Stages of Facebook Grief
I have developed a new theory regarding how users react to changes to the Facebook pattern. All users go through a series of reactions that follow a predicable pattern. Editor’s Note: Any similarities with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s “Stages of Grief” is entirely intentional (but with apologies). For details read here .
Disclaimer: This is meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, so don’t take it too seriously.
1) Denial – The change in user interface leaves users confused, they first try to figure out how to remedy the problem. ”What the hell? Why doesn’t Facebook look the way I’ve come to expect? Something must be wrong with my browser. Surely there must be a way to make Facebook work the way I’m used to.”
2) Anger – Strong negative reaction that someone changed Facebook without consulting them, often directed at Facebook’s founder. User mistakes him or herself for a paying customer, or as somehow having a constitutional right to use Facebook the old way. ”How dare they change my interface/privacy settings without consulting me? Who does Zuckerberg think he is? That’s it! This is the last straw, I’m finally canceling my Facebook account.”
3) Bargaining – Facebook employees monitor the subsequent backlash, making a few tweaks to the interface. Result is that Facebook is perceived as responding to customer concerns, while providing some minor improvement to the service as it was originally conceived. User feels vindicated about putting Facebook in its place and develops an illusion of control. “We have over 5 million members in our ‘we hate Facebook Timeline group.’ They can’t just change things without consulting us. We’ll get Facebook back the way we like it.”
4) Depression – Whether or not the user actually cancels his/her account, user soon realizes he/she cannot live without Facebook, at least for the short term. Has become defacto platform for photo sharing and communication (and they are using the service for free. “Crap, I just realized I don’t have <insert name here>’s new email address. I can’t wait to my new pictures of <insert event here> with <insert group here>. Crap, how am I going to do that without Facebook.”
5) Acceptance – User recognizes that perhaps the new changes aren’t that bad and returns to becoming an active user of the site. Eventually user concedes that the new changes actually creates a better experience. ”Boy, I don’t know what I would do without Facebook Newsfeed, it was so difficult to keep up with your friends before.” “Remember when you could only see the most recent information on the old ‘wall,’ Timeline gives me much better information about people and control over my own information.”
You basically hit the nail on the head of most people who hate it when Facebook makes some minor or drastic change that alters their realm of comfort. However, some people may argue that for Depression, Google+ is an alternative to Facebook. However, as of now, there isn’t a huge user base so it’s too early to say it’s an alternative. In the future, it’ll probably get more users and potentially steal many users from Facebook. This also gives Facebook the opportunity to improve as well. We’ll have to see. Great post!
Facebook maintain a real relationship with its users, it is like a love story. It is either we love it or hate it! But like any love story, we can’t leave without it! Facebook has succeeded in creating a need in our life! It is providing so much “amenities” that, we can’t go back to our life before Facebook anymore. It is like quitting smoking.. It is hard because our body needs it and because it has become an habit! We can recover but it takes a long time and necessitate a lot of will!
Cool theory, however I think this could also be applied to other aspects of Facebook life outside of interface updates. For example, “Cool! I can connect with high school people I never talked to even when I was in school!” to “Wow, they have some funny kids!” to “Okay, their political beliefs are a little out there but hey, that’s America.” to “Huh, they REALLY like to constantly harp on [insert politics here]” to “Stop asking me for a freakin’ sheep for your pretend farm…” to finally “I think I value talking to people with my voice and seeing them face to face so I’m going to walk away from Facebook…”