The importance of evolution over revolution…. just ask Facebook
One thing Facebook has learnt in the last few days is the importance of incremental updates rather than one large revolution in design. In a recent survey 94% of Facebook users said they disliked the new site design and Facebook for the first time ever announced that they were listening to users and are going to change the site based on feedback. So what can we learn from this experience?
Most people don’t like change. Generally change is confusing, it’s scary and makes users feel stupid when they can’t find the things they’re used to. Small changes people can cope with. Users won’t like them but if everything else looks the same they can quickly figure out what they want to do.
Warning that changes are coming is a good step for getting your users prepared as well, providing a preview or telling people what will change reduces alarm and thus keeps people happy. Although Facebook probably wont have lost any users from its recent changes it loses goodwill and this is something difficult to regain.
Tagged as change, Facebook, History, increments, Social network, Web design, Web Design and Development + Categorized as Business, Design