Has Facebook Jumped the Shark?
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James Joyner | Thursday, July 12, 2007 |
I’ve never found the social media sites to be particularly useful. I’ve tried Orkut, Gather, and a few others and just never found a benefit that exceeded the time investment required.
Facebook seemed to be different. I joined a few months back and actually found myself visiting a few times a day to see what various people were up to. A large number of my Facebook Friends were other bloggers or writers, so it was a convenient way to keep up with their latest posts as well as DC area gatherings that might be of interest.
Unfortunately, Facebook’s very popular decision to allow outside developers to create add-on “applications” for the site has ruined what I found best about the site. Here, for example, is my news feed as of this morning:
(I trust I’m not violating any confidences by sharing this inane information about people without their express consent. If I’m wrong, I apologize.)
I’ve tinkered with the feed preferences for two weeks in a vain attempt to get it to quit tellling me which applications others had added. I deleted all the applications I had added since I would otherwise be deluged with notes about what books people were reading (which, since the application is new, usually meant which books people had already read….years ago). Why on earth would anybody want to keep up with this sort of thing?
Is this an attempt by Facebook to get back to its roots and appeal only to high school kids? Or am I missing something?
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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In fairness, the Word Magnets app was kind of boring. Heh.
I think Facebook should default to not showing Application install/removals in the News Feed. Instead, you should be able to get a list of your friends' Applications on the Application Directory page.
I agree. It clutters it up. Facebook needs to offer the option to not show the application notices. They do that with e-mail notification.
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