Why Users Have a Right to Complain about Facebook's Layout Changes

Last night, I received the new version of the Facebook user interface. In my mind, it unnecessarily clutters the UI and presents an inferior user experience. This is the assessment of Facebook's changes that I posted on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter:

After thinking about it some more, here's my assessment of the new Facebook layout: it's the user interface equivalent of Tourette's Syndrome - loud, random, and vulgar.

While there have been many news reports that I was not alone in my dislike of the new layout, some people argued that, since Facebook is a free service, users have no basis to complain about changes. One of my friends who I respect posted this point of view on Google+, and I respectfully disagreed. Here is my thinking about why users have right to compalin about Facebook's layout changes:

 I completely agree with the essence of what you're saying. Facebook is a free service in that we don't pay a direct cost to use it. However, like television, Facebook does make money on advertising, and that advertising only has value based on the number of users who use the service. Facebook also sells our personal information to other parties and probably has a legal right to use any of "my" data that I put on the site. So, while users don't pay to use Facebook, Facebook does profit from user activity.

Therefore, I think Facebook has a responsibility to its customers (i.e., users) when it comes to making changes to the service. The best analogy I can think of is a city park. While I don't have to pay to use the park, it is supported by the property taxes of the people who live in the surrounding area. If he park decided to get rid of the basketball courts, cut down half the trees, and put up statues celebrating the Klu Klux Klan, one could argue, "Well, you don't have to pay to use the park so why complain?" However, if the residents decided to move somewhere else, then the park will decline in value and, eventually, cease to exist.

Comments

[lubomir1991]

I like new facebook interface, it is really good and more usable!
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