Posted by David Cohen on April 5th, 2012 11:00 AM
Simple
Usability tapped into the insights of a very effective, discerning
analytics and research tool to determine which elements of Facebook’s
new timeline for pages are effective at drawing the attention of users and which aren’t: the human eye.The company conducts market research by using eye-tracking technology, and it recorded the eye movements of users as they scanned the timeline pages of six large brands to come up with its conclusions:
Simple Usability said of its study:
By recording eye movements
and actions while users browsed online, we could see exactly what
elements each user was drawn to, distracted by, and engaged with. We
then worked with the subjects to try to understand the decisions they
made, replaying their activity to users, showing where and what they
looked at, and asking appropriate questions to determine their behavior
and choices.
Here are the conclusions about timeline for pages arrived at in the Simple Usability study:- The importance of the cover image is overrated: Simple Usability found that most users did not notice creative combinations of the cover image and profile image, and many thought of the former as advertising space, quickly scrolling down to view content.
- Embrace history: Users were interested in the about section of pages, but they found the about link and shortened descriptions on timeline difficult to locate.
- They were also interested in the history of brands, using the months and years in the sidebar to dig deeper, but many were confused at how brands were able to include content that related to events before Facebook was launched.
- Keep current: Regular updates are more important than ever with the layout of timeline for pages. Simple Usability found that users consider themselves to be up-to-date on topics such as sports and music, and they expect Facebook pages to be the same way. Also, many users were distracted by the breaks that occur when new sections of timeline are loading.
- Promote constant user interaction: Users showed a great deal of interest in the box that highlighted friends who liked pages, as well as status updates or comments from those friends, and they showed an inclination to interact with that content.
- Pinning posts is ineffective: In the current layout of timeline for pages, it is difficult to differentiate between pinned posts and nonpinned posts. Users did not realize that pinned posts were intended to be highlighted.
- Application stagnation: The majority of users failed to interact with the row of apps on timelines for pages, other than photo albums, and many did not see the arrow that leads them to available apps.
Simple Usability concluded:
While users get to grips with the new
page layouts, brands must undertake an education process to help them
understand what content and features are on offer. Brands should also
make full use of new functionality — such as the timeline and cover
image — to engage users, being aware that the latter has to be used
imaginatively and not just considered to be a Facebook “billboard.”
Users are reluctant to scroll
particularly far down timelines, and aren’t aided when they do by the
slow loading times. Page managers should consider how promotions,
competitions, and themed content can be contained within a specific time
frame that doesn’t require excessive scrolling.
There is also no longer the opportunity
to set a default landing tab or application, so brand managers should
think about how the cover Image and pinned-post functionality can
support and reinforce competitions and campaigns.
The relationships and interactions a
user’s friends have with a brand are now more prevalent than ever
before, and as such, brands should focus on nurturing positive brand
mentions wherever they may be on Facebook.
Managing Director Guy Redwood added:
This transition is very significant for a
number of successful brand pages. Facebook wants to create consistency
in functionality and appearance between personal and brand profiles, and
this change certainly achieves this aim — which does make sense from a
basic usability perspective.
But is clear that the average user
doesn’t fully understand the new layout, or interact with it in the way
intended. This will likely change over time, but as the mechanics of
obtaining likes has become more difficult for brands, they now need to
drive engagement more than ever. Page editors no longer have the ability
to set targeted landing tabs or applications for non-fans. In the past,
you could direct people onto a particular tab to encourage likes or
interaction with a promotion.
As such, I would encourage brands to help
users with the transition and explain what is on offer in terms of
functionality and content — you cannot simply assume they already know.
The reality is that people will either
get used to using the timeline format, which still seems a big ask at
this point, or Facebook will need to change it to encourage brands to
continue to invest in the platform.
Readers: How have your experiences with timeline for pages compared with the findings by Simple Usability?
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"it is difficult to differentiate between pinned posts and nonpinned posts."
I don't think this makes much sense. Users shouldn't differentiate between pinned posts and nonpinned posts. You pin a post to make it stick at the top of the page... so that users will notice it *because it's the first*, not because it's pinned.
I don't think this makes much sense. Users shouldn't differentiate between pinned posts and nonpinned posts. You pin a post to make it stick at the top of the page... so that users will notice it *because it's the first*, not because it's pinned.
I think a pinned post will have more impact if that post segment could
be better highlighted (ie, background colour, highlighted border, or
even a 'Featured Post' title or something)
I agree about appliation tabs being largely unnoticed by people. I have a 'price list' application tab on my page with customised graphic and the title 'price list' clearly printed across the graphic as well as on the link below it, but I'm still forever being asked about my prices by new fans, and so am constantly directing them to my price list page. I'm not sure how much clearer I can make it for them, except to display my pricelist in the 'about' segment, which defeats the purpose of having the customised application tab. :/
I agree about appliation tabs being largely unnoticed by people. I have a 'price list' application tab on my page with customised graphic and the title 'price list' clearly printed across the graphic as well as on the link below it, but I'm still forever being asked about my prices by new fans, and so am constantly directing them to my price list page. I'm not sure how much clearer I can make it for them, except to display my pricelist in the 'about' segment, which defeats the purpose of having the customised application tab. :/
I'm not at all surprised that users are not understanding that there
are more apps/tabs as the UI is much too subtle to even be noticed, as
testing proves. When redesigning my pages, I assumed very few clicks to
the "under layer" and pruned all but three apps. What I'm curious to see
is if people will even click on the three tabs that are showing. I
don't have enough data yet for the Facebook pages I run to make a good
comparision.Thanks for reporting on Siimple Usability's findings.
I can say that we agree 100% with the findings - and are doing
everything we can to educate our Facebook Friends and Fans on our latest
and most relevant deals. Great article.
You can still run a social campaign encouraging new likes as well as
rewarding current fans with a coupon, downloadable document, exclusive
information, etc. only difference is that this no longer happens on the
welcome / default tab. This is still a great way to get them back to
your page, increase interactions, build likes and show up in their
newsfeeds!
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