Facebook: 'Friends' and 'Only Friends' don't mean the same thing?
Mikey 6 comments
Maybe I'm a little too close to this whole usability philosophy, given my day job as a web designer sees me making things as easy as they can be for users.
But when I logged into Facebook just now I was presented with what I can only describe as a confusing choice to make.
The screen shot above asks me if I want to make certain details available to friends, or available to only friends. I didn't realise there was a difference. Or it could be I'm not seeing an obvious distinction between these 2 options - or maybe Facebook just dropped the usability ball.
Anyway, I know I would have presented these options a lot differently. So for now, I'm still unclear what to do because as I see it, both options mean the same thing.
It still amazes me that companies the size of Facebook still show signs of not having consulted with a UI/Usability person. They're not the only ones (I'm looking at you Google), but seriously anyone can see that users shouldn't be presented with choices that make no sense.
End rant.
andrew
Saturday 12th December 2009 | 03:48 PMmaybe it should read friends and acquaintances
Jack
Saturday 12th December 2009 | 04:17 PMI'll admit at first I was also confused when confronted with that, however I quite like Facebook's new privacy setup. You can customize the settings alot more on the privacy settings page:
Also the ability to set who can and cant see each individual wall post is handy. No complaints from me, first Facebook update Ive really liked straight away.
Jack
Saturday 12th December 2009 | 04:26 PMOn a second note, I'd suspect the reason we were both confronted with such a confusing choice, is because our old settings were the same as the new recommended settings. If a user had specified previously that people other than friends could access their information, the "Old Settings" wouldn't have conflicted with the new recommended settings.
My next theory would be maybe they've simply given "Old Settings as an option to users it doesnt effect, to stop the typical user outrage that follows after a Facebook update. Regardless of whether theres any difference between the options, it keeps people happy knowing they "have a choice" to avoid change.
Mikey
Saturday 12th December 2009 | 07:01 PM...in response to this comment by Jack. Agreed. They could have made it much easier - one question - "use new privacy settings?"
A "n0" response would keep things as is, a "yes" response would present them with the new options.
Kim OJ
Sunday 13th December 2009 | 12:59 AMMy problem was that it kept prompting me to edit my privacy settings after I had already do it a few times over.
Mikey
Saturday 12th December 2009 | 12:26 PMIt turns out even the Facebook founder was confused by the new privacy 'enhancements'.