Jun 29th, 2007
facebook Fixes IT?
Ah ha!!
The facebook “story types adjustment “equalizer”” solves a problem and demonstrates that the cluttering problems that many have complained about (with just about every successful social networking tool out there) are actually quite fixable. And fixable in a way that can be intuitive. Wow! Don’t you love big brains in action? This isn’t the ultimate solution to be sure, but it shows that there are rock solid legitimate solutions to this problem that are readily accessible and understandable to general users of social software. This stuff is going to drive how we use the internet for a long, long while, and that is GOOD.
facebook is on top right now for quite a few reasons and this is yet another example of why. Good on ya’ facebook!
*update*
Some wondered if this “equalizer” really worked, so I took a screenshot showing that after it was launched (yesterday or today) my feed was sparse and text. Shortly after I adjust my settings, you can see the more dynamic content returning to my home page (these are the posts towards the top with pictures, etc). Please note the typo that says “storytimes” instead of story types. It was ten years ago that I was a Children’s Librarian, but those days happily never really leave you.
Maybe a good step, but still far from perfect . . . one big problem off the bat: feedback. Whereas with sliders on a soundboard we can immediately hear the aural response to their movements, with Facebook’s sliders we really have no way to immediately gauge their sensitivity, and thus can’t calibrate our settings in a short span of time. (Even after I change the sliders, when I return home, nothing has changed — presumably this will kick in over time.) Thus we’re left to tweak over time — and who really cares about their Facebook News Feed page enough to go back time and again? There needs to some quantitative measure involved. Or, better yet, a live preview.
This gripe aside, nice concept. I think we need to put Norman in as a pinch runner at third.
Agreed, and I expected to get thoughtful, observant, and greatly welcome comments like yours.
I concur with your observations, but if we could add the “equalizer” (in general concept, not in exact interface) to the facebook dev. platform apps and tweak profile and home page appearances as we wish, well then we would really be in business.
I expect they’ll keep working it till they get it right though and imagine there may even be two or three different types of “tweaking” interfaces to choose from at some point. It is the first time I’d seen an approach like this though and it is something I’d been thinking on pretty intently for the last couple of weeks (usually as I was drifting off to sleep).
It’s an exciting time…
Very nice, gives me a lot of inspiration being right in the midst of a redesign. It’s all in the details and comment forms are definitely overlooked more often than not. Time well spent on this post. This is a very good idea! Just want to say thank you for the information, you have to share. Just continue to write such a position. I will be your faithful reader. Thank you again.
I am expectant some wonderful idea from your side. You for ever and a day place for some new view in your post
Great way to talk about this. i come back and wanna read more