Change is hard. but constant change is the base of living and it is inevitable. however once people have set their mind on something. a framed perception is archived and this perception becomes a commodity and a invocative element of personal routine and personal habits. something that generates a refined Know-How for over time. this in turn creates a individual experience i call Comfort Reality Zone. This is the reason why people refuse or resist change when it comes into changing a multi level experience. this is why it is so common for people to resist change when it comes to software and web services.
When a Web Service changes. you are changing 2 things in the user mind:
1.-Perceived Appreciation
If you change the look of things. you change the user reaction. i remember reading that Meebo had a burst of new users when they changed the color of the home page to blue. minimal change. but it meant a lot because people refreshed the evaluations of meebo thanks to a new first impression. there is a multitude of examples on this. but this example is perfect to frame my point here.
2.-Know-How Culture
If you change the organizational design of a web service as it happened with Facebook. you have just changed completely the knowledge its own users had about the service. you have disrupted what they knew and this creates a new learning curve instantly. I personally think the New Facebook is way way way better than the old facebook. even if they shamelessly riffed a lot from many services in order to create it and then claimed it as totally their own doing. but that it changes everything for the user.that is true. but i think it is justified by the fact that the changes are an improvement. but then i am a Early Adopter and i am always on the edge of new. but to someone who Facebook is a fifth or a third of their whole online experience on a daily basis. this can be hard to accept and even traumatic since you pretty much FORCED the user to change its behavior completely.
In the case of the new iGoogle. it is more of a case of the first instance. Facebook change on the other hand is a case that touches strongly on both instances. and while Facebook and iGoogle can afford it thanks to the protection its brand and the service mindshare gives them. doing this on a small service is something that more than not has killed the service because users are not as invested and engaged enough to cope with change and it is 99% likely that the brad is to weak to generate affinity and mental retention. it is actually preferred to do a completely revamp and changing the brand and name included if your service is young.
Even then. i cannot help getting amused when users from a service revolt from change that is without a doubt better than what was before. just like Frederic Lardinois reports in his RWW blog post. good read. recommended.
Resisting Change: iGoogle and Yahoo Profile Updates Shock Users
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