Facebook apps

Spent quite a bit of time exploring Facebook apps and exactly how I can use FB as a marketing tool.

I still find FB’s user interface hard to figure out, but I think I’m getting used to it. I recently had this conversation with a couple of friends and it seems like it is still the number one complaint.

For other apps that are this difficult to use, I normally would just dismiss it and move on to something a little more user-friendly — you know, the whole I’m-the-user-make-it-work-the-way-I-like-it-or-I’m-gone Web2.0 mentality.

I still think that way but at the same time I’m also a little more tolerant of Facebook’s shortcomings in the UI area. Facebook was designed for the student population and well…Facebook as it is today is based on preferences and tolerance of its original user base. And now generation X’ers and some Baby Boomers are using it and trying to figure it out. Age has nothing to do with it, but maybe generational experiences do. Facebook’s original user base grew up with the Internet and all its applications thrived on figuring things out (Jeremiah Owyang posted about Generation Y’s ability to learn) so just my personal theory, they are more tolerant of applications that aren’t necessarily user friendly. Heck I’ll even take that further and say they’d probably even prefer sites that aren’t user friendly to make it even more difficult for their parents to snoop around their online activities but that’s just a personal theory. On the other hand the previous generations learned social networking via LinkedIn (not to say it doesn’t have its irks). So I guess when you consider where the comments (Facebook is the best) or complaints (I can’t figure out the UI) are coming from, they make a little more sense.

Take it or leave it, I guess. And for a while there I’ve chosen the latter option. Facebook was just a database of profiles. You can search, you can connect, but beyond that you couldn’t do much. But then Facebook opened up its API and just like that, Facebook simply became too powerful of a tool to ignore in my book. Facebook’s open API transformed FB from just a database of student profiles into a bunch of other things:

1) It’s quickly turning into a “control panel” for me, because from there I can: update Jaiku, Twitter, or whatever other microblogging service you use (not to mention FB’s “status” updates works this way as well), even update your YouTube playlist. No need to go to three or four different sites just to reach your audience, making ubiquitious social media presence just a little easier, in my opinion. And speaking of reaching your audience, Facebook’s “news feed” definitely makes this happen. Your “friends” don’t need to add you or “follow” you on Twitter or Jaiku to get your updates. Heck they don’t even need to be Twitter or Jaiku users to get ‘em because they’ll get them through the news feed. (In a way, I guess that’s like force-feeding someone your updates but hey, I didn’t build it).

2) On the receiving end, it’s an aggregator. It hasn’t quite replaced my Netvibes page yet, and that’s probably because I just haven’t found the Facebook apps (and I lack the skills to develop one) to replace them yet. But going back to Facebook’s news feed function, I get relevant updates and postings — links to useful pages and articles, who’s connecting to whom, who joined which group, who added what application. There are a lot of groups that I am definitely interested in joining and I learn about them not from searching but by looking at my feed, my contacts joining groups. (In a way this has kinda kept me in line too. The news feed has definitely prevented me from joining groups like “David Hasselhoff is the Hottest Human Being Ever” or something embarrassing like that…I mean not that I would…nevermind).

Now as if on cue, there are talks that LinkedIn will open up its API as well. For those of us who prefer the professional, corporate-ey feel of LinkedIn this is definitely highly anticipated and a much welcome move. I love LinkedIn and it’s a great source for leads but just the way Facebook was not too long ago, it’s just a database of names. You can ask questions and answer them to show off your expertise but other than that there’s not much else I can do there. Needless to say, I can’t wait for LinkedIn apps.
Yay for open APIs!