‘New Layout Vote‘, a Facebook application that is polling users on their response to the new Facebook homepage, is taking the social network by storm. The application is growing incredibly quickly, with 2,168,639 monthly active users, over one million votes and 560,000+ comments, the vast majority of which are overwhelmingly negative. Granted, there is a strong selection bias involved (people are more likely to add the application if they hate the new Facebook), but there’s no denying that a substantial number of Facebook users are not pleased with their new homepage.
Now the developers behind the application are up in arms over a new restriction that prevents users from inviting more than two of their friends to join the app, which severely hinders its ability to go viral. The following notice appears above the app:
Dear Facebook, we created this neutral and democratic vote because we love Facebook. Please stop trying to suppress the vote and muffle the voice of your users who desperately want to be heard. Let us know you are listening; let us exercise our right to vote and to invite our friends too.
Facebook says that the application fell prey to an automatic system designed to curb abuse on Facebook Platform (the system suspected that the app may have been created by fake users, and cut back on the number of invites alloted). This certainly sounds believable, as inserting the limits manually would have been a fairly boneheaded PR move.
Among other factors, our application reputation system looks for apps that could have been created by a user with a fake account. When our system flags a suspect application, its allocations are reduced until the application has cleared the system’s checks. Once an application has cleared the checks, the system adjusts the allocations appropriately.
We think this app is providing a lot of value to Facebook and users. It was flagged in the system but has since passed the checks and should see increases in its allocations.
The explanation fits, but given the publicity around the application, which is among the fastest growing Facebook applications ever, it seems surprising that nobody took the time to ensure that nothing like this happened.
What can I say? You get what you pay for…
right on
jess
http://www.yocial.com
To all the dudes who believe they have democratic rights on Facebook:
It’s a MONOPOLIST.
So do what you are told to do or STFU.
I think you mean tyranny… Monopolies don’t really have much to do with democracy, and Facebook certainly isn’t a monopoly on anything.
Shamess is correct that facebook doesn’t have any form of monopoly.. It’s an organization like any other, and the best way to let them know what your opinion of their service is, is not to “STFU”.
They have a need for users, and users have certain requirements for the site, no one’s saying that Facebook has to listen to that, just that it’s probably in their interest to. (I don’t really care, I’ve never been able to understand wtf is going on in facebook)
Facebook need some good PR people. They’re a PR train wreck.
Agreed. Instead of trying to buy out twitter, they should try to buy out twitter’s PR firm.
******clapping******* So true……
I second that!
Honestly Facebook PR was actually quite responsive about this.
I don’t think responsiveness is their problem.
Just because someone responds promptly to queries doesn’t make them efficient at their job.
Third!
Fourth
Fifth!
Fifty-eighth
This is the second post on TC advertising an application that was only made to exploit millions of users in installing the app. I bet in 10 days this app will start sending spam messages and ‘gifts’ to their user. Great job TC, you may now invest in these guys
“…an application that was only made to exploit millions of users in installing the app. I bet in 10 days this app will start sending spam messages and ‘gifts’ to their user…” Hahah! It’s a pity people aren’t more discerning… Personally, I have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to most app that wants me to ‘Allow Access’ just to post a comment or participate in a poll… I know that’s more the FB app system than the app dev’s issue though…
No it is not FB’s fault. In this case, the app developer could just ask the users to vote or leave a comment if all he wanted was a poll without requiring users to install the app.
He purposedly chose to make people install the app so that he acquires a huge user base. Smart trick – facebook apps have found gazillion ways to trick people to use them in the past, from ’save a tree’ type apps to pure spamming.
Actually facebook is right about their system. I know that out of experience. As for the app, the same thing happens every time facebook makes a change: thousands of groups spring up in ‘protest’
Who cares!? I generally think highly of TechCrunch, but this kind of coverage is just noise. It’s the same kind of noise the 24 hour news networks produce and Jon Stewart mocks.
igniman got it exactly right. The Facebook user base is fickle and has the attention span of my dead goldfish. Everytime something changes there is “outrage,” and TechCrunch is there to tell us all about it. And it’s always irrelevant!
I implore you, Mike and Erick, to filter your coverage down to what’s significant. That’s why I read TechCrunch. I want you guys to tell me what’s important because I can tell your smart guys who know what you’re talking about.
But this story is insignificant. So please, for my sake, the next time Facebook makes a UI change and < 1% of their user base gets upset, don’t make it news.
– Breck Fresen
This is a bigger deal than you think. FB is one of the most important media platforms in the world, and they just made things ugly for its most loyal customers.
If FB were a stock, it would be down 30% in a week.
Breck~
How can you tell if these guys are smart or not, when you’re not? Try these great technological advances called capital letters and spell check.
This looks even worse than the chaos the last redesign brought
yeah its right people cant get used to a change so easily..but ain’t it possible that FB allows user’s to decide for the layout of their homepage..i mean those who wish to might switch back to older version.That would be a fair alternative until FB wants to push all those crazy ads on users home page forcibly.
Sounds irrelevant to me. FB is not about the way their homepage is designed. It’s about the information flow. You are suggesting a second MySpace, and good heaven, let’s avoid that at all costs.
I happen to think that whenever you change an ecosystem, the organisms in it try to reject the change. FB has an entrenched user base and any level of change would trigger a similar response.
I wrote about the change issue on my blog.. perhaps it can color the debate some:
http://tinyurl.com/dnm7k5
perhaps… NOT!
They made it too cartoonish in a way. I liked the old homepage. Twitter is twitter. Facebook could of just copied some of the functionality without the drastic change in look. Even then support both versions. I know it is more work but we live in a world where we all have different perspectives, yet websites keep using this one size fits all idea because it easy…
I can see FB having point about stopping spam, but it should have done a little more testing FB new what this app was about and decided to put an end to it seems like it violates our web constitutional rights
given the strong bias because of users not adding the application I think that nullifies the poll completely. I for one don’t mind the change. I also don’t care about adding stupid excess applications. I believe that I’m not the only one who thinks like this and that there is a strong correlation there to be seen.
Of course you can’t really prove that correlation as easily.
I have five friends that have added the application and two of them review Facebook so it’s not like this will have the same effect as the Terms of Usage. That story made front page news where I don’t see this generating as much noise with the mainstream media unless it’s a slow news day!
Thx TC for supporting this protest against the new FB homepage – it def. sucks and hopefully will be returned to what is was before.
Therefore all you need is pressure – from outside and inside FB.
Thx, again
I wouldn’t say I support any protest against the new home page (I actually like it). I support the right to protest.
Their explanation is believable. My own account was disabled for supposedly being “fake”.
worst update ever
Facebook obviously wants to make Twitter dissapear after the failed buyout attempt. Now their ego is ruining their vision.
Best post of all!!
I find it interesting that the dude who created the free online dating site plentyoffish.com indicated in an interview that he created a basic website that general users can navigate. He doesn’t need anything more than 8 servers and certain things that aren’t “pleasing” to the eye (like the layout) color etc.. don’t matter. What matters is that it works, and changing minuscule things can wreak havoc with his user base. Why mess with a good thing?
I guess facebook is really good but I don’t like their new layout. Facebook people need to try and make the site easy to manage but not to make it difficult for people to write in their own page. I really think facebook should switch back or get a new theme that is better than this one.
Mohammad Afaq
Free Website Traffic
Tengo problemas para adapar el Facebook con el templates felicidad
This is Facebook’s New Coke moment.
First there was Friendster, which begat Myspace, which begat Facebook. Friendster and Myspace lost their user base for various reasons, and this could be Facebooks moment. Or not. Virtually every single person I have talked to loathes the new design.
This isn’t a matter of yet another user backlash—I agree every previous one has been sheer silliness.
In this case though, they broke what made Facebook Facebook; the ability to keep in touch with friends and family, five minutes at a time. Now all I can see is what happened in the last five minutes, rather than the last few days. That’s a big problem, and I’d grown so frustrated with visiting and not being able to find anything of interest anymore that I simply walked away.
I eagerly await the day I have reason to re-activate my account, as I’m an avid Facebook user; but I just don’t have a use for it as it currently exists, because they took away what made it valuable to myself and anyone I know.
Lol. They just want to muffle the majority opinions of users and make sure the media (Whoops!) doesn’t find out.
And they also probably want to have less attention to go to it.
… I hate the new Facebook.
This is just the initial reaction from everybody. This happened last time Facebook introduced something new. People don’t like change “period”. The Facebook users will eventually get use to this new home page.
To tell you the truth the new home page is really quite an improvement to previous versions.
If people don’t like change, then why have change for change’s sake? Why not leave well-enough alone?
i hated the old facebook as well..
nothing compares to the simplicity of orkut
How much did Google pay you to say that?
I semi-enjoyed the last design and was very used to the layout and thought it was pretty straightforward. this new design is childish, primarily intended to get you to click (or just see) everyone elses activities whether you want to or not and is just plain annoying. I’m pretty much walking away until the change it back. it’s not something I need. man what a huge blunder on their part. who is running their crap? like someone above said, if it was public, their stock would be down huge.
Nice post! Also check out my blog/podcast at http://macmaniapodcast.com.
People get pissed, but they still keep coming back.
It was mentioned on a local ABC newscast yesterday.
Showed the app and mentioned “95%” of users being against the change.
It’s about the same coverage they gave the ToS…
i need to add that application… surely the new layout is not good
very good post!!!!!
http://mymedica...es.blogspot.com
hey jason!
since you got techcrunch behind you, any chance of finding who the people behind the app are? it is indeed very shady, i emailed the developers but doesn’t look like they care other than get their hands on data.
would be interesting to hear officially from them what they intend to do with the result and naivity of people who voted
All this hoopla over Facebook and their homepage… if you want the best homepage on the Internet try sthrt.com… it works great with your Facebook homepage too.
The new fb layout sucks! seriously, do you really need to keep changing it!?