what % matters?

I saw this on Facebook today (and had fun teasing little guru as he voted as well)



guess who voted what,..

it reminded me of that taskbar on top 1% number.  the windows minority.

Above shows 800k against to 50k for a change.  But there are 175 million facebook users.

so.. those 800k (and growing) users must not be important ... by that logic..


My question is - when dealing in huge user bases - does not the % theory fall flat? as if close to a million people do not like something...well then...maybe something could have been handled better? or designed better? or launched better?

I clicked through and read - literally 100 pages of comments - no where near the 50 thousand comments - on top of the 800 thousand no votes...

If a million people do not like something - should it be ignored?

Ion Todirel said:

who cares... facebook sucks anyway

so.. those 800k (and growing) users must not be important ... by that logic..

Quite the opposite. Just because there are only 800 thousand "no" votes in a community of 174 million doesn't change the fact that they represent about 95 percent of the sampled population. You could assume that this can be accurately extrapolated out across the entire userbase as well.

tfraser said:

so.. those 800k (and growing) users must not be important ... by that logic..

Quite the opposite. Just because there are only 800 thousand "no" votes in a community of 174 million doesn't change the fact that they represent about 95 percent of the sampled population. You could assume that this can be accurately extrapolated out across the entire userbase as well.

So of 175 million users, 850K voted.  Does this mean that 99.995% of Facebook users couldn't care less?

That's the problem with polls -- they're voluntary, so only people with an opinion either way will vote, the vast majority will just ignore it.  You cannot treat a poll as a 'true' sample as it is biased towards people who give a toss. To call it a sample, you would have to randomly select your sample and get a yes\no\don't care answer from each one.

Herbie

Dr Herbie said:

tfraser said:

*snip*

So of 175 million users, 850K voted.  Does this mean that 99.995% of Facebook users couldn't care less?

That's the problem with polls -- they're voluntary, so only people with an opinion either way will vote, the vast majority will just ignore it.  You cannot treat a poll as a 'true' sample as it is biased towards people who give a toss. To call it a sample, you would have to randomly select your sample and get a yes\no\don't care answer from each one.

Herbie

Dr Herbie said:

tfraser said:

*snip*

So of 175 million users, 850K voted.  Does this mean that 99.995% of Facebook users couldn't care less?

That's the problem with polls -- they're voluntary, so only people with an opinion either way will vote, the vast majority will just ignore it.  You cannot treat a poll as a 'true' sample as it is biased towards people who give a toss. To call it a sample, you would have to randomly select your sample and get a yes\no\don't care answer from each one.

Herbie

tfraser said:

Dr Herbie said:

*snip*

Mmm, I concede. Scientific process fail on my part.

Makes me wonder for what reason Facebook conducted the poll then, if its statistics are almost useless and it paints such a negative image.

That's the sign of facebook hitting progress bottleneck, customer feedbacks. Meaning, we should have a new social site about a year to replace the unable to improved outdated social network.

i think in this case - there was no evil possey out to get facebook...  a poll app started making the rounds - and a million people clicked to see it.

I usually click polls on cnn, toronto star etc - i dont know why - but i like to see the results - and to do that - you have to vote.


Back to the percentage question - gearing back to that MS list steveo posted - that shows how they are basing customization / usability decisions - on usage data.  (1% etc)

check out this article about a Google design guy - who quit because he couldnt stand them using data - for everything...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10201160-2.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

In almost all cases - it seems to me that by managing soley by data - you inhibit innovation, being different, allowing others to make it "their way"

Although the author of above article points out - that it maybe more exciting - to manage by data - as there has never been this much data before -( to manage with) 

Interesting theory - but where is the risk? seems in all cases - forced upgrades and removale of customization features - do not jibe well with managing by data.
if it did - there'd be no problem?

tfraser said:

Dr Herbie said:

*snip*

Mmm, I concede. Scientific process fail on my part.

Makes me wonder for what reason Facebook conducted the poll then, if its statistics are almost useless and it paints such a negative image.

i guess thats an issue too - facebook did not do the poll - they should have.

this is just some app someone made - and a million people in a day loaded it


I would love to have Facebook actually ask:  Love it or leave it? * BEFORE * they rolled it out...

... like they suprised everyone with Beacon... then rolled it back
... like they suprised everyone with new terms of service ....then rolled it back
... like they suprised everyone by redesigning the site after they just did...

Note to zuckerberg: Twits are for kids - KFC original recipe is in a safe somewhere that would rival fort knox
Change! New Coke! Vista!  ..errr..oops
* if obama is in charge of the change...then ok

tfraser said:

so.. those 800k (and growing) users must not be important ... by that logic..

Quite the opposite. Just because there are only 800 thousand "no" votes in a community of 174 million doesn't change the fact that they represent about 95 percent of the sampled population. You could assume that this can be accurately extrapolated out across the entire userbase as well.

My no vote is somewhere in there.

I feel more disconnected from my Facebook friends than ever.  What events are my friends going to?  No clue.  Is someone's relationship status changing?  I've no idea.  If I'm lucky I'll notice that someone posted new photos on the far right, but only as long as my browser window is wide enough.

I'm generally very positive about change and moving forward.... this, though, it's really hard to see what they were trying to accomplish.

this is the best article ive found in support of my arguement:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13641_3-10201715-44.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0

and this is best - that refutes my arguement: from the Scobilizer (dont agree though - they overstepped their boundries - plus he argues for business case development - not what i - as a user - deem important)
http://scobleizer.com/2009/03/21/why-facebook-has-never-listened-and-why-it-definitely-wont-start-now/

warren said:

My no vote is somewhere in there.

I feel more disconnected from my Facebook friends than ever.  What events are my friends going to?  No clue.  Is someone's relationship status changing?  I've no idea.  If I'm lucky I'll notice that someone posted new photos on the far right, but only as long as my browser window is wide enough.

I'm generally very positive about change and moving forward.... this, though, it's really hard to see what they were trying to accomplish.

W3bbo said:

warren said:

*snip*

Say warren, want to start a Facebook competitor?

jamie said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

new:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10201694-2.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

and

re: my comment: "Edit - if there is one company that does NOT manage by data - it is apple"

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10201641-71.html?tag=mncol

*i love being FIRST

From an enterprise view it's all just noise!

Apple:
PC's are cheaper than Mac, specially on volume deal's ... so no Mac's in call-centre anytime soon.
Apple do next to nothing in the back-office ... woop they make a server. Can't run SQL Server or Exchange on it, supported that is! Means nothing if it's not.
Love my iPhone, hate that it can't cut & paste or talk to Lotus Notes.
This all tells me Apple are into consumer tech not business.

Google:
Questions over privacy and security aren't answered so no whole-sale jump to the 'Cloud'.
As for Google Office ... what a joke, show me how to run or convert VBA then get back to me cos I have 3 million lines of it in my organisation ... and I doubt my company is unique ... it's the Elepant in the room for all those Office-wannabies!

Don't get me wrong I would love to have an alternative to Office, just there really isn't one.

So my message is pretty clear, don't play with Google or Apple till they can scale up to play with the Enterprise and it's clear they aren't listening.