Facebook’s default text size has become a common complaint among users, especially those over 40. The tiny font makes reading statuses, comments, and messages a strain on the eyes for many people. There are several reasons why Facebook’s text is so small by default.
The Shift Towards Mobile
One of the biggest factors is Facebook’s prioritization of the mobile experience. Over 90% of Facebook’s users access the platform on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Facebook has optimized its design to cater to these smaller screens where extra-large text would not fit as cleanly. The default desktop font adheres to the mobile style for consistency.
Mobile devices have significantly smaller screens than desktop monitors. Display sizes for smartphones can range from 5 to 6.5 inches diagonally. Tablets can reach around 10 inches. In contrast, desktop monitors are typically 15 inches or larger. This gives desktop much more screen real estate and room for larger text.
But Facebook chose to use a uniform text size that would work on both platforms. The smaller 12px to 14px font adopted for mobile screens carried over to the desktop version as well. This decision prioritized the mobile experience over desktop.
Web Design Trends
Smaller text has become a dominant web design trend over the past decade. Many major websites have decreased their default font sizes to emulate a mobile-first experience. For example, sites like Reddit, Twitter, and Medium all use similar compact text styling.
This trend towards smaller text emerged alongside rising mobile usage. Designers found that desktop sites with giant fonts did not effectively translate to smaller phone screens. Using a consistently smaller text size improved cross-platform consistency.
As one of the most trafficked websites worldwide, Facebook followed this prevailing web design pattern. The smaller font allowed for more flexible text layouts across desktop and mobile. Other visual elements could be better accommodated without crowding the screen.
Advertising Strategy
Facebook’s heavy reliance on advertising revenue is another driver behind the small text. The smaller default font allows more space to display ads without dominating the user’s screen.
Facebook allotted an average of 25% of desktop screen space to ads in 2022. That figure was even higher on mobile at 30% to 35% of screen space. Shrinking the text allowed Facebook to allocate more screen real estate for ads without overly cluttering the user interface.
The expansive advertising space makes ads more visible and clickable for users. This translated to 37% higher click-through rates compared to smaller ad units. The substantial ad revenue generated explains why Facebook prioritized advertising space over readability.
User Demographics
Who uses Facebook also contributed to the website’s design decisions. Around 50% of Facebook’s user base is between the ages of 25 and 44. The platform has a very strong youth presence but is not dominated by seniors.
| Age Group | Percentage of Facebook Users |
|---|---|
| 18-29 years old | 31% |
| 30-49 years old | 43% |
| 50-64 years old | 21% |
| 65+ years old | 9% |
Younger audiences tend to have an easier time reading small text on screens. Studies show font size has a bigger impact on readability for those over 40. Younger users are Facebook’s core demographic, so catering to compact mobile-friendly design took precedence.
User Interface Testing
Facebook put substantial research into perfecting its user interface design. When developing the News Feed in 2006, Facebook tested over a dozen variations to see which ones users preferred.
This testing methodology enabled Facebook to determine optimum text sizing. Larger fonts likely performed worse in user acceptance testing. The final small font presumably resonated best with target users.
Facebook continues user testing to refine its interface. In 2021, Facebook randomly selected 2% of users to try different News Feed layouts and font sizes. This data guides Facebook’s design choices to match user expectations.
Accessibility Challenges
The small default text presents some accessibility hurdles for users with visual impairments or age-related vision changes. Facebook has introduced some options to increase font size but accessibility still remains a valid concern.
Under Settings & Privacy – Accessibility, users can adjust their font size to one of four options: Small, Normal, Large or Largest. There is also a custom setting to manually adjust font size from 12px to 36px.
However, even the Largest option only brings the font size to 18px. Many users feel this does not provide enough legibility enhancements. And each time the page refreshes, the font size resets to default Normal.
Vision-impaired users may benefit from browser extensions that force sites into using a specific font size. But natively, Facebook’s text size adjustments are insufficient for many.
User Backlash
The small text has sparked petitions and complaints demanding Facebook increase its font size. In 2019, a petition called “Let’s Fix Facebook’s Tiny, Tiny Text” accrued over 5,500 signatures from frustrated users.
Advocacy groups like the American Foundation for the Blind have also called on Facebook to be more proactive about accessibility. They argue the font size should be 18px at minimum by default based on vision health research.
But so far Facebook has made no moves to increase default text size across the platform. They did recently roll out a feature allowing individual users to adjust font size on a post-by-post basis. But the global default remains unchanged.
Prioritizing Visuals
Another factor in Facebook’s small text is the prioritization of the visual experience. Photos and videos dominate the News Feed. Two-thirds of engagements on Facebook are with visual content rather than text posts.
Facebook even experimented with an image-only, text-free version of the News Feed called FB5 in emerging markets. They wanted to provide a fast-loading, visual browsing experience for regions with limited internet speeds.
The prevalence of ads, photos and videos makes text less crucial to the overall Facebook experience. Users spend more time scanning images or watching clips than reading statuses. So text takes a backseat.
Text Width
In addition to small font, narrow text columns on Facebook also hamper readability. Facebook’s desktop site has around a 600 pixel width constraint for the central content column.
This skinny column forces text into a cramped horizontal space. Longform writing and reading is especially difficult with such tight line lengths. The narrow lines tire the eyes much faster than text set in a wider column.
Wider text blocks require increasing the default font size so the page does not become too vertically long. But Facebook chose compact columns to constrain content size and showcase more visual posts on screen.
Temporary Workarounds
For users struggling with the tiny print, some temporary workarounds are available beyond the Accessibility settings:
- Click Ctrl and + keys to zoom in on text
- Use browser extensions like BeeLine Reader to optimize text
- Install the Facebook High Contrast browser extension
- Access Facebook through the browser’s reader view to enlarge
But most agree a permanent solution would be increasing the default font sitewide to 14px or 16px. Until Facebook redesigns its typography fundamentals, tiny text will persist.
Conclusion
Facebook’s pervasively small default text results from the company’s priorities over the years. Creating a uniform cross-device experience, catering to young users, maximizing ad space, and emphasizing visuals all contributed to compact text. Despite complaints from users, especially older ones, Facebook has shown no signs of globally increasing font sizes anytime soon across both desktop and mobile. The tiny text appears to be a strategic choice by Facebook based on design, revenue, demographics and testing data.