Hyperlinking

Social media uses hyperlinks extensively, I clicked around Facebook for a few minutes, virtually everything on the page is a hyperlink. Each link connects the "clicker" to another profile or page containing even more links, the hyperlinking potential is limitless and even cyclical. A user can choose to open or close links or select an option on the link tab to close it, when one link is closed another one will appear. Facebook is a hyperlink Hydra. Many of the links are illustrated by little pictures or symbols. We link so extensively on social media platforms we do not even realize we are doing it. Linking used to be a task completed with thoughtful consideration. During the early days of internet a hyperlink would be highlighted in blue, and plain text would appear near the link saying “Link:” by clicking the link a browser warning page would pop up on screen saying “WARNING you have clicked a LINK, would you like to continue?” and one would have to thoughtfully consider the consequences of clicking “Yes” or “No”.  

Facebook is extremely clickable; almost all text and pictures are links which can be clicked. Many but not all of the links are internal links taking you to another part of Facebook, such as a Facebook applications, profiles, pages, and advertisements. Most advertisement links redirect to the products web page, or a Facebook page for the product.  

Hyperlinks contained on Facebook encourage users to express their ADD with no bounds. Have you ever heard somebody say or even post "Dang I did it again! I got lost in Facebook world for two hours!"? This is an extreme example of hyper-linking out of control. A Facebook user has barley reviewed 10% of the information on a page before finding another link to click and opening another episode of rapid page linking. Viewers are encouraged to link continuously. From a design perspective the amount of information on each page is limited and linking from one page to the next is necessary to complete one individual task, making it fun for some and bothersome for others.

The links enhance to the Facebook experience by providing a continuous flow of fresh information to Facebookers. For example Facebook’s new “Timeline” profile display is a linear display of links based on the time they were created. Advertisements, profiles and page links move further down a page becoming less noticeable the further back the link was published.

Facebook has become the opposite of its name. The word “book” would insinuate a linear beginning to end narrative of social connections. Facebook has little linear narrative and is continually adding new links everywhere possible.