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There's an interesting article over at Read/Write Web about Facebook now using AJAX on their website to make the process of adding friends much easier and more efficient. Now visitors are no longer required to load 3 separate pages, instead everything is readily available without any additional page loads.
Some consider this to be quite a bold move by Facebook. Traditionally the popularity of a website has been based on the number of page views it attracts - Not to mention giving marketers a clear indication of how much exposure they will be getting.
Heres 5 reasons why we think Facebook is abandoning page views ...
Improving Usability
Let's start off with the obvious one first. The new AJAX implementation does a great job at improving the usability of the "Add Friends" process. Instead of loading 3 separate pages for such a mundane task, I can now do it from the comfort of the page I was viewing.
Overcoming Complaints
It's fair to say that Facebook attracts a much more tech-savvy audience when compared to alternatives such as MySpace, etc. So it's possible that many visitors the to the site complained about the 3 step process, forcing Facebook to examine other options.
Conserve Bandwidth
It's true! The Facebook servers have most definitely reduced the amount of data being sent out simply by adding a little bit of AJAX. No need to waste bandwidth on the default template (menus, navigation bars, footers, headers, etc), not when theres a better alternative.
Had a Big Hard Think
When adding a friend to your profile you're motivated by one thing: Adding your friend to your profile. A very small percentage of people (if at all) would get distracted enough along the way to click on menus or advertisements. So why bother?
Increasing Conversion Rates
Many people think that marketers are looking for pageviews. Although this is true to some respect, I believe marketers would always prefer advertising on sites that offer a higher conversion rate. Going back to the previous point you can probably see how useless advertisements would be within task oriented sections of a website.
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