Usability Evaluation of Two Social Networking Sites

Abstract

This paper examines differences between the two most popular social networking sites (Facebook and MySpace) in terms of their usability and design heuristics. First, we discuss a brief history on social network websites that have dominated the Internet in popularity and then declined over time due to major setbacks or system design failures. Second, we discuss usability heuristics and how they can be incorporated to social network websites to improve their chances of success among users. Lastly, we present a study in which we have used an adapted usability questionnaire based on these usability heuristics. This usability questionnaire compares Facebook and MySpace by rating them across eight dimensions such as simplicity, usefulness, functionality, consistency, proficiency, satisfaction, behavior, and needs for improvement. There was a significant difference between both social networks, indicating that Facebook was rated the highest on usability over MySpace.