Comments on: Twitter vs Myspace – Designing for User Expectations

By: Ayush Saran

Ayush Saran — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:45:37 +0000

@Zach

These buttons and links alert the users to possible functionality, which they would be unaware of otherwise.

Same reason you should see the ‘Buy Now’ button on an e-commerce website even if you are not logged in and would need to be to purchase.

would you hide those buttons for customers that have not logged-in? expecting them to know that you have to log in to actually buy something ?

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:59:10 +0000

wow… i think this is kinda stupid. Why would u expect to be able to follow someone or search for someone or use the website at all if your not logged in? You can’t follow someone unless you have an account, how would they tell you what they’re doing without an account… of course you have to log in first! and they reason they took you to the homepage is because YOU LEFT THE TECHCRUNCH PAGE BY CLICKING THE “LOG IN” LINK AND TRAVELING TO A DIFFERENT PAGE… why would you expect them to take you back to where you were? after you left it? and again, why wouldnt you start off by logging in? It would make it som much easier for you…

By: Becky Carroll

Becky Carroll — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:05:18 +0000

Great observations. Customer expectations are for a simple experience, especially as Apple keeps raising the bar on usability! If these social tools want to break through to non-techies, they have to be easy to use.

Asking customers what they expect is always a great way to start! Also, making sure the most commonly-used tasks are front-and-center will help. Twitter has a strong following (ha ha) but needs to think about this type of usability to break through.

Rock on!

By: GroovyBrent

GroovyBrent — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:29:26 +0000

How funny! I just joined Twitter today and wanted to search for any friends hwo use it and I ran right smack into the problem you’re describing. It was so frustrating I almost gave up!

Although I hate to see myspace win in any kind of an interface face-off because that $#!t drives me nuts!

Great post!

By: Clay Newton

Clay Newton — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:37:04 +0000

My bet is that you use MySpace far more often than Twitter.

Both of these sites rely heavily on learned conventions specific to their implementation. I agree that the experience of following someone on Twitter could use some help, especially for a non-authenticated user, but that could be largely remedied by adding the follow button to the user page regardless of user state.

The link to add friends on MySpace is very difficult to find amidst most customized profile pages. Plus, the fact that the look and feel of the utility links can be customized results in an inconsistent experience that is challenging for the noobs.

I would say that both interfaces have serious challenges, but with regular use an average user can intuit how to do the most common tasks on both sites.

By: BareFoot CEO

BareFoot CEO — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:42:23 +0000

Great post!