Why Do Facebook Reels Have Poor UX on the Web?
I use my laptop more than my smartphone, and recently, when I was watching a Facebook reel, I pressed the down arrow to watch the next one. To my surprise, nothing happened. After looking at the screen, I realised the navigation was set to move right or left to view a new reel. So, I used the right arrow and continued watching a few more.
If you’ve watched reels on Facebook’s web version, you might have had a similar experience. Perhaps you tried scrolling with your mouse wheel or, like me, using the keyboard. In this article, let’s dive a bit deeper into why this design choice impacts the user experience of Facebook Reels on the web.
Why Is This Happening 🤔?
The short-video trend started with the original social media platform, Vine (rest in peace 🙏), and was quickly adopted by other major platforms like TikTok, Facebook (as Reels), and YouTube (as Shorts). Initially, the main audience for these short videos was late Millennials and Gen Z, but eventually, they attracted all generations.
Since these videos are primarily designed for smartphone users, they are optimized for viewing on a phone. On a smartphone, you scroll down with your finger to watch the next video. When short videos came to social media web versions, platforms retained this scrolling experience to create a familiar feel for users coming from mobile. This approach aligns with one of the most well-known UX principles, Jakob’s Law, which states that “users spend most of their time on other sites. This means users prefer your site to work the same way as all the others they already know.”
Most platforms have adopted this design principle on the web, allowing users to scroll down or use the down arrow to see the next video. But Facebook has taken a different approach to its web version, requiring users to scroll sideways instead of up and down, as expected. This divergence breaks Jakob’s Law, making Facebook Reels feel a bit odd and unintuitive to use on the web. Interestingly, Instagram — a product of Meta like Facebook — still uses the traditional experience, so this inconsistency is unique to Facebook Reels.
How to Fix This 🤨 ?
The fix is simple: Facebook just needs to implement the familiar vertical scrolling experience for its web version of Reels. This adjustment could significantly improve the user experience.
Final Thoughts 🤗
Facebook has a strong design team, and it’s likely they will address this issue eventually. Perhaps someone at Meta will read this article and take note 😉. For new designers, it’s important to remember: don’t be discouraged by mistakes in your designs. Even the best designers can overlook UX principles, and every mistake is an opportunity to learn and improve. Finally, if you found this useful and interesting please feel free to share this among your friends and colleagues.
THANK YOU!
