How I’d Fix Facebook

Frictionless Unfollow

Mock-up of a user quickly unfollowing someone based on one annoying post

The Follow/Unfollow feature is the key to fixing Facebook. Facebook differs from Twitter in that you can simultaneously be connected with someone and also not see them in your feed. This tweak allows you to acknowledge your friendships while not cluttering your feed with unwanted updates. However, this feature is not as prominent as it should be. I propose placing an “X” next to every feed item, which then provides the first option as “Unfollow.”

I can hear the counter-argument from the Design Team: there is already an ellipses action that lets them do precisely that. But the user flow is not frictionless, nor does it connect with how users think about their feed items. A user isn’t thinking, “Hmm, I don’t like this post, let me see what’s behind this disclosure item and fiddle with …”. Instead, the user is bound to think, “Ew, what is this, how do I make it go away!?” and then tap the “X”.

The user’s mental flow is, “Ew, what is this post, how do I make it go away?!”

Why Re-Design Facebook?

Facebook is the biggest contradiction in tech. People hate it, yet they can’t live without it. One day, I decided to fix this, not by mass-unfriending people — which I already do annually — but by using a barely…