Following founder Mark Zuckerberg's statements that Facebook is a clean and privacy-oriented social network and that there are things they need to fix at this point, Facebook made the biggest interface change in the last 5 years.
Even though Zuckerberg says so, the platform, where data leaks constantly occur, is constantly trying to attract the attention of users by adding different features to the platform. Users view posts from Facebook friends they never talk to in their news feed, stalk other users through photos, or are forced to watch clickbait news and viral videos.
Details of the New Facebook Design At this point, Facebook made a big change. Zuckerberg described this change as the biggest change in the last 5 years. With this design change, known as FB5, the blue color that predominantly appears in the Facebook interface has been reduced to a minimum. In this way, the interface gained a simpler appearance despite the dozens of features opened with the More button. A new logo was designed to renew the damaged brand image. While the logo turned into a lighter blue color, round lines were preferred instead of an angular design.
Groups were brought to the fore. With the change, Facebook's Groups were included among the priority tabs both in the application and on the site. While the recommendations were placed in a new tab, the groups were again highlighted in this recommendations tab.
The Groups feature currently has 1 billion monthly users. With these moves, Facebook aims to double the number of users in Groups. With this change, Facebook aims to not only want the 2.38 billion people in its user base to use this feature, but also to enable these people to meet with Groups that appeal to them.
Stating that 400 million users are currently members of a Group, Facebook is planning to add new features to groups of interest such as health or games. Within the scope of these new features, users will have the opportunity to view updates from the communities they are members of on a single panel.
E-commerce Gains Importance with Marketplace In addition to this change, the Groups feature is also surrounded by the Marketplace feature. Marketplace, one of Facebook's most potential features, reached 800 million monthly users approximately 1 and a half years after its launch. Copying this feature from Craiglist, Facebook's inclusion of real identities allowed it to add a feature that powers the world's most used application.
Standing out with its simple interface, fast and secure sales opportunities, Marketplace is also preferred by users due to its payment features. Marketplace sellers can receive payments via Venmo or cash through the app, and they can also have buyers cover shipping costs. Thus, it can be said that, after Instagram, Facebook also directed its vision towards e-commerce for its main application. In fact, speaking recently, Zuckerberg stated that the future of Facebook is in e-commerce, not in advertising.
While the Groups feature came to the fore with the Facebook Watch changes, unfortunately Watch, which was developed with a focus on video content, did not have the expected effect. It can be said that Facebook, which was inspired by YouTube and Netflix when designing the Watch feature, experienced difficulties in terms of content. The content produced by the company, which does not hesitate to invest in content, is far from being viral like “Stranger Things” or “Game of Thrones”.
However, the reruns of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the documentary series about NBA star Steph Curry managed to attract the attention of users. Despite all this, Facebook states that 75 million users use Watch for at least 1 minute a day. However, these 60 seconds do not have to occur as a result of continuity. This reveals that only 4 percent of the user base is interested in Watch. According to a study by Diffusion, 50 percent of US Facebook users are unaware of the Watch feature. This shows that Watch falls far behind other features in terms of brand value.
At the F8 conference, where Facebook's new interface was introduced, the News Feed, which is the company's main source of income, was not mentioned much. Acting on the young user base's preference for social networks based on ephemerality such as Snapchat, Facebook has implemented the Stories feature.
Mark Zuckerberg, who focused on transience and privacy after Instagram grew stronger with stories and privacy-focused scandals, also touched upon this issue at the event. Using the phrase “The Future is Privacy”, Zuckerberg said: “As I understand it, many people cannot be sure that we are serious about this issue. “I know we don't exactly have a strong reputation for privacy right now.” He confessed. These words of Zuckerberg revealed that we cannot go beyond the rhetoric. Facebook has not announced new privacy protections for its developer platform, nor has it announced who will fill the Security Manager seat, which has been vacant for 9 months. Likewise, the Delete History feature, which was announced last year, was not introduced.
In addition to all these, it may take a long time for Facebook, which is known for its Onavo-like Research application that accesses young people's data without permission, data leaks and errors, to change this reputation.
The company, which recently shared its vision for messaging, wants to combine the end-to-end encryption structure of Messenger, Instagram Direct and WhatsApp.
On the other hand, in the strategy book that Zuckerberg distributed to his employees as the IPO was approaching, he stated, “If we don't produce things that kill Facebook, others will.”
This awareness of Zuckerberg may change the structure of Facebook, which is static and constantly copying features from others. If it can truly listen to its user base and create a secure social network, Facebook can be more than acquisitions and copycats. Until then, it will continue to be remembered as a company that relies on others' original ideas and acquired applications.
Stage Media
01-01-1970 02:00:00