As I seem to have taken on a technological theme to many of my blogs, you must have known it wasn't going to be long before I confronted the design of the one and only Facebook. Considering that Facebook had 500 million users as of July 2010, the design must be something special. Though the ergonomic scale has the connotation of belonging in the physical world, in an ever-changing technological universe one must consider evaluations of websites in terms of safety, comfort, ease of use, performance, and aesthetics in order to understand reasons for their success.
Facebook's safety is questionable. Accounts are password protected, though this seems to offer little actual protection: accounts still get hacked, and hundreds of wall posts promoting some online dating site or whatever get posted. Facebook users often volunteer a lot of personal information as well, which can also be dangerous, and users are sometimes very ill-informed on the privacy options. However, privacy settings are generally easily managed, and if users are careful, Facebook has few safety problems.
The physical comfort of Facebook can vary depending on your location (on the couch, at school, etc.) so we must evaluate Facebook's comfort in another way. It seems that our society is much more comfortable with online interactions that with interactions involving another person's physical presence. Facebook provides "comfortable" social interactions for those who are uncomfortable doing so in person. Facebook is an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family; whereas a phone conversation with a random high school friend might be awkward, Facebook communications are comfortable and simple. A user can keep in touch with a quick wall post, rather than a lengthly phone call.
Facebook's performance as a social networking site is obviously at the top. Why else would so many people, with a variety of ages and interests, choose to use it? Facebook is productive for its main purpose: social ties. There are a multitude of way to keep up with friends: posting on Walls, putting up photos and commenting on photos, video posts, and status updates. The News Feed allows you to keep up on general activities of your friends, while Notifications alert you of direct interactions with friends. There are even features which remind you of old photos, and encourage you to rekindle old friendships.
The ease of use category is closely related to aesthetics on Facebook: for a website to be easy to use, generally it must be aesthetically pleasing. The simple homepage is designed with the most important information right around the top; your inbox, friend requests, and account settings are all in place for optimal usage. Friends' updates are organized with the most recent at the top, and less recent as you scroll down. There are many navigation options available on the home page, but the page doesn't look cluttered or confusing. The colors contrast enough to stand out from each other, but not enough to be distract from their purposes. Facebook's design is one of an incredible streamlining of ease of use and aesthetics.
The creators of Facebook continue to edit and tweak parts of Facebook everyday; Facebook is an ongoing study in terms of ergonomic design. Facebook users demand this performance. If Facebook were to fall short in any of these categories, users would simply move on to a new site. Facebook is used everyday without analysis of its design, but as we analyze it we can see why its popularity has risen so quickly.
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