Why Does Social Media Hurt My Eyes?
Answer? Organization.
Social media systems offer amazing new ways for people to connect, share and collaborate. Many of these I simply can’t live without. But for as much as I heart shiny Web 2.0 icons, the actual page structures and visual organization of social media sites drive me crazy. They’re hurting my ability to convince intelligent people that indeed these sites DO have value once you get past their eclectic, glossy mish-mash of logos and gradients. I think many people (especially above the age of 40 who, not by coincidence, make a majority of an organization’s spending & strategic decisions) see these sites we love as jumbled, overwhelming messes and simply give-up.
In the “old” days of Web 1.0, smart web developers followed the mantra: Form follows function. Anything displayed on a web page was, in theory, to help the user most efficiently use the website. Except for the turds who made all their money on banner ads and made you click through unnecessary levels of Dante’s hell. Page designs and navigation used to be based on the prioritization of information; graphics were used to help visually coach a person though your website. This became especially important in the late 1990’s when search engines linked people deep into your website instead of conveniently dropping them off at the front door (homepage). Knowing this, we had to create navigation and page labels that were intuitively obvious. The goal? Anyone could immediately determine where they were on a site at any time. To me, the greatest compliment was “this site was SO easy to use, I found exactly what I wanted.”
Fast forward 10 years to 2008. Facebook has over 70-million users yet their “new and improved” interface is underwhelming at best. The visual hierarchy sort’ve makes sense to users already familiar with the system; the untold number of icons/buttons/flair mean something if you take the time to learn. But to new users, the interface is unwelcoming and cumbersome.
Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr (to name but a few at the tip of the iceberg) are popular because they showcase user submitted materials. The spirt is free form — I get that. But the site architecture, design and resulting navigation need to be more structured and obvious. People are too busy to play Where’s Waldo when they click into a website.
Usability experts must be absolutely licking their chops right now. There’s so much work to be done and so much potential to make these popular sites even better. Done correctly, good usability blends into the background of the user experience. People know where they are, where to click and what to do. It’s comfortable to them. They feel at home. If you’re building a community, isn’t it all about building one home at a time?
Until then, I’ll continue my digital gold panning through the muck and muddy waters with the hope that I’ll find the mother lode: a site that marries technology and design so seamlessly that I know where to go and what to do at all times.
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Comments
David: Yah, Facebook took a hop in the right direction with its recent redesign, but it’s still clearly an engineering driven look and feel. They’re the Choo Choo Charlie driving the social media train right now. Design and usability fueled the iPhone’s success. Why not for go for a similar moonshot for the world’s hottest social networking system?
David Griner on August 11, 2008 @ 9:44 am
I still feel like I’m somewhat alone in the woods on the issue of Facebook’s redesign. I thought it brought a much better intuitive feel to the network. When I need to find things now, it rarely takes much guess work.
It has its drawbacks, sure, but I was surprised how many people bashed it relentlessly when it really did make the daily experience easier — at least for the casual Facebooker.
Oh, and golf clap for the best headline I’ve seen in a while.