8 Comments »Chances are high that if you read this blog, you probably spend a fair amount of time on Facebook. I know I do! Hugh Macleod has posted about Facebook consciously sacrificing design improvements for the purpose of extending the amount of time users spend on Facebook. I have to disagree with Hugh on this one. Is Facebook really trying to keep you on their site longer by spending hours rejecting application invites? Doubt it.
That would be like Home Depot deciding to scatter random pieces of hardware and other random items throughout the floor of their store simply to have you spend more time trying to navigate to the section that has what you are looking for. Would Home Depot do that? No way! Conversely, Home Depot is in the business of making transactions whereas Facebook has very few transaction items. Facebook is more about grazing.
I spend a lot of time just browsing through my newsfeed, looking at events, groups, friends photos and friend profiles. Honestly, Facebook is like a black hole for me and I consistently get sucked into the site and find myself accomplishing nothing. How do you spend your time on Facebook? Do you think Facebook would consciously sacrifice usability for time spent?
Lately my time has been spent playing Texas Hold’Em and Scrabulous. But most of the time I browse my friends’ information, send messages, and update my status. I don’t think the Facebook design has anything to do with the amount of time I spend on the site.
Lately my time has been spent playing Texas Hold’Em and Scrabulous. But most of the time I browse my friends’ information, send messages, and update my status. I don’t think the Facebook design has anything to do with the amount of time I spend on the site.
Scrabulous scrabulous scrabulous. I finally added it to my Super Kiwi Cloak greasemonkey extension (just the scrabulous app, I need the rest of facebook for work!) so I can only waste at most 10 minutes an hour checking to see if anyone made moves in my games.
Scrabulous scrabulous scrabulous. I finally added it to my Super Kiwi Cloak greasemonkey extension (just the scrabulous app, I need the rest of facebook for work!) so I can only waste at most 10 minutes an hour checking to see if anyone made moves in my games.
Your Home Depot analogy is interesting.
In fact, the dominant Coles supermarket in Australia is just one example of retail outlets re-designing the store layout, in order to maximise not the raw amount of time customers spend in the store, but to maximise their exposure to strategic or high-margin goods.
Every time I visit my Facebook page to delete ‘Vampire game’ invitations, they get to collect some click/visit data and show me an ad. To some web companies, this is the most important thing in the world.
Your Home Depot analogy is interesting.
In fact, the dominant Coles supermarket in Australia is just one example of retail outlets re-designing the store layout, in order to maximise not the raw amount of time customers spend in the store, but to maximise their exposure to strategic or high-margin goods.
Every time I visit my Facebook page to delete ‘Vampire game’ invitations, they get to collect some click/visit data and show me an ad. To some web companies, this is the most important thing in the world.
Almost all time is spent meeting and greeting people: making new friends, maintaining budding friendships, & seeking/responding to new ones. Sometimes it’s overwhelming - just can’t respond to everyone.
Plus, I like to find one or two useful resources to share with my peeps.
I too find FB a black hole, though - so I try to limit myself to one rabbit hole a day and, invariably, I end up with a stellar contact or resource as a result.
Now, to monetize all this!!
Almost all time is spent meeting and greeting people: making new friends, maintaining budding friendships, & seeking/responding to new ones. Sometimes it’s overwhelming - just can’t respond to everyone.
Plus, I like to find one or two useful resources to share with my peeps.
I too find FB a black hole, though - so I try to limit myself to one rabbit hole a day and, invariably, I end up with a stellar contact or resource as a result.
Now, to monetize all this!!