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Caving beneath the pressure of mounting criticism, social networking service Facebook has said it will apply a selection of minor tweaks to the recent design overhaul that has caused such a disgruntled uproar with the network’s user base.
Will new design changes finally end user complaints? Unlikely we thinks. Image: dan taylor/Flickr.
While not wholly backtracking and falling prone at the feet of its users, who claim recent changes make Facebook more difficult to navigate, the network’s seemingly cursory gesture appears to be an attempt to appease those voicing dissatisfaction since the redesign.
Without unveiling any radical alterations to the existing structure, Facebook product director Christopher Cox has said via the company’s official blog that the network will give users the ability to control which real-time updates appear in the newly applied section known as “the stream,” where content posted by approved friends is displayed.
“We’re trying to present the right balance between what’s happening right now and what’s interesting over a longer period of time,” he explained. “We realize that both are important and getting them both right is crucial for the product to work.”
Cox also outlined that upcoming Facebook tweaks will see the introduction of new tools designed to give users better control over displayed content from third-party software creators. The network will also address mounting calls for increased control over the display of specific content posted by friends.
The blog announcement also outlines that the present Highlights page section will be changed in the near future so that it appears more like the News Feed used in the older version of Facebook.
User reaction to recent design changes has been swift and strong when it comes to voicing collective displeasure, with a swell of complaints gathering online and even a petition calling for the reinstatement of the old design circulating across the network itself.
“We know no amount of testing is as valuable as what you have to say,” said Cox in addressing Facebook’s users. “For this reason, we will always look to you… to tell us what is working and what isn’t so we can continually make improvements.”
As such, Facebook has said its slight remoulding efforts will focus on adding more control and relevance in the update stream, providing more active Highlights, improving ease of navigation, and weighing the worth of old versus new.
It remains to be seen if the changes silence the dissenting voices within Facebook’s ranks or merely lead to yet another wave of users bemoaning different aspects of a thoroughly effective service that costs them absolutely nothing.
All will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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