Yeah, we know Facebook was developed in the US and has evolved from there but it’s time to extend some of the usability to international users. Rather than sit on my arse whinging to my friends about it I’ve developed a short list of things I’d like to see fixed up real soon in the hope that Facebook will develop on the ideas.
1. Seasons. If I write that I took a course with another Australian in Spring 2006 (ie: Sept, Oct & Nov 2006) that is going to mean an entirely different time of the year to an American Spring. Not to mention that not many countries outside the US use the term “Fall”. Why not just say the months? Then it’s the same for everyone.
2. Phone toys. I’m really sick of not being able to get phone updates from websites like Facebook. This isn’t Facebook’s problem, exactly, but they could be the push that gets the international telcos on board. I hope.
3. States. Other websites manage to have drop down choices for international states. There must be a list somewhere. Go find it. The distance between Perth and Brisbane is just over 3600km. That’s a long way. You can see why we’d like to be specific too.
4. Study levels. We call things by different names over here. It might be nice to acknowledge that. In Australia education goes: Kindergarten/Preschool > Primary School > High School > Tertiary Study > Graduate Study. Tertiary Study is usually University or TAFE. In England they also have Grammar Schools. Maybe Facebook could add a few extra options in the drop down boxes?
I have plenty of other suggestions to improve Facebook generally, but they might be best left for another post.
What other internationally-friendly suggestions do you have for Facebook?
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[...] June 16th, 2007 · No Comments Angela Randall over at AllFacebook.com wrote a good post about her frustrations with Facebook not being designed better for a global audience. [...]
Pingback by Angela’s Thoughts on Facebook Being Unfriendly to a Global Audience « Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp’s Web 2.0 blog — June 16, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
In the US, "grammar school" is the first five years when you're a child. You can imagine the confusion.
Comment by Dwindle — June 17, 2007 @ 6:16 am
In the US, “grammar school” is the first five years when you’re a child. You can imagine the confusion.
Comment by Dwindle — June 17, 2007 @ 10:16 am
[...] globalization top-of-mind when building their sites, it is still a challenge in the details. In this post from Angela Randall on allfacebook – the unofficial facebook blog, she lists the subtle issues that make Facebook [...]
Pingback by 16th letter » Blog Archive » Globalization, the Internet & Montreal — September 24, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
okey what is the big fuzz over writing a commend when i am new to this one all i know is that face book is a good thing to have but mostly on the international side because you can share each others opinions with the world and also to the face book team they are doing a great job and i solute them
Comment by ivan — April 23, 2011 @ 10:40 am
i just love face book irrespective of what the big shots say about face book i think its a marvelous achievement in bringing out the communities in the open so that we can speak to the world and i must say the technology is really amazing and i wonder if anyone ever thought of it in that way.
Comment by Ivan Stanley — April 23, 2011 @ 11:15 am