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Facebook's app feeding frenzy - CNET News.com

news.com.com — NEW YORK--At Wednesday night's Facebook Developer Meetup, the mood could be summed up by the appearance of a clean-cut young entrepreneur who had written "I NEED AN APP" in thick black marker on his name tag.

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  • gbalon, on 10/11/2007, -4/+25I love facebook
    • lordtyros, on 10/11/2007, -5/+13I love gbalon
    • gamebittk, on 10/11/2007, -5/+18I love teh internetz
    • affanjam, on 10/11/2007, -4/+29There are so many apps for facebook that people just keep adding, that its starting to feel like myspace.
    • centari, on 10/11/2007, -7/+15I love lamp!
    • dokbeast7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I just hope people will realize that their profiles are starting to look like crap and clean them up. I started adding a bunch of applications but it looked to cluttered so I removed them. The Application framework could be really annoying if the users don't control it by not adding stupid or ugly applications, but overall its a great move.
    • sugarsickness, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3A friend of mine tried to "rape" his facebook and he added easily around 60 or more apps. His profile was ridiculous and it took about ten minutes of scrolling to find his wall if you wanted to leave a comment. It was hilarious but no music or videos played when I went to his profile and my browser did not crash or slowdown at all. Sure, he stupid animal things and fortune cookies and bible quotes (He is not a religious person by any means) and other such stupid and hideous looking things on there, but there was zero performance decrease.

      I don't understand all of these comparisons to myspace when most profiles show slowdown with much less going on in them.
    • Teanuh, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0There are apps that are useful and fun but then there are others that are completely pointless. No, I don't want to throw a sheep at anyone, and I don't want a stupid fortune cookie, for the 40Th time!
    • labyrinth37, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0did anyone else read dokbeast7's post in a real nasal annoying voice and picture him in a sweater vest?
  • g3creative, on 10/11/2007, -37/+0Facebook's app feeding frenzy.

    Yes, we found this story really interesting as well.

    Dave Mac
    G3 Creative Scotland
  • bradbelote, on 10/11/2007, -15/+3myspace better gets it act together or it could be left behind.
    • mvanhorn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+33I think the real solution is for everyone to just quit myspace and switch to facebook. Myspace is too far behind to even compete in the future
    • canewediggit, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9mazer- myspace is far ahead in what counts; unique visitors and pageviews. that's what makes money. and from the comments going around re-facebook lately, it seems to me fb is becoming just as fertile a spam ground as myspace is. fb is gaining ground, but if you think myspace is going to get beat out by fb, you're way off. too many people are too ingrained to be bothered to switch.

      at the end of the day, social networks are like bars- one opens up, becomes the hot spot for awhile, then everybody knows about it, the masses show, and eventually it just becomes no fun. myspace is beat, facebook is on it's way there, and i'm not telling you about my new favorite bar because i like showing up, getting a comfy seat, and getting my drink quickly without dealing with all the idiots.

    • sharpie05, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0With the new spaming capabilities of facebook apps, nobody will want to use myspace for its annoying advertisements. Alas, myspace is now doomed...
    • Malachai, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1@canewediggit (#7211786)
      Is it Virb?
  • eksai, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13i like how they are making it sound like the applications are some ground breaking apps. In reality they are very basic apps, i.e. the top 5 Apps are:
    Top Friends: Show top 24 friends in a separate window
    iLike: show your music tastes
    Fortune cookie: looks like they just send 1 random message per day
    Horoscopes: same as above
    Graffiti: draw on friend's profile

    so pretty much the only app thats somewaht complicated is the graffiti one.
    • iknoritesrsly, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10if i had to make a wager, i would bet that the best and most complicated applications have yet to be developed.

      the whole thing is new ground and it will take some time before we see anything especially amazing.
    • eksai, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4considering this API seems to be profile based, I sincerly doubt we'll see that many amazing things. I imagine it all boils down to: different ways to show photos(slides, zoom), embedded videos ,status updates, and offsite status display(i.e. so and so has 1 listing on ebay)

      the API is for a social networking website, and it will always be one, so don't expect anything ground breaking there, because social networking is a stale category. I would imagine all the "good' ideas have already been released.

      Essentially what this F8 does, is to give the comp sci majors, a way to practice
    • general13, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I hated the apps feature, and refused to add any of them. But I ended up folding for *one* of them - the "Where I've Been" app, which shows people which countries and states you've visited in a simple white-with-colored-in-states-and-countries design. Pretty nifty, since I've been a lot of places.

      Other than that though...sometimes I fear it'll turn into MySpace. *shudder*
  • dementia, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15The best part about the Facebook apps are that you can choose to hide them from other people's pages so that you don't have to look at the ones you don't want to. I have that huge annoying Compass minimized, among others
  • actionjackson7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16The apps have just started and I think I'm already sick of them: denying everyone's worthless app invites over and over and over again. This causes me to worry that this is all going to turn into another junked-up myspace... oh plz no...
    • nubtard, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5I absolutely agree. Notifications. Stupid mail in the inbox. Advertisements.

      I'm a facebook user of about one month and I'm tired of it. Web 2.0? My ass.
    • gr3yn3t, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3@nubtard

      1) Account - notifications - Uncheck all to avoid email notifications
      2) Adblock. - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10
    • nubtard, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I'm aware of all the tricks to get rid of everything.

      You shouldn't need to.

      example: a user I know chose to send mail to x amount of people and now the conversation never ends because different people reply all the time
    • ArmchairAthlete, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think facebook apps used in moderation can be fun. There are some cool ones I've heard of.

      However, I've seen all too many profiles lately that are getting as cluttered and disgusting as myspace profiles thanks to an overload of apps and such. And yes, the app invites are quite annoying.

      Anyhow, I don't trust people to use them in moderation. I'd make a hard limit for how many apps can be on your profile at a time. Or just give me a way to turn them off (not just on my profile, but any one I visit). Even on a per-app basis. Maybe this exists and I just don't know it.
    • jmlane, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I feel your pain, we definitely need a privacy option to block application invitation requests. All the spam I get to add "Top Friends" or "Free Gifts" is driving me mad.
  • tuxidomasx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6FTA: As an example, Zuckerberg said Facebook Platform developers cannot yet use Javascript in their applications, because it isn't seen as secure enough for the platform in its current form. "Rather than putting it in our terms of service that you promise not to breach our security and putting the onus on us," he said, "we are just going to open it up slowly over time."

    no javascript plz and thnx
  • mek6767, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0All of these companies, like facebook, are going to get left by app developers and content providers for sites like www.sms.ac where you can get paid for your apps, music, videos, or even referring people to other content. Facebook, google, youtube and microsoft don't pay their content provides and I think that will be thier downfall.
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1as long as there is a userbase
      facebook cant die
      by bringing the features to it by creating an open platform
      anyone could make money regardless by finding ways to do so
      facebook doesnt need to pay them because they all want to make an app
      because they want the people on facebook so they use that platform without payment
  • qishi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10In other news, there are Facebook Developer Meetups.
    • DeejayLupo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This was the first of its kind, with more following around the country shortly afterward.
  • Uhhh, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3I want to poke you in real life.
  • jesterace, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2i quit facebook 2 days ago. i just cant stand the direction its going in with 50 daily requests to join x application.
  • niotv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I agree that the apps are getting out of control. However, I have to applaud the "Video App". No, there's isn't any rating or view counts like YouTube. My favorite feature is the recording of the video messages right from your webcam and how it's tightly integrated into sending messages to other Facebook friends. Really clean and easy-to-use interface.
  • sruffelman, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8Facebook should never have let people without .edu emails to join. It wasn't about meeting people. It was about keeping in touch with your college friends and showing each other your pictures. Now that anyone can have a Facebook, the original purpose has been perverted and these new applications are a perfect example of how far they have come from what was originally a good thing.
    • mrmcgoo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Exactly. They should have left Facebook the way it was and created another site for everyone else that was similar.
    • bravecoward, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Everyone in an high school and above, isn't it?
    • greg9683, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@sruffelman
      Well the one advantage to the facebook platform is you need to be in the network to view the profiles (of course even then there are privacy options). So even by letting in non ".edu" people, you don't really see them, nor can they see you without being in your network or accepted as a friend.
  • vertigorider, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1ah, facebook, the countdown begins where you turn into friendster.
  • labyrinth37, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Facebook sounds really really really really...fun :)
  • Jebra, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The apps have gone crazy. My news feed and notifications are full of "So and so wants you to use X app", and people's profiles are starting to look ridiculous. The bouncing animals, players, generators, popularity ego building apps...please no.
    • fjf314, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Looking at my home page news feed on Facebook, I see a lot of notifications of people adding applications... but I also see a lot of feeds of people removing applications. Hopefully people are actually realizing that when they add application after application, their page starts to become ridiculous to dig through. I don't really mind the applications as long as people don't go out of control with them.
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