Understanding User Adaptation Strategies for the Launching of Facebook Timeline

摘要

This paper applies coping theory to understand user adaptation strategies to major interface changes on Social Networking Sites (SNSs). Specifically, we qualitatively examine 1,149 user comments posted to the Facebook's official Timeline blog in order to get a large and unobtrusive sample of real Facebook users' perceptions about the launch of Timeline. Our data suggests a high level of stress associated with the transition to the new interface introduced by Timeline. We also found evidence which suggests that increasing users' perceptions of control over major interface changes may help facilitate user adaptation to these changes. This study offers valuable insights to SNSs for mitigating user stress and facilitating successful adaptation during major interface changes.