Is Facebook Cheating Its Users?

I’m a business person. I understand Facebook’s need to make a profit. But I also understand that in order to make a profit, you have to know who your customers are and keep the focus on them. Facebook seems to be forgetting this important rule.

In my post Evolution of Social Networks, I argued that the social networks, Facebook among them, need to recognize that Business is a key customer–and the one that is going to pay the bills.  Facebook has clearly recognized this fact. I also said that the networks need to walk a fine line between balancing the needs of business with the needs of users. That’s where FB is falling down.

Facebook’s New UI and Privacy Settings

Facebook changed their default privacy settings and introduced it in such a way as to encourage users to make themselves and their posts as visible as possible, open to everyone. They succeeded, with 65% of people taking the default settings, untouched.

Now, they’ve changed their UI, with the new design driven in large part by business needs. They’ve made applications and games more visible, by moving them to the left pane. They’ve added Credit Balance to the Accounts menu, making their virtual currency offerings more discoverable and manageable. They’ve made notifications (which apps and pages use) more visible, via the red numbers and the placement in the menu bar.

These aren’t necessarily bad things, and there are certainly some good things in the redesign–like making it easy to see who is online, along with having common options such as Messages and Photos to the left.

News Feed versus Most Recent

Unfortunately, Facebook has also done away with the Live Feed. Now, they have “Most Recent.” As an end-user (and a usability person), it’s unclear to me whether I am seeing all of my friends’ posts in this feed. That wasn’t completely clear with the name “Live Feed,” either. Now, it’s even harder to understand, from the name, what we’re seeing in that feed. 

According to Facebook, the News Feed algorithm uses factors such as “how many friends are commenting on a certain piece of content, who posted the content, and what type of content it is (e.g. photo, video, or status update)….In addition to posts from your friends, you’ll see photo tags, friend requests, event RSVPs and group memberships in the Top News and Most recent streams on your home page.” According to a number of recent posts, Facebook gives emphasis to links and videos.

When I look at my News Feed, I see a lot of info about groups and fan pages my friends have joined. I see info from various business pages I’ve fanned. I see a lot of “so-and-so has friended so-and-so” or “so-and-so commented on so-and-so.” But I don’t see the expanded comments nor all the posts my friends have made.  I can see them in the Most Recent feed. In the News Feed, the friend info seems to be abbreviated. The items that promote groups, fan pages, or that highlight connections people have made are prominent in the News Feed.

In Facebook, Business Comes First?

That benefits businesses, but not me as a user. Facebook knows full well that the bulk of their 400M users are on the site to connect with and keep up-to-date with friends, not businesses. Its default experience should support that user goal. The News Feed should highlight friend posts and info, not business and game info.

Sure, you can control what appears in the News Feed to some extent. However, any good user experience person knows that you should design for the user’s primary goals, and your default experience should support those goals.

I’m all for Facebook providing features and venues to benefit businesses–but not at the expense of users. As I discussed in my Evolution post, the goal is to find the sweet spot: where the needs of business and the needs of users align, and optimize for it. Short of that, Facebook should find ways to incentivize and entice people to use features that benefit business. Cheating your core customers isn’t the right approach.