On Wednesday, Facebook’s 750 million+ users awoke to find some striking changes on their social media pages. And what was their reaction?
Thousands of people immediately posted their “dislike” to Facebook’s “improvements”. And the biggest gripes for users appear to be the new layout of the page and the items in their newsfeed.
After years of famously ignoring its users’ requests for more control over their page items, Facebook apparently decided that the solution is for Facebook to decide what news is interesting and relevant to each user.
The result is that thousands of people can’t find the news and information from friends and businesses that they want to see. That’s because Facebook’s algorithm serves up an arbitrary combination of updates and activity based on who the user interacted with most recently.
And here’s the problem: The algorithm seems to assume that all Facebook users are glued to their pages, every waking minute of the day, and commenting madly on everything of even the most passing interest.
This is what is known as a “Facebook FAIL”. Let me explain…
Like most of us, I like to use Facebook to keep up with far-flung family and friends. But I also like to interact with people the “old-fashioned” way – in person! Which means I’m not glued to Facebook every waking minute.
I guess that means I’m not cool enough for Facebook to figure me into their algorithm possibilities…
And like many other Facebook users put it: “I want the stories I choose, not what they choose for me!”
The irony is that not all these changes are bad. In fact, some of them do give Facebook users more control over what’s visible on their page, or who can see what they post.
But, ironically, Facebook forgot that their users are creating their own communities on Facebook; a place where they feel valued, listened to, and safe. Their page is their “comfort zone” – and they like it that way.
By not communicating their intentions, and making their changes without notifying users, Facebook is basically expecting people to be happy about being jerked out of their comfort zone.
They’re not.
Worse, in spite of the fact that some of the changes are exactly what people have been asking for, the company appears to not be listening to its users. So now, instead of happy users who feel valued and appreciated, they have a mostly angry mob.
Yet, it’s so easy to take a moment to listen, really listen, to what people want and need. In fact, one of the most frequent comments we hear from transferees and companies we work with, is that we took the time to listen and understand their unique relocation situation.
For us, it’s just how we do business, and we couldn’t imagine treating people any other way. After all, if we had to pick up and move away from our familiar neighborhood and friends, we’d want to work with someone who understood that we are leaving our “comfort zone”.
It only takes a little extra time, and a little extra caring to make that connection. But it seems that more and more, making that small effort seems to happen less and less. Even when it’s online, and not in the “real world”.
As for Facebook… they’re planning on rolling out even more changes over the next few days. Let’s see if they learned anything from this adventure! What do you think?
