The Facebook profile, a digital representation of selfhood for over two billion people, has evolved significantly since its 2004 inception. Now serving approximately six billion daily views across diverse use cases—self, friend, and non-friend interactions—the profile's complexity has grown in tandem with its reach.
The problem
Despite its central role in the Facebook experience, the Profile suffered from several key usability issues. Our research, including data analysis, user interviews, and a comprehensive literature review of past Profile studies, revealed three core problems: Clutter, Privacy Confusion, and Complexity.
The opportunity
These challenges presented a significant opportunity to redesign the Facebook Profile, improving its usability and user experience for billions of people worldwide. By addressing the identified problems, we could empower users to better express themselves, connect with others, and manage their online identity.
The obstacles
The Profile's long history and evolution had resulted in a complex information architecture (IA) that contributed to the identified issues. This presented a significant obstacle in redesigning the interface, as any changes needed to be carefully considered to avoid disrupting existing user behaviors and expectations.
My role
As the product design lead for Facebook's Profile, my responsibilities extended far beyond the core platform. I spearheaded user experience strategy and execution for all Profile features, ensuring a cohesive and engaging experience across Meta's entire family of apps, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp
The research
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the existing Profile landscape, I conducted a thorough research literature review, examining all relevant studies and data collected over the past few years. This deep dive allowed me to identify key areas of focus for improvement and potential innovation. In addition to the literature review, I performed a detailed engagement audit, analyzing user interactions with the Profile. This revealed a critical insight: a significant percentage of user actions were not being effectively tracked and logged, hindering our ability to understand user behavior and optimize the experience.
Initial depreciation
The comprehensive analysis and insights gained from my research and design efforts resulted in a significant restructuring of the Facebook Profile, one of the oldest and most complex surfaces on the platform. To streamline the user experience and improve usability, we made the bold decision to deprecate over 60 outdated or redundant features. This involved a careful evaluation of each feature's value, usage patterns, and potential impact on the user experience. By removing unnecessary clutter and complexity, we aimed to create a cleaner, more intuitive, and more engaging Profile experience for billions of users.
Design sprint
To kickstart the Profile redesign, I spearheaded a two-week design sprint that brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including engineers, researchers, designers, product managers, content strategists, and data scientists. This collaborative and intensive sprint aimed to generate innovative ideas, explore potential solutions, and align the team on a shared vision for the future of the Facebook Profile.
Explorations
To explore potential design directions for the Profile redesign, I developed six distinct concepts, each with a unique approach to addressing the identified user needs and pain points. These concepts varied in their visual style, information architecture, and interaction patterns, offering a diverse range of possibilities for the future of the Profile. After careful internal review and evaluation, we selected three of the most promising concepts to test with users through qualitative research studies. These studies provided valuable insights into user preferences, comprehension, and overall satisfaction with each concept. The research findings played a crucial role in shaping our prioritization and decision-making process, guiding us towards the most effective and user-centered design solution.
Designing the experience
Within a short timeframe of under three months, our team successfully designed, built, and launched a completely revamped Facebook Profile. This new design resulted in significant improvements across all key adoption metrics, indicating increased user engagement and satisfaction.
The results
The positive impact of the Facebook Profile redesign is evident in the significant increase in user engagement across key metrics. Sharing on self-profiles surged by 23%, indicating a greater sense of comfort and expression among users. Additionally, messages sent from profiles rose by 12%, demonstrating enhanced user connections and interactions. Furthermore, a 7% increase in friending activity highlights the improved ability of users to find and connect with others.