Where Facebook Went Wrong
May 25th, 2008
I admit to my sins. I have signed up for social networking websites in the past. Most of these are looked upon as a blight upon the web — a vile place where no one should wonder. This is true for a vast majority of them. MySpace, which can only be depicted as a children’s park with hunting blinds set up especially for pedophiles. Bebo, where everybody knows your name… and your age… and your school… and who you’re dating… and every other piece of information you don’t want random strangers to know. Hi5, which sends out so many promotional emails, you would think their mail server was on a continuous loop.
However, the lack of privacy is not the only filth that comes from registering at one of these monstrosities. We now have to deal with a new kind of evil. Referred to by many different names, these sins against humanity are found on every major social network. Whether you call them widgets, applications, or add-ons, something titled, “Are YOU interested?” can never be good.
Beginning with Friendster and then adopted by MySpace, we suffered through these digital faux pas for an entire year with no real hope. In 2004, a new social networking site was launched. It promised to be different; it was designed for a different clientele. A popular spot for the college crowd, Facebook was born. For nearly three years, it was an an enlightening experience when compared to its competitors. The usual level of annoyance was non-existant.
In 2007, Facebook announced the Facebook Platform, which allowed developers to create applications for Facebook. Things started going down hill shortly after.
The concept started out with a good idea: give users more customization over what is displayed in their profiles. Applications have always existed in some form. It began with things similar to “The Wall”, which enables users to leave messages on their friends’ profile pages. At some point, however, a digression was made. The path to customization was left for a new road — one where developers would create anything, no matter how annoying, as long as it was popular.
This, I believe, is the root to our problems. These services are so focused on pleasing some people that they forget that such changes can alienate and outright annoy others. MySpace has always been a breeding ground for preteen users and their annoying habits. In the past, it was a profile design with blinking lights and neon colors. It regressed into polls which featured the most elaborate of questions: “Do you think I’m sexy?”, “Would you ever date me?”, and “Do you like Degrassi?” graced profiles far and wide, with seemingly no intervention.
Facebook is no longer enjoyable for me. At some point the developers need to put their foot down. They need to ask themselves, “Who was our original audience? What would they think of this?” They need to stop trying to compete with MySpace and start trying to retain what used to be a fresh look at social networking. While adapting for a changing userbase is a good idea in theory, forgetting the original userbase entirely is a serious mistake.
This is exactly where Facebook went wrong. They lost their originality; they gave up what made them different from MySpace. They decided that they did not want to be different — they wanted to compete. Worst of all, however, is what is outlined above. Facebook forgot their original cliente, and that is the biggest mistake a company can make.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I agree that the rampant number of useless Facebook applications is annoying. I don’t think it’s similar to MySpace, however. MySpace gives users too much control over how they can alter their profile, turning it into an exercise in ego-mongering.
Facebook has annoying applications, sure. But you still have the choice if you want to install those applications. Furthermore, when you view someone’s profile, you are not subjected to automatic music or flashing applications–you have to explicitly activate such interactive stuff, and you can collapse application boxes if you don’t like them. So ultimately, the user is in control.
I just ignore the application invitations, use applications that I find suitable, and otherwise enjoy how Facebook lets me communicate with my friends.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Ben:
You bring up a good point. MySpace does allow excessive customization. While there are no annoying sounds coming from a Facebook profile, there are definitely visual offenses.
On some of my friends’ profiles, there is such a ridiculous number of applications, I cannot even locate the base features. In the endless mess of scrolling, I finally find The Wall. But wait! No! That’s not The Wall, that’s The Super Wall! Entirely different thing.
Even if someone isn’t annoyed by all of that, at the very least they would describe it as clutter.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I disagree with Ben. The user is not in control. The page can take bloody ages to load or even crash the browser attempting to load the sheer about of junk the person has added to their profile.
Facebook went downhill with those applications, and then even further by adding that chatbox which never loads/makes Firebug cry.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
While I think that excessive applications are a problem for Facebook, I don’t think that it’s their main problem. I think that their controls (such as blocking an application that sends too much information to the News Feed) are adequate for handling bad applications. Plus, the announcement of a system in which applications that are excessively blocked by users get punished (by being allowed to send out less information to News Feeds) will help.
I think the biggest problem was when Facebook decided to deviate from the closed college/high school networks that it originally limited itself to. Having it open to anyone really changed who the developers could focus on, and brought new problems.
May 28th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Nicola:
While the new chat system is indeed a pain (if I want to talk to my friends, I’ll sign on to MSN. Sometimes I need to look something up while I’m working, and I don’t have time to tell people how I’m doing), I didn’t cover that in my article because it is new. The platform has been around for a solid year, so any hope of Facebook fixing its faults has been lost. With the chat system, I think they might be able to make some improvements.
T:
Another good point! Opening registrations to everyone was definitely a bad move. I get annoyed when ten-year-olds try to add me as a friend, but I’m honestly disturbed when forty-year-olds try to add me as a friend. This coincides with my overall point, though: Facebook forgot their original audience.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Hopefully the upcoming profile changes will solve a lot of the problems with annoying applications.