have an equal and opposite reaction - of completely trashing it to everyone they talk to and complaining about it for months. But if you let them try it and then switch back, they’ll figure out on their own why the new way is better - and they’ll be back.

I have seen a few groups “Against Facebook Combining the Wall and Mini Feed” but recently they’ve been losing members. And yes, I’ve also seen some comments like “The new Facebook is weird” or a status like “X isn’t sure what to think about the new Facebook.” But the main thing to note is that people aren’t completely slamming it. They’re adjusting, and I give Facebook kudus for finally understanding that an adjustment period is necessary.