Facebook likes to test things out on the live site, getting feedback in real-time. Sometimes, things make their way to some of your friends, but not to you. Some would call this an “inconsistent experience”, but I actually like how Facebook goes about this. I would personally like to see all of the new stuff that the company tests, from a journalist perspective…but hey, you can’t have everything.
A few tipsters are reporting to TechCrunch that they’re seeing a brand new layout for the navigation bar on Facebook’s website. The new layout shows a complete swap for where the notifications, friend requests and messages sit.
Have a look:
The reasoning for this “A/B test” might be that Facebook wants to put more focus on the right-hand side of the site, which is the place that houses birthdays, engagement or marriage updates, gifts, and of course…advertising.
As a left-handed person, I tend to look for everything that’s important on the left, and have grown accustomed to having the navigation bar display things there. I could get used to this, of course, but I hope that if this is something that the social network is considering, it’s released as a user-decided option.
User experience is key for any site, especially Facebook. One tipster said very dramatically:
now the notifications are on the right hand side.
holy crap.
my life is terrible now.
While their life might not be “over”, it is difficult to learn new navigation for a site that you’ve used for years, every single day.
There’s no way to tell if this is something that might be rolling out worldwide, but Facebook has confirmed that this is indeed a test. Are you seeing this change? Let us know what you think about it in the comments!
[Pics of change: Flickr]
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original...
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
