I noticed a small, but perhaps significant, change in Facebook tonight. Usually when you add more friends to your Facebook account, you need to land on 3 separate pages for each friend: 1) the Requests page; 2) a Request Confirmation/Skip This Step page (I always click ‘Skip This Step’), and finally 3) back to the confirmation page. Three page views for each friend added.
But tonight I noticed that the 2nd step has been Ajaxified – meaning you no longer need to land on a Request Confirmation/Skip This Step page. Instead it is an Ajax pop-up. Now, math has never been my strong point — but doesn’t this mean that the normal 3-page process has been whittled down to 1 page? Won’t that play havoc with Facebook’s precious page views? Weeell, maybe Facebook has realised that the Tyranny of the Page View is over.
Look Ma, no page view!
If my eyes haven’t deceived me (and it is late as I write this), then this is a bold move by Facebook and one I heartily applaud. If it’s a permanent move and not just a test. Page view stats are an antiquated web stat – and too easily gamed by social networks and blogs – so the sooner we move away from them the better. Anyone else seeing this change in Facebook?
