So we’ve all seen Facebook copy millions of times. They simply grab features that work for others. They’ve copied Friendfeed and Twitter. And more recently even LinkedIn. Take a look the newest imitation a copy of LinkedIn’s completeness profile bar. You can see this on a new Facebook user’s page: Some people, such as a new social media entrepreneur I met recently, think that the rivalry between Facebook and other social media is ridiculous and doesn’t really create a better product. In her opinion Facebook should at least make an effort to work on their own implementation of concepts that are working well on other networks rather than copy, paste ideas directly.

Personally I believe that many of Facebook’s best features come from ideas they initially obtain from others and then change as the results of testing come in. In the case of the profile completeness bar however I am not so sure. It doesn’t seem like its a feature that is relevant to most users or one that will lead to any changes in user behavior. Here is why.

Firstly for most Facebook users, especially those using it non-professionally, completing their profile doesn’t seem connected to their success in connecting with others, the primary reason for using Facebook. You see LinkedIn has a limited number of fields all related to showcasing one’s professional background and all of these field’s contribute to the profile owner’s ability to be found via search engine searches. Facebook on the other hand has many profiles fields (both from Facebook and from other developers) but these aren’t searchable by search engines and thus higher completion does not improve the user’s ability to be found.

Secondly, unlike Linkedin where the profile owner see the completeness bar on their own user view of the profile, Facebook has placed its user profile completeness bar on the visitor’s view of the profile. It seems like Facebook added this completeness bar to drive user’s profile completing behavior via social pressure from friends. I am not convinced that friends are likely to care about this as there is no clear cut return to them.

LinkedIn also does a couple of other things differently with this bar to drive user behavior. It provides 1)  microcopy explaining how to complete one’s profile 2) clear description of benefits to the user for filling their profile: Do you guys think this feature has any ultimate goals to drive user behavior or improve user experience that I am missing. If so please do comment. Would love to get your thoughts on this.

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