The first step to recovery is admitting, they say. So, here goes: I’m addicted to social networking. As a human being, I need my social interaction. And, being stuck in the lab working non-stop towards graduation, I’ve been craving it more than ever. Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader  – I just can’t get enough.

But, not all is well in my addiction to these sites, because as much as I need them, I don’t like a lot about how some of them work. Twitter is constantly down, loads horribly half the time, and leaves features inaccessible. I can’t sort the tweets, I can’t seem to find any new friends easily, and the counter doesnt always work correctly. Facebook just changed its layout, and I can’t find anything anymore! The ridiculous response of other facebook users seems to validate my concerns. And reader, well it seems to think I have unread items when I really don’t.

All I’ve been taught tells me that I shouldn’t enjoy using these sites due to the difficulties I encounter. Shouldn’t a relatively unusable site completely turn me off? Why do I keep coming back?

It seems we always underestimate the power of human nature. Social interaction can trump usability. If its usable to the point that we can figure it out, and gives us access to other people and meaningful connections, it doesn’t really matter how much other crappy design we have to wade through. This isn’t a license for these sites to stay this bad, though. As facebook replaced myspace due to its cleaner and better user experience, all of these sites will inevitably be replaced with better and more usable sites if they don’t take steps towards fixing their user experience.

I can’t wait for the competition to actually begin :)