The 8 things I hate about Facebook

by Grant Hamilton

Yanno, when I trade my privacy for something, I kind of expect it to be worth while. But it seems like Facebook just excels at not fixing niggly little annoying issues.

To wit:

1. Facebook search sucks.

Recently, I wanted to post this story about National Novel Writing Month to my Facebook, and I wanted to tag a bunch of my friends who were NaNoing this year. But I can’t just type in “nanowrimo” to the search box, can I?

Sure, I’ll get the official NaNoWriMo page, and a few fan pages. But what I really want is a list of all my friends who have mentioned NaNoWriMo in their statuses, perhaps in their hobbies or “likes”.

This would be handy more often than you realize. How many times have you struggled to remember that cool video that someone posted, about the thing. With the cats? You can Google it, sure, but what if it was not an “Internet” thing — what if it was a “family” thing. Like your mom or your aunt or your sister or someone posted it, and you can’t remember when, but you really want to find it.

Facebook search will leave you cold.

2. No hashtags.

Oh sure, after Zuckerberg (tee-hee, spellcheck suggests “cocksucker” — for reals!) wasn’t able to buy Twitter, the whole “status” thing became much more Twitter-like. I kind of enjoy hitting the @ symbol and tagging friends in some posts. Nice that they stole the Twitter @ usage, too. No subtlety lost there.

But talk about half measures! How come I can’t use hashtags? Why stop at @ and not implement #? After all, I don’t just want to tag friends, I also want to tag subjects and themes and other things.

Perhaps this would also help with search?

3. Facebook e-mail? You mean F-mail? Yeah.

Let’s see — no folders, no forwarding, no control over your attachments? Fail.

4. No consistency.

I have a Facebook account, but I’m also the administrator of two Facebook “pages” — one for this blog, which you can “like” if you like, but is really just an RSS feed of blog posts, and one for the Brandon Sun, the daily newspaper that is my day job.

When I post something to my Facebook account, I have the option of adding a Photo, a Video, an Event or a Link to it.

But when I decide to post something from a Facebook Page that I administer, I instead have the option of adding a Link, a Photo, an Event or a Video.

Why on EARTH!!!! are they in a different order???

5. No control.

So, I administer a couple of Facebook Pages. Apparently, that is all I do, because God forbid that I also want to act on my own, as an individual. Sometimes, it is convenient to speak for the Page itself, but sometimes, I want to make a comment, or participate in a discussion as myself, not as “the Page.”

Facebook could easily fix this by making it comment as “the page” if I was on the page itself, or letting me comment as myself if I was looking at something in my own Facebook news feed. Since there is no way to “sign out” of administering a Page, there is no way for me to ever take off my Brandon Sun or my Absurd Intellectual hat.

(they are both awesome hats)

7. No expandability.

If I want to attach a link to a Facebook post, the site will attempt to cleverly decipher the link’s headline, if there is an appropriate thumbnail photo to go with it, and include the first paragraph or so of text.

If I upload a video — or my link is to a YouTube or a Vimeo page — it will allow my friends or followers to play the video right from the news feed. Awesome!

But haven’t they heard of music?

Sometimes, I would love to be able to share a song with my friends. I can share a music video on YouTube, but I can’t share an mp3? Ludicrous!

8. My friends like stupid things.

Long ago, I learned that you can permanently hide annoying Facebook apps like “Which howler monkey would you be?” and time-vampire games like FarmVille or Mafia Wars. Ugh.

But now that you can “like” just about any page on any participating site, I get a news feed that’s clogged with messages like:

Quentin and 3 other friends like OMG!! That girl SO did not know her boyfirned was listening in! ROFL!!! on I <3 stupid funny Shnizznet — dot com! CLICK HERE <<<<

And there is no way to hide it!

So I report it as spam.

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What if Mario could fight Luigi

by Grant Hamilton

Yeah, what if Mario could fight Luigi, but they had to use words, and it was on Facebook, that’s what I meant.

Here’s how it would go down:

(via Dorkly)

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Movies that would have been ruined by Facebook

by Grant Hamilton

There are a half dozen or so at Moviefone.ca, but I particularly liked Fight Club, above, and An American Tail, below.

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Forget ‘dislike’ … what Facebook needs is a ‘meh’ button

by Grant Hamilton

I think I’m in favour of expanding Facebook’s “Like” button to include other options (did you know, you can set it to “recommend” on external sites?).

A “dislike” button would come in handy, obviously, but I also like this proposal to include a “meh” button:

I would “like” this … but …

(original on Flikr)

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News of the world, according to Facebook

by T. Keith Edmunds

Similar to the much-loved Facebook post here on Absurd Intellectual, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty composes a semi-regular “Facebook” page for international news.

What’s really cool about it is that each status update and comment links to the actual news story being referenced.

It may not be new, but it’s an interesting and entertaining way to wade through the weeks’ headlines.

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The case against Facebook

by Grant Hamilton

I urge you to read this post over at BoingBoing, regarding the creeping anti-privacy of Facebook. It’s a good roundup of recent posts on other blogs that strongly make a case about Facebook’s increasing evil activity.

I’ve been spending a little bit of time, recently, adding custom filters to my AdBlock Plus in Firefox, so that I no longer see customized-for-me Facebook widgets on websites like the Globe and Mail. (Normally, you can block the iFrame, and it works pretty well.)

Although Facebook is great at some of the things it does, it is also terrible at others — does anyone really think that Facebook Chat is better than MSN, for example? Or that Facebook messaging somehow trumps email?

What I’d really like is for an open-source social network to become viable. I don’t really like the closed-gardens of Facebook and MySpace and Bebo and Twitter. I mean, imagine if email was a closed garden — if Hotmail couldn’t email to Gmail, or if Outlook users just wouldn’t get messages from Eudora.

Since I don’t see that on the horizon anytime soon, I will just point out that Facebook is not providing you a service — at least, not for free. They only provide you the amount of service that best enables them to sell you to advertisers. Or, in a quote that BB uses, from Tim Spalding, “you’re not their customer, you’re their product.”

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What if Facebook looked more like Outlook — and it was awesome?

by Grant Hamilton

In 2006, designers at iA worked with Facebook on a possible redesign. Facebook didn’t use their stuff, so now they’ve put some of their ideas up on the web, and they’re looking for a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down.

I saw thumbs-up. And here’s why — it looks usable!

Their three-column idea makes Facebook emulate the look and feel of an email client, so it’s familiar. And it looks much cleaner and more streamlined than the mess that is current Facebook . Here’s a screenshot:

Click on it to see it full-sized.

With your news feed down the centre, you can explore comments at your leisure, rather than two comments from each status update.

I like it. I wonder why Facebook didn’t?

Techcrunch has more commentary, and there is a little more at the iA site, too.

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Dear Facebook marketers, you can’t see me! nyah, nyah, nyah!

by Grant Hamilton

When I first started getting into newspaper design, I did what any modern person would do, and I Googled it. Luckily, Google led me to a community of news designers called Visual Editors (it’s a non-profit, and also a social network).

Run by Robb Montgomery, I’ve leaned on the community for everything from niggly Quark questions to recommendations for New York City accommodations. Someday, I hope to give back as much as I’ve learned.

Earlier today, Robb posted a blog entry about Facebook, with this intriguing tweet to promo it: “Facebook invades [your] profile to sell you stuff. Try this tip to stay invisible.”

I had to read this post, and he’s got a point worth passing along: Facebook loves it when you list your interests on your profile, since then it can target more ads to you. How does Robb stay “invisible”?

Look at my listed interests.

“Wonder, Discovery, Passion, Belief, Balance, Delight, Diversity, Surprise, Story, Truth, Grace, Redemption, Beauty, Innovation, Insight, Perspective”

I am sure the Facebook customer data algorithm would prefer to know much more specific things from my profile like my favorite sports, travel spots, music, foods, clothes, etc.

By listing ideals instead, Facebook has no idea what kind of ad to serve up to a person like me. So I get generic ads that I seem to ignore and never click on.

I bet the Facebook geniuses don’t get many folks who list “wonder” and “perspective” as interests. Instead they entice you to give them valuable market research data for free by appealing to your ego.

Not only is he right that most marketers focus on concrete things that are, as he says, “bands and brands,” there just aren’t a lot of people who tend towards the abstract on their social networking profiles.

Read the whole blog entry here.

I keep a pretty sparse profile on Facebook, but if did list interests, I think it would be much more mentally healthy to list aspirations and goals, not necessarily goods I would like to consume.

Unfortunately, I think Robb’s method for Facebook invisibility will last only until marketers get wise. I can already think of plenty who would jump on that — anything health and beauty related, for example (how many deodorants and body sprays already have names like “Intensity”?), or marketers who appeal to the spiritual, like churches.

By the way, I have good luck hiding many Facebook ads just using Firefox and AdBlocker.

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The Second World War — as if it were conducted via Facebook

by Grant Hamilton

This is both really creative and really funny, but it is also really long, so I’ve hidden the whole image after the jump.

Click to see!

Click to continue reading “The Second World War — as if it were conducted via Facebook”

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Facebook redesign massive fail

by Amy Breen

From flickr user Jayfreshuk

Oh so very true. From flickr user Jayfreshuk

Usually, I don’t pay much attention to the inner workings and dealings of corporations. But with all the drama that’s going on at the Facebook camp, I just might start.

Anyone who is on Facebook will have noticed the changes made in the last few weeks. Reaction to the change seems to have been nearly unanimous, and those who have put their opinion to a vote have been against it.

Personally, I dislike how now you can’t see pictures friends were tagged in until Facebook deems it a “highlight.” I also don’t like how it’s harder to see who is writing on whose wall, and harder to discern on your profile page between wall posts and your own status updates. The way the status updates look now, is actually a lot like Twitter, I’m told.

Which makes sense considering Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to buy Twitter for $500 million. But that didn’t really work out:

Having failed to grab Twitter, Zuckerberg has redesigned his website in its image — a steady stream of real-time updates which are impossible to follow unless you stay on the website all day long. Which sounds great, unless you have a job, a family, or a life.

That’s the drama I’m finding interesting. Can’t buy the competition? Imitate it! Wait, what? And really, it makes sense that there is drama at all, considering Zuckerberg is only 24.

So, in reaction to all the hoopla over the redesign, product director Chris Cox has written a blog addressing the problems, which essentially says “we’re going to listen to you a little, and add some stuff and change some stuff, but we’re keeping the design.” Which, fine, that’s their prerogative.

I still hate it.

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It was my idea!

by T. Keith Edmunds

As many of you have probably seen, the “25 Random Things about Me” meme continues to make the rounds through Facebook. Grant has issues with it, as do I.

When it was suggested to me that I should do it as well, I began to shoot my mouth off as I am wont to do. I began talking without thinking and, as is often the case, I heard myself create a good idea (the same thing happened with the French Onion Martini).

I told the person I was talking to that I would write a list of 25 Random Things about Other People. After I said it, I thought about it then decided I should do it before someone (read: Grant) stole my idea.

So, if you get tagged with the “25 Random Things” about other people, you now know where to lay the blame.

You’re welcome.

PS. If you’re interested in doing it, here are the rules:

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about 25 other people. Don’t name them in the note. At the end, choose those 25 people to be tagged. You have to write about and tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want you to know how much I know about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

In the comments, you’re free to guess which “random thing” applies to which person I’ve tagged. But I may or may not ever tell. It’s more fun to keep you guessing.

Oh, and just to be realistic, because we know everyone did this about themselves, it’s okay to exaggerate or outright lie. Or even to be mean. Heck, I said tag 25 people, not necessarily 25 real friends.

One more thing: this is an internet meme, so pass it along.

(There may be more than one fact about you….)Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about 25 other people. Don’t name them in the note. At the end, choose those 25 people to be tagged. You have to write about and tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want you to know how much I know about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

In the comments, you’re free to guess which “random thing” applies to which person I’ve tagged. But I may or may not ever tell. It’s more fun to keep you guessing.

Oh, and just to be realistic, because we know everyone did this about themselves, it’s okay to exaggerate or outright lie. Or even to be mean. Heck, I said tag 25 people, not necessarily 25 real friends.

One more thing: this is an internet meme, so pass it along.

(There may be more than one fact about you….)

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