(no subject)

[kirstenl4w]

OK, so the wait while the ads on LJ show themselves is frustrating, but at least when I go to read my friends page, I see everything. Facebook, on the other hand, is driving me to drink. An "algorithm" decides what I need to see in my live feed. I've tried adding people in through the "edit options" so I can see everything, and it still doesn't change it. Then I'll refresh, and as if by magic, everything is there. Another refresh and it disappears. I don't understand - I don't understand how to get to see everything I want, because it doesn't work when I follow the directions, I don't understand why FB feels the need to constantly fuck with things, and I don't understand why they aren't losing their user base left and right because of all this shit.

I give up for now. I need chocolate. And a drink, but I'm still at work.

Comments

[meramoo.livejournal.com]

speaking as someone in the industry,

I think they're going to lose a lot of traffic until they fix this, and probably lose some permanently. I'm very surprised that they didn't test this more thoroughly, it's very unprofessional of them. That said, the trend lately has been towards incremental changes instead of big releases, because people gravitate towards what they are familiar with. My whole field is about figuring out what users' expectations are, and how to design to that.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

Maybe FB should hire you because they obviously don't listen to their users. I think FB is like the AOL of today - too many people using it who don't know what the heck they're doing. Instead of taking their business elsewhere or filing a proper complaint (I did submit a comment to FB regardign this), they make a group called "The new changes in FB suck and I'm leaving unless they change it back" then tens of thousands of people join the group, which defeats the purpose of the message.

I myself have just about had it with FB but two things keep me from leaving: it's still a great way, and sometimes the only way to keep up with people, and since I've got a pretty good stronghold on my user name, I don't want to give that up.

[meramoo.livejournal.com]

Hm, I wonder if they have a usability group...

[pom-e-granate.livejournal.com]

It's driving me freaking nuts. And I still haven't been switched over to the "new" system. The old one is just...broken now. Awesome.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

Just wait, you'll get switched over when you least expect it.

It just occurred to me that their algorithm has a major flaw. If in fact they give more visibility to items that get more comments, and people who are more active, then those people on our friends list who aren't as active or who don't get as many comments on their items will eventually never be seen, therefore defeating the entire purpose of Facebook as a networking site. The algorithm just lets the so-called rich get richer. I really think they should give that control back to the user, and let us opt out of seeing certain people or applications.

[meramoo.livejournal.com]

Your logic is impeccable!

[pom-e-granate.livejournal.com]

I've got it now. It sucks!!! I don't understand how to make it work like I want it to.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

Yeah, major issues. I'll probably write out a more well-rounded post on my blog later tonite, just help spread the message about how bad the changes suck.

[ziola.livejournal.com]

I don't even mind the new format, but the fact that sometimes when I reload I get all new content, but if I reload again immediately it says that nobody's posted in hours drives me crazy! What's wrong with their database?

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm getting too. I also don't mind the new layout so much, and that's not what I'm having an issue with. It's the feed problem, and it doesn't even happen on a regular basis. Sometimes you just get lucky when refreshing, other times not.

[ziola.livejournal.com]

My husband blames "the cloud". When Person A posts it goes first to one server and is farmed out to the others from there. If Person B then reloads and gets a server to which Person A's message hasn't yet arrived, Person B sees nothing.

I know cloud computing is "the way of the future" and whatnot, but this sucks.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

Nah, I still think it's this pseudo-popularity thing that FB is trying out.

[missalleysun.livejournal.com]

CRAZY making. I almost cried in Panera because damnit, I just could not find what I needed to find. I was in a hurry and this morning, it was all where it was supposed to be. I use fbook primarily as a way of keeping in touch with the high schoolers that I work with in my volunteer orgs. They don't respond to my calls or emails but they facebook me like no one's business. If I can't see their stuff or get caught up on them easily, then I don't need fbook.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should submit a comment to them about this. If you use FB as a tool for work, and they change things and basically take that tool away, then they need to know about it.

[missalleysun.livejournal.com]

That LJ ad is going to make me lose my mind. My computer is slow so I can't even look at anything else while I wait. The pinwheel just spins and spins and spins....rawr.

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and thank Facebook for all their fucked-up crap. It's making me realize that the LJ ad isn't so much of an issue because I can still use LJ exactly the way I want to.

[guivers.livejournal.com]

How are you even commenting FB? They don't provide any contact info, so how are you putting in complaints?

I haven't seen these issues, primarily because I'm not on FB often, but yeah, the popularity thing is ludicrous. The people I WANT to keep up on are like-minded people who don't FB very often, so I still won't get their info if the feed is volume-based. That sounds SO STUPID. So everyone will be getting updated with the folks who are all "Now I'm brushing my teeth." "Off to work." "Driving to work." "Stopped at the lights." etc. Gah!

[kirstenl4w.livejournal.com]

I think I went through the suggestion part of the help section - it was all I could find.

That's exactly my point about the popularity issue. My cousin has daily posts that are basically, "School then work. Call meh later." I'd rather have a choice in whether or not I see this, and whether or not I see the person who only pops in once every few weeks. The instructions on having control over what I see aren't having the desired results, since I still can't see EVERYTHING.