Is Facebook, a giant survey form?

Designed, making the user unaware of what they’re doing.

Have you ever filled a long survey form, that asked simple questions about your preferences. Let me guess, you would have been pretty excited in the first 10 questions. But as the questions kept coming, you would have felt boring and uninterested.

The concept of Facebook likes is one such masterpiece that makes the user unaware they’re filling a boring form. Confused?. Let me explain.

Think of what Facebook is asking you every time you like an image/article: “ Hey Benjamin, Are you a person who likes boats”, “ Hey Benjamin, do you support ideas around Digital India”, “ Hey Benjamin, do you like the concept of Charcoal Ice Creams”, “Hey Benjamin, do you like cycling in the night” ,etc..

Every time you click the like button, you answer a boring question Facebook has for you. And everyday as you progress, you keep filling the big survey form, that Facebook presents before you. And the beauty behind this, is that you do all this unknowingly. Feeling tricked?. Hahaha, deal with it. :P

A year back, Facebook replaced their like button with a feature called Facebook Reactions, that let people express themselves more. Ever wondered what this actually did. It converted the Simple Form — to a Big Complex MCQ.

Earlier to a question that Facebook asked, you just had the freedom to say “Yes I like it”, or skip to the next. Now for every question that you answer, Facebook makes you think how you actually feel about it. And makes you choose from a list of 6 options. We know how difficult it is to choose from a list of 4 options in other forms we’ve filled. But think about how easily Facebook made you choose from 6 options. Not once. But Multiple times everyday. And it doesn’t end with likes, if you observe you could actually see how every action you do on Facebook, converts to a question that it has for you.

I am not sure whether this design requirement was intentional. But this has kept me thinking on what design actually means, and what it actually should do. Think of designing something so powerful that the user enjoys what he is doing, while he’s unaware of what he’s actually doing. Think.

I hope I have left you curious and thinking.