Let me start this out by saying that I’m the guy who typically makes fun of people for complaining about chances to the user interface of their favorite website or social service. I understand that human beings typically don’t like change, and even if the change will eventually be beneficial to them, it is uncomfortable and something to rebel against.

Today, I’m going to be that guy and put forth an argument against Facebook’s latest user experience overhaul. Why? Because my Facebook feed just became inundated with updates from brands and businesses. Facebook has spun it in a different way, and perhaps this wasn’t their intent, but my user experience was drastically altered for the worse when I logged in this morning.  

Past Redesigns Resulted In Better Feed Optimization

As Facebook rolled out past redesigns (which were often met with user backlash), I didn’t blink. I trusted that these guys knew what they were doing, and when the “top news” and “most recent” filters were introduced, my feed became optimized. Frequently interacted friends showed up in the “top news” feed and all other updates showed up in the spam feed (otherwise known as “most recent news”). It was smart, it was efficient and I rarely missed the updates I cared about.  Unfortunately for Facebook, it also meant that I spent a LOT less time on the site, generating WAY fewer impressions (and ad dollars) clicking around to various pages. It also meant that brand page updates (the people holding those valuable ad dollars) were essentially filtered out of my feed. I was getting value out of Facebook, but I don’t think Facebook was getting much value out of me. 

“Smart Lists” - A Pre-Cursor To De-Optimization

After the introduction of “smart lists” last week, I suddenly noticed WAY more updates from random brands (and people) that I had friended or liked at some point, but rarely interacted with. While it was annoying, I recognized that I had made the choice to “like” those brands or “friend” those people, so instead of complaining, I simply utilized the new user interace to recreate my former optimization. 

For the people I had “friended,” I was able to adjust my subscription settings (all updates, most updates, only important updates) and add them to the proper lists - essentially creating silos to filter the noise. When it came to the brands and businesses I “liked,” I was faced with a tough choice - on or off. Officially, the options for brand updates became: “hide all updates” or, if I wanted to click through to their brand page “unlike.” Filtering types of posts I’d like to see wasn’t an option, and adding them to a list wasn’t either. Still, I held out hope that with enough tweaking of subscription settings for real people and by putting the right people in my “close friends” list, my “top news” feed would eventually be optimized. 

Interesting News Any Time I Visit? Not So Much

And then today’s Facebook user interface overhaul was unveiled. Suddenly, my spam feed (“recent news”) was gone forever, replaced by Facebook’s supposed curation of “top news” (based on the status updates they think I want to read based on the timing of my last visit). Facebook explained the changes, calling them “interesting news any time you visit.”  All I see is a bunch of news that I don’t want to see, much of it from brand or business pages that I follow. EDIT (9/21, 11:30 AM): I just realized that there is another new option for posts that appear in the newsfeed “mark as top story.” I assume this is an attempt at allowing some control over brand status updates, but there still isn’t a “mark as uninteresting story” option. Does “hide story” train my newsfeed? That is yet to be seen. 

I still have the ability to utilize my lists to see what is important to me, but by definition, it is less efficient, because it is an extra click. In addition to the unoptimized feed, I was also bombarded with an always on, real-time news ticker as part of the chat sidebar. This is good in theory - maybe I’ll see a conversation a friend is having and want to chime in. Unfortunately, it is essentially a fire hose, and one that prominently features all of the brand page status updates that are happening in real time. Sure, users can simply hide that sidebar with the click of a button, but then the chat bar also disappears.  

Solutions, Not Problems

I’ve done enough complaining, here are some solutions for everybody: 

For Users: 

• Take some time and go through your friends list. Adjust the subscription settings. Facebook is “giving you more control” (instead of just being smart), allowing you to define who you want to see more of. Take advantage of it. 
• Sort through ALL of the pages that you’ve liked at one point or another, and decide if you still want to “like” them (it isn’t easy to find the place to do this, so I offered step-by-step instructions in a Facebook post back in August). Unfortunately, there isn’t a place on the brand page to “hide all posts,” so if you’re not ready to “unlike” them yet, you’ll have to wait until a post from that brand shows up in your news feed to take that action. 

For Brands: 

• Consider posting less frequently for the next couple of weeks.  Sure, more eyeballs are going to be on your status updates in the near term, but you also run the risk of people “hiding all posts” by your brand if they’re like me and want an optimized news feed. 
• Make your status updates count. Put forth the most engaging content you have right now and get people interested and interacting with your page. Don’t give them any reason to “hide all posts”

For Facebook: 

• This is a SOCIAL service, where humans want to connect with humans (and some also want to connect with brands that somehow offer value to their lives). Allow users the ability to adjust their subscription level for brands, and also add them to lists. On or off isn’t user friendly, and it forces tough decisions. That’s not social. EDIT (9/21, 11:30 AM): As I mentioned in an update above, “mark as top story” is now an option for all status updates, including those by brands. While this is a step in the right direction, it still doesn’t allow complete control of the newsfeed. If “hide story” works to train my newsfeed, this needs to be made more clear. 

I love that Facebook is always looking to move their service forward and keep it fresh.  They’re not afraid to fail, and as the saying goes, “if you’re gonna fail, fail fast.” Today, Facebook failed, but with a few tweaks by everyone, order will be restored.