Everybody hates it when Facebook does a layout change; it seems that, pretty regularly, we’ll sign into Facebook and see that it has been completely disorganized. And, just when we’ve got a handle of it, it seems like they’ve done it all over again. Of course, the whole internet gets into an uproar for a little while with each change, but we all keep using Facebook and we all keep complaining.
Everybody hates it when Facebook does a layout change; it seems that, pretty regularly, we’ll sign into Facebook and see that it has been completely disorganized. And, just when we’ve got a handle of it, it seems like they’ve done it all over again. Of course, the whole internet gets into an uproar for a little while with each change, but we all keep using Facebook and we all keep complaining.
However, while we may find these changes to Facebook annoying, they serve a purpose: Facebook makes its money through advertising, so we can be assured that each change has been carefully calculated to increase clicks on ads. They’re making more money, so it isn’t actually a random change.
I use Facebook as the example because they’re the most famous, but, other pages make changes like this as well. The most recent change with which I had to deal was on Google, which changed the name of “Google Docs” to “Google Drive” (technically, Google Drive is a separate service that now includes Google Docs, but if you want to get to Google Docs, you need to click on Google Drive). I’m sure I was warned, at some point, that the name change was going to happen, but I never noticed it; one day I just came into the office and I couldn’t find the folder I needed nor could several of my coworkers. For a few minutes, it looked as though all our files were gone.
Now, this is a momentary inconvenience, and could say that we are at fault for not being more observant. But, my question is: what does Google have to gain by changing the name of one of its utilities? I suppose it does make sense for Google Docs to be part of Google Drive, but if people have grown to expect something the same way, good product design suggest you should keep it the same unless you have a very compelling reason; if you woke up tomorrow and the numbers on your phone suddenly went from 9 to 1 instead of the other way around, you would be annoyed, confused, and inconvenienced.
So, my question to Google is: why the change? You’re not making any more money this way. It doesn’t make for a fuller user experience. It’s just change for the sake of change. In product design, that’s a bad thing. I humbly request that Google get off the layout change bandwagon and stick to making products that everybody uses.
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