In case you hadn’t noticed the Twitter homepage now tells you how many new tweets you have. On your @mentions page, the same alert appears at the top of the page. For most browser users, the Twitter tab will also display the number of new updates you have, depending on which page (home page or @mentions page) you currently have open. The tab indicator is similar to what we’ve seen for years with various email services, yet it highlights the necessity to continuously stand out from other tabs you may have open in your browser.
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For Facebook, you normally see a floating alert pop up for your latest notification appearing just above the Facebook chat tab in the bottom corner of the page. It’s not as noticeable as Twitter’s more recent changes, but it follows some of the same necessities and principles for getting messages to users faster and in a more accessible manner.
In many ways, this seems to be a great addition to the growing number of features on both the Twitter and Facebook platforms. It’s kind of cool to be somewhat remotely alerted of the activity taking place around your immediate network. What these features on Twitter and Facebook do however, is increase user engagement and encourage them to stay on the site for a little while longer.
For Twitter, this may be a central goal for the microblogging site, as many third party applications still provide a good portion of the value users seek on Twitter. The company has been increasingly aggressive towards its layering in of direct features for its users, finding new ways in which to keep users on the site itself. Facebook may have a similar objective in keeping users on the site, as their platform and Facebook Connect have given end users and third party developers more opportunities to interact with Facebook content without having to leave the site.
No matter which way you slice it, it appears that both Facebook and Twitter have decided goals towards ultimately affecting their relationships with third party developers in their moves to increase user engagement. Twitter may alienate some developers in their long-term efforts to provide more value directly through the site. Similarly, Facebook may do the same with floating alerts, as recent regulations for applications’ use of notifications has been limited.
Are Facebook and Twitter turning to more real-time interactions on their sites to improve user engagement or simply following a trend? Along with the real time search efforts taking place through both Twitter and Facebook and numerous others, the real time alerts plays into that longing for instant gratification as well.
While there are definite business advantages to what Twitter and Facebook are doing to increase user engagement, the users may eventually become overwhelmed with an ongoing increase in “real time” activity. This is especially important when you have users that don’t know how to control certain features and you flood them with to much information. Most Facebook users don’t know how to control their Facebook news feed or unfriend a fan page (see our Facebook Guide if you don’t). Users like simple, easy to use features that just make sense to them. They don’t want to have to research how to use something that’s intended to be used for enjoyment or it’s just not going to be that enjoyable. Thankfully these features aren’t at all distractive and they don’t require any meddling from the user which is how it should be.
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