I know, I know, it’s a Wednesday, which means I’m supposed to be posted Web Wanderings. But this was just too hilarious to NOT share.
Earlier today, ReadWriteWeb posted an article about Facebook Connect. Apparently, RWW has some amazing Google-fu, because within hours, that post became one of the top 5 results for Google searches for “facebook login”.
Why is this hilarious?
Because LITERALLY HUNDREDS of Facebook users posted angrily on the comment thread of the post complaining about “yet another new Facebook”.
Yes. Here’s what these rocket scientists did:
1) To log into Facebook, instead of going to http://facebook.com in their browser’s address bar (or maybe, heaven forbid, use a bookmark), these Facebook users simply do a Google search for “facebook login” EVERY TIME THEY WANT TO GO ON FACEBOOK.
2) They ended up clicking on the RWW link in the results (which makes little sense, as even though it was a top 5 hit, it was never #1)
3) They simply see the Facebook Connect button and assume that “logs them into teh Facebooks”
4) They log in and think that the ReadWriteWeb site is “the new Facebook”. And get all pissed off.
5) Hilarity ensues.
I highly recommend reading all the comments yourself, but here’s a sampling of some of the angry users. They sure do hate this “New” Facebook…especially with all that darn red!
But never fear. Laraine Tressler won’t have to delete her Facebook after all. She’s figured out a solution!
For a while, some commentors thought that this was way too good to be true. There was no way that there could be THAT many dumb people…it had to be a 4chan prank or something. The RWW folks weighed in and reported that no, sadly, this WAS the reality.
I weep for the future of the internets.
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Oh. My. Gawd. Just wow.
LOL.
I cringe when people “Google” websites.
That's what happens when you let just anyone use the internets.
I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that these hundreds of users are really just the subset of the group of people who thinks it is Facebook, who can both figure out how and intentionally choose to leave a comment.
The RWW article didn't make it to #1, but occasionally google puts news snippets at the top of the SR page, which seems to interfere with the “search facebook login, click first link” path
FB has 400 million users. In any group that size, you have enough hilariously stupid people to populate a large metropolitan area.
Now this is really cool, it got my thinking in terms of oppertunity and why people don't get anywhere on the internet. They are lost!
Thanks for turning me on to this.
Have to go now and change, after reading comments I think I pee'd myself a little bit.
Brad West ~ onomoney
That's actually a good point, Titus. Today RWW did a follow-up article that was all “what can we learn from this”, and someone commented basically saying “over 200 million people log into Facebook every day, and only these 200 are the screwy ones, so it's way too small of a sample size”.
But you pointed out the key part – these are just the ones who bothered to post a comment about it :)
Oh yeah. Good point. And if you're the person who just Googles in order to log into a webpage, you're not going to even notice THAT distinction.
Hey…why the hell can't I send any tweets from here??? Isn't this Twitter? Oh, I bet if i go to BING and search for Twitter.com they'll have the answer. I'll try that.
This terrifies me to the very core. Is it time for Noah?
Buzzzzzz
there's even a warning added to the body of the original RWW article now, poor souls. it reads:
Dear visitors from Google. This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services. You can however click here and become a Fan of ReadWriteWeb on Facebook, to receive our updates and learn more about the Internet. To access Facebook right now, click here. For future reference, type “facebook.com” into your browser address bar or enter “facebook” into Google and click on the first result. We recommend that you then save Facebook as a bookmark in your browser.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_w...
Are people lost in internets?
No thanks, I won't read internet comments because I want to maintain my sanity. But rest assured there are other places that will make you less pissed off about the state of illiteracy and complete retardedness online. LiveLeak is my fav.
Did anyone miss Mark's comment? http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_w...
WTF?! Not that people are not computer illiterate, they are completely illiterate! It's so unbelievable it's just sad.
Proof that Facebook and social networking need to die so stupid people can get off the internet.
wow facebook changed the interface again! i want the old one back!
I can't believe it took this long for someone to do that :)
Many, many more people were simply baffled, and did not comment. What they did do was go to Yahoo Answers, and other places, and ask people there how to get into the “new facebook”.
This phenomenon is not new, however. I have seen it in action in real life.
I used to work at a Picture Framing shop. People would walk in, come past rows of picture frames and posters to the design counter in the back, and ask for a pound of hamburger. I had to tell them the butcher shop was next door.
This RRW incident is only a quirky confluence. The idiots have always been there, and they will do this sort of thing again.
Excellent.
Nice post Matt! It worked!
Wow… Just Wow…
Just like so many people type http://www.domainname.com into Google instead of typing it into the url bar?! WHY?
Wow, talk about a failure of empathy. I hope your mechanic doesn't make fun of you when you bring your car in for repair.
http://weblog.muledesign.com/2010/02/the_failur...
If I brought my car into the grocery store and loudly shouted that I
was going to stop taking my car to the mechanic unless he got rid of
all the cans of vegetables, yeah, then it would be the same.
That's not even a little bit the same. Same failure of empathy. Just because people don't know something doesn't make them dumb, it makes them ignorant, and the fault of that lies squarely on the shoulders of the people who created it. These are people who are confused and frustrated and they don't understand why what used to work for them doesn't anymore. These are not people who are used to troubleshooting the internet, they just want to hang out with their friends, and you're making fun of them for it. Good job, bully boy.
This is stunningly, depressingly hilarious.
Maybe instead of calling people dumb, we should see this as a learning experience. The Internet is a vast world created by the nerdery that broke into the mainstream. Is it really surprising that someone's mom or sister doesn't use it the same way you do.
When you open a browser window for the first time, you are brought to either Yahoo, Google or MSN or maybe Bing, and what happens with no user interaction at all?… focus is put on the search bar by the browser. Users are taught from the moment the first get online that the way to find stuff is with the browser search bar.
There is no indication that someone can even type in the address bar. Just because it's white I am supposed to know I can type there? And if I want to send someone a link, I don't even need to copy and paste it, I just hit file -> send link. Who would even think to interact with the bar?
Maybe if we studied what was happening here, we would work on creating a better user experience, instead of just assuming most people are dumb.
WTF?
I haven't been posting this here, but I do agree with you – at the end of the day, after we've had our chuckle at this, it becomes a matter of what can we learn? RWW had a pretty good follow-up post on this subject.
I'll admit, the use of the word “dumb” in the title here was a bit of hyperbole, and looking at the context of the posting (this was actually posted at 1 AM on Thursday, while I was awake and didn't want to be) – this wasn't supposed to be a big statement about Facebook users, or even these hapless folk. I came across the RWW article with all the comments, and thought that the whole trainwreck was pretty funny. Not necessarily the individuals themselves (except for good old Laraine, who I reserve the right to be somewhat amused by), but that such a thing could happen.
I shared the RWW link on Facebook, but then had a hard time explaining, succinctly, why it was funny. I thought the best move was to write a quick and dirty blog post (which, frankly, I didn't think too many people would read) summarizing it.
20,000+ pageviews later, I've got people from all over the webbertubes calling me a jerk. Kind of unexpected.
Incidentally, I work for a dot com. And the first thing I talked to my co-workers about on Thursday morning was this RWW/Facebook thing. And not to laugh at them. But to say “Hey, you know what…let's look at what we're doing with our site. Are we outsmarting our users in our attempts to be cool?” I won't tell you what the answer was, though. Trade secret :)
Is the word “dumb” to describe the folks in this scenario heavy-handed? Sure. Was it intended as a bit of hyperbole? Most likely (Hey, since i wrote it, I can say it's VERY likely…but again, I wrote this at 1 am on little sleep, so I can't speak with 100% veracity on exactly what was going through my mind).
I agree that the responsibility for creating clear interfaces lies with the developers of the systems. And that not every user is going to be the tech guru who totally understands it (to be fair, when I initially replied to your comment I didn't see the link you posted as part of it, since I was replying from my iPhone. That additional context of the link makes your comment a lot clearer, and I'd likely not have replied as snarkily had I seen it in the first place. Which isn't your fault. And this is way too many sentences for one set of parentheses). But I to believe that the thing that really frightens me (literally, frightens me) about this situation is the very real danger to the stability and security of the accounts and systems used by the people in question.
If we can't expect a user to understand the difference between the Facebook page and a blog post (specifically one that looks like a news article; one assumes that no matter how computer illiterate you might be, you've read a newspaper before), how can we assume that these same users are a) properly securing their Facebook/twitter/email accounts to prevent these same accounts from being compromised (and possibly exposing information about other people, and b) properly securing the computers they use to access said Facebook, to prevent them from being used as a staging area for DDOS attacks and worse?
THAT's what this revealed to me. Something I think I already knew…but was made far more concrete by this situation.
Yes, we need to design better systems. Yes, to a certain extent, we need to protect users from themselves. But at what point do we go too far and, as one RWW snarky comment said, end up with a web computer device with just two buttons on it – one for Google and one for Facebook?
Wow it really is kind of ridiculous that so many Internet users rely on their search bar to find Web sites and don't take the time to verify — or simply notice — that it's not the actual site. It's a matter of learning how to use these tools that have become a part of our every day lives. Mistakes like these can go beyond just thinking there was a new Facebook; it could mean entering credit card information at a site you thought was trustworthy.
rofl…e-nuke the gaggle
Patience is a vietue people.
Your girl Mary :)
This is very hilarious.
Your girl Mary :)
Anyone else notice that the VAST majority of the commenters that were complaining on RWW were women? ;) Just sayin.
epic fail to the maximum degree.
When you open a browser window for the first time, you are brought to either Yahoo, Google or MSN or maybe Bing, and what happens with no user interaction at all?… focus is put on the search bar by the browser. Users are taught from the moment the first get online that the way to find stuff is with the browser search bar.
it got my thinking in terms of opportunity and why people don't get anywhere on the internet.
This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services. You can however click here and become a Fan of ReadWriteWeb on Facebook, to receive our updates and learn more about the Internet. To access Facebook right now, click here. For future reference, type “facebook.com” into your browser address bar or enter “facebook” into Google and click on the first result. We recommend that you then save Facebook as a bookmark in your browser.
This wasn't supposed to be a big statement about Facebook users, or even these hapless folk. I came across the RWW article with all the comments, and thought that the whole trainwreck was pretty funny.
This is a matter of learning how to use these tools that have become a part of our every day lives. Mistakes like these can go beyond just thinking there was a new Facebook; it could mean entering credit card information at a site you thought was trustworthy.
I don’t agree with the post,I don’t think facebook users are apparently really dumb.
Wow it really is kind of ridiculous that so many Internet users rely on their search bar to find Web sites and don’t take the time to verify — or simply notice — that it’s not the actual site.
oh i was not aware about this thanks to get me on to it i have never used search engine to on facebook
If you have an invested interest in social media then the fact that search engines are taking steps to include more search results from social networking sites is fantastic. Social Media is becoming more of an SEO tool all the time and I couldn’t be happier about that for myself and my marketing clients.
The Internet is a vast world created by the nerdery that broke into the mainstream.
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