Do Facebook Users Care About Commenting On Mini-Feeds?
Recently, Facebook changed its layout involving the commenting functionality on Mini-Feed items. Before, you had to click on the plus sign ("+") to add a comment, but now the word "comment" is written out. VentureBeat is reporting on this change and notes that it's probably to make the new commenting functionality more visible to users, since it appears that few are currently using this feature. But is it possible that the lack of use isn't because Facebook users didn't notice it, but because they just don't care?
On the new layout, the word "comment" does make it much more obvious what the new feature allows you to do, but even so, will Facebook users care to use this?
Maybe It's Just Not Useful?
For one thing, this functionality is built into the Mini-Feed (the feed on a user's profile page) as opposed to the News Feed (the stream of all your friends' updates), which means you only have the ability to add a comment if you're visiting a friend's profile directly - a place where you already have many options for commenting - like the Wall, for example.
Also, unlike FriendFeed, which this feature is obviously modeled after, comments don't cause the news item to bubble up to the top, so it's possible you could miss seeing the comments. This could especially be an issue if you log in and do a lot of activities - like adding applications, joining groups, and friending others - before glancing at your Mini-Feed. All your latest activities will still be at the top of your feed, while the commented-on item(s) will have fallen further down the page.
You aren't alerted about the new comments, either, like you are with application notifications, so there's even more of a chance that they can be missed.
Yet all that wouldn't matter so much if this meta-commenting was actually a feature users were clamoring for. But are they? Outside the early adopter set, commenting on updates and posted items in this manner may not really be an activity that many people care about.
Do Mainstream Facebook Users Get It?
When explaining the feature to a few mainstream Facebookers to see what they thought, the responses were just lukewarm. Obviously, this wasn't a scientific survey, but their reactions could possibly be indicative of the typical Facebook user mindset: Why comment on a feed item about a photo upload when you can just comment on the photo itself? Why leave your friend a comment they could miss when you can write on their wall...which they are notified about?
With these questions in mind, we wonder if it is possible that the commenting feature hasn't taken off yet not because it wasn't visible, but because most Facebook users don't really find the feature that useful? What do you think?
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I think the feature isn't useful for the reasons you mentioned above (no alerts, doesn't bubble up to the top, comment on the photo itself, not the mini-feed post).
I think the only useful places for comments is in responding to people's status updates. In fact, I caught myself responding to one this morning. Outside of that, however, I don't see the mini-feed comments catching on.
I like it and use it a lot. It's more specific than just posting on the wall. Plus, with all the FunWalls, SuperWalls, SuperHappyFunWalls and whatnot, I hardly know which wall people look at.
I guess I'm slightly more early-adopter than mainstream, but I think it's something people on Facebook will really like and stick around for. At least it'll stem the flow of Friendfeed users from migrating away from Facebook. I personally use Friendfeed just to pipe my various materials into one feed, but it's a passive use; I almost never comment on anything on Friendfeed.
One thing to keep in mind is "not useful" doesn't equal "won't be used." There are plenty of features and applications on Facebook that aren't very useful at all but become popular all the same.
It's another entry point to the Facebook social graph so why not?
No, they don't care about commenting on Mini-Feed entries.
Posted by: Aaron Myers
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July 14, 2008 11:53 AM
I'd have to say that I think most Facebook users don't have a clue why they would want to comment on items in someone else's News Feed. Facebook may be trying to steal traffic from FF, but they serve two entirely different demographics: the college student vs. the early adopter.
This article makes some great points, and I think that it's certainly not going to be a "killer" feature of Facebook, but it seems to me that the fact that it is a quieter feature may be to its benefit. Not all new features need to be game-changers.
I think this one has the potential to be a subtle feature that may not be a reason to log on to facebook but will make a difference for users once every 5, 10, or 15 times they log on.
I would argue that it is features like this that really demonstrate the maturing of Facebook. It seems to me that one of the reasons Google is so well liked is that it has features like this - they don't jump out at you until you need them, and then there they are.
@Joe - excellent point. "Useful" isn't always the selling point when it comes to Facebook. :)
I think this functionality will make a lot more sense once facebook rolls out its redesign...which should happen any day.
Seriously. There are thousands of people trying to bite or zombie attack one another on a daily basis on FB. I'm not sure useful matters all that much.
I use this all the time, but it's inconvenient to have to visit everyone's profile to use it. I should be able to comment on anything from Facebook's home page. It's a great feature because I can comment on a new status or addition to someone's profile, and they know exactly what I am referring to, instead of needing to ask me sometimes, it also allows us to start a thread when referring to the same thing.
My non-ubergeeky friends have also grabbed hold of it now that it is clearly known to be a commenting feature, and have become more engaged in Facebook use with it.
Honestly, I've been actively looking for ways to use the commenting feature, and so far I really haven't found any. The cons outweigh the pros by far - I don't want to bother commenting on something that will disappear as soon as the user does something else, especially since they're not getting notifications of it. Status updates may be the only feature that doesn't have a separate commenting feed, but until the statuses go more the way of photos and the like I don't see myself commenting on them any time soon. And if the comment feature comes to the news feed I'll be very happy. I'm not sure if it's possible, but if they tie this commenting feature into the existing photo/note/posted item comments and the wall, I can see it being much more used. I'm sort of imagining a sort of "uber wall" that allows you to have a consistent comment stream where individual threads can be associated with content like photos and status updates.
I really like this new function but for some reason, my friends don't seem to get it or they simply not interested. Hopefully little by little they will learn how to use it!
My own informal polls of fb users also return 'what's the point' largely because of inaccessibility & lack of notification.
I like it as a feature for commenting on status though, because it gives context for something that would otherwise be on the wall & possibly incomprehensible once the status had changed.
& frankly, my inane comments on peoples status probably should disappear relatively soon, the same way that facebook statuses don't hang around
Those mini-feeds are really too small for me to notice with all the other feeds. Maybe, it's a habit of scanning tweets for so long that I often ignore the tiny print and go staight to the wall to get a message across.
Which gives me an idea for a good Wall app - Wall-E!
Best.
alain
mor.ph
I've used it a few times, and I think it's a great feature, but then again I'm a very avid Jaiku-user and definitely an early adopter (aren't most people reading rww?).. I've always missed the comment feature.. However, I was sure people were notified when I commented on something they did.. At least I know I get a notification when they comment back..
I've used it a few times, and I think it's a great feature, but then again I'm a very avid Jaiku-user and definitely an early adopter (aren't most people reading rww?).. I've always missed the comment feature.. However, I was sure people were notified when I commented on something they did.. At least I know I get a notification when they comment back..
Literally in the last week I have noticed a number of my less geeky friends on Fb using the comment feature on everything from pics to my status... For people using Twitter and Friendfeed all the time, the Fb comment implementation is less than awesome. For more normal people, it certainly boosts the conversation quotient of Fb.
@sarah perez Facebook is still billed as the Social *Utility* right?
Agree with most here that commenting on something so ephemeral is unlikely to appeal to users.
it also doesn't encourage meaningful comment, as the temporary nature of the feed means your comment won't yet visibility for very long.
Posted by: mypipeline.myopenid.com
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July 16, 2008 4:16 AM