No, no, I know what Facebook is, and I consider myself pretty adept at using it. Facebook the company confuses me. More specifically, Facebook’s designers confuse me.
I suppose the thing that baffles me most is that they don’t utilize the full width of a 1024×768 screen. Their current design creates just a bit of horizontal scrolling on an 800×600 screen. The simple addition of an extra column where applications could reside would alleviate most of problems with overly cluttered profiles. Even all of the empty space underneath the ad in the left-most column could be used for this.
Instead, Facebook’s designers are leaning towards a multi-tabbed layout that would effectively hide a great deal of the information available on a profile. I have quite a few applications installed, but I have them there because I want to paint a picture of my online and offline activity for my friends. I’d prefer this picture not be hidden. I am an active Internet user, so I have the Del.icio.us and Digg applications on my profile. I have a YouTube video player so that my friends can see some of the videos I produce for work. I have the notes app configured to import my blog posts, a posted items box, et cetera. I’ve got the Obama application installed, which is fairly important to me considering I’ve spent a couple of weekends in other states volunteering for the Obama campaign. In other words, my profile is not just a random collection of crap but a carefully crafted picture of my life, both personal and professional, online and off.
I would love to have the tools to make this picture sharper and more focused, but I don’t want to be told what can and cannot be a part of the picture, what is and is not important. I’m not looking for a MySpace like experience. I don’t need to be able to style my profile any way I want. I prefer a simple, orderly layout, but I most definitely want to be able to choose the content that fills this layout.
I know this sounds like I don’t like Facebook. In fact, the opposite is true: I like Facebook a great deal. I use it every day. I just want it to continue to be a place where friends can see who I am, not just the fun facts about me that others deem relevant. Facebook has a page where you can see the proposed changes, and you can send your feedback (and ideas) to profilespreview@facebook.com.
