I recently reconnected with an old friend I haven’t talked to since high school. I have never been so happy with Facebook and so annoyed with Facebook at the same time.
The happy part is this would never have happened without Facebook. The annoyed part is how difficult it was for my friend’s note to reach me via Facebook. He sent me a message that went to my “other” inbox, the one most of us — including myself, obviously — never check.
He sent it nine months ago. (Extra tip: Log in from a desktop or laptop and click on your message and then choose the “other” tab. You won’t believe what happens next!)
That got me thinking that Facebook has to come up with a more unified way to handle messages. And it also got me thinking about some other things Facebook should do while it’s making changes. Here are three ideas, and how you can navigate Facebook in the meantime.
“Other” is the world’s worst inbox. The word “other” already smacks of “extra,” “afterthought” or “not as important.” “Other” is supposed to house anything that comes from non-friends, including spam, but usually ends up picking up something you want to see. So, as in my case, if a friend in real life reaches out and you aren’t friends on Facebook, it goes to “other.” For a company that spent $22 billion on messaging app What’sApp, you’d think it could do better. Facebook sometimes allows people’s messages to go directly to the regular inbox if they pay a fee. Enough of that.
My idea: Send everything to one place and leave it up to the user to separate what goes where through a robust friends list. The work is on the user, but that’s where it should be. Spam is separate, as there is no substitute for a strong spam filter. In other words, I don’t want Facebook trying to guess what I want to read. I’ll handle that, thank you.
Move over, Facebook like button. Back in 2009, Facebook thought it made sense to launch one button for everything. Simple ruled the day. But times have changed, and it’s time for another button. Users have asked for an unlike button, but Facebook is concerned — and rightfully so — about the negativity that would come along with it.
My idea is much simpler: Leave the like button and add a “sympathy” button. That way, you don’t have that uncomfortable need to click like when someone announces a death in the family, yet you can still show your support.
The globe icon at the top is confusing. Why are there two globes? When you share a public post, you see a globe icon. Notifications also appear under a globe icon. Facebook should change the icon to something that fits the bill and doesn’t confuse users. Maybe an exclamation point or something. Good design equals a better experience and a better experience starts with good design.
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Believe me, there are more than three things that Facebook needs to fix. If you have one (or more) that drives you crazy, share it with me via Twitter. Or find me on Facebook. I’ll try to check my “other” inbox a little more often.
Have questions about social media? Tweet them to @scottkleinberg with hashtag #SoSocial. He might use yours in a future column.