Facebook makes an interesting choice
Recently, Facebook created an approachable, interactive guide to how they collect your information and how you can control it.
They also updated their data policy to clarify how users can adjust their News Feed (follow, unfollow, or add people to “close friends), and what information they collect (all of your Facebook activities, what others say about you, info on apps you connect, and information on devices you use).
So where have they gone wrong? Take a look at what notification is given to Facebook users to help them understand the new privacy settings:
Easy, right? The problem here is that something is missing. What if your mom logs on to Facebook and is faced with this pop up? Her only two options are to dive right in, or to say “no thanks” and move on.
So how is that a flub? It’s problematic because there is no third option to be reminded later. Once you click “no,” it’s gone. Once you click yes, you’re sidetracked. Facebook made a poor choice, convincing some that despite pouring resources into this extensive guide and a positive step toward transparency, there was little thought into the execution.
Facebook is not alone
Facebook is not the only one that has this problem – in the digital era, the yes/no experience must include a “later” option, because of the fast pace use. Sometimes we log on, do what we need to quickly, and log off, while other times we can devote our full attention.
Whether you run an e-commerce site or have a forced registration to use your website, you probably have an opportunity to keep users’ attention if you give them that third option. Do yourself a favor, and pose as a consumer, and go through each step of your website to see where you can add the thoughtful third option.
