Comments on: Facebook: How Complicated Has This Site Become?

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:00:09 +0000

Call me shy or paranoid, but I find most social networks’ privacy controls a bit creepy - I can’t post photos for only a couple of my mates to see - everyone gets to have a look (even if its limited to “All My Friends” - its still not intimate enough). I know I could just send stuff via email, but that defeats the purpose of me storing my photos online in one spot.

Basically, its come to the point where all we need is a good looking site that offers standard SN tools but with better privacy controls (so I can share some photos/blogs/news/whatever with some friends, and others with others, or even keep them private if I want).

One site I found and have been using with a bunch of mates is Obami - it suits me perfectly cos it offers all of this.

By: Alan

Alan — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:17:39 +0000

Forget Facebook. The new threat for MySpace is YUWIE.. you get paid when people view your profile. Clever idea, giving advertising revenue back to the user. You also get paid for the profile views of people you refer. Check it out here.

By: Cody

Cody — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:19:50 +0000

Yes, I hate FaceBook. I have to admit, some features are rather nice but I think its pathetic how people are falling over each other to signup with it. Too complicated and lacks alot of simplicity, as well as the fact that its oddly personal and tells you and others things that some shouldnt know.

I run my own community site, WumbaShare:

http://www.wumbashare.com

And as you see, I use a simple interface while giving users the features they want at the same time. Sites could get a few pointers from mine perhaps.

By: Simon Owens

Simon Owens — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:40:16 +0000

Despite all its new additions, the facebook design is still ten times cleaner than myspace. Some of the new features they’re offering are kind of cool (I like the “movies” function) but it is a bit too much. They’re throwing a bunch of shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.

By: A Shadow

A Shadow — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:02:42 +0000

I like to be able to know every single thing about you with a click of a mouse, and have you know nothing about me.

By: OP

OP — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:49:39 +0000

I deleted my Facebook after I realized how much social networking websites did nothing for me except made me feel like data entry 134235534 and how creepily the general trend of the internet and ‘personal information’ is headed. MySpace was a no brainer to not ever sign up for, Facebook was a no brainer after it opened itself to the public. Frankly I’m just paranoid.

By: got_u_shook

got_u_shook — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:59:08 +0000

Facebook’s only cool when you are in high school and college, it stops being fun afterwards

By: therundown

therundown — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:16:37 +0000

Man, I made it to the bottom of this page after 2 hours. I wasn’t sure what to do at the top. There were all these buttons and pictures of things to purchase. I wasn’t sure so I hit subscribe a few times and waited on something called an RSS. After I downloaded the sponge bob screensaver and placed a bid for a 3ft 1m Optical Audio Cable For Sony Ps3 Xbox 360 905n, I finally made it down to the comment area to post a response to the ridiculous notion that browsing the web and updating your profile is complicated.

By: Jqwerty

Jqwerty — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:51:32 +0000

Oh yes, I completely agree. I was content with the easy simple design of the old facebook. One day I get on, and I’m spammed with hundreds of invites to “Hot or Not” and “Rate Me Requests” ect ect. Then when I got to them, facebook WARNS that they aren’t from facebook and they are from another site, which makes No Script complicated and I have to continually “Temporarily Allow” each site that I want to use their little facebook program.

I wish it went back to the way it was.

~Jqwerty

By: durham4556

durham4556 — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:40:54 +0000

yes once facebook got opened to all the public it went downhill, sure the usability is better than myspace, but at what cost? it seems like just another thing that was great and got crappy because of too many people. I have unplugged from facebook and myspace because its just not worth it. myspace is so filled with bots and ads, its useless. facebook used to be an actually useful college tool untill it kept changing every 5 minutes.

By: Holis

Holis — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:35:23 +0000

SnakesInMyPants: That sounds like a near-sighted judgment call. Besides, if you’re complaining about it now, imagine how much worse you would have felt had he sold it.

By: SnakesInMyPants

SnakesInMyPants — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:21:36 +0000

Boy, that idiot kid who didn’t sell Facebook when he had the chance… he’ll be on his deathbed wishing he hadn’t been such a putz.

By: Oyvind

Oyvind — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:10:23 +0000

You write for ChrunchGear and think Facebook is complicated? Hello??

By: black_umbrella

black_umbrella — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:08:53 +0000

I just deleted my account. Facebook is **it though i will admit not as bad as myspace. None the less it has gotten insane and i could not stand it anymore so i deleted it yesterday.

By: spooner

spooner — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:42:13 +0000

LOL facebook ! its just like fire fox everyone misses the original light simple easy to use interface it had before.

By: eBooksDB

eBooksDB — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:32:25 +0000

Great.

http://www.ebooksdb.net

By: Christopher Paul

Christopher Paul — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:29:07 +0000

Yes the social sites Facebook notwithstanding….are big big business….we all know the numbers….. that these social sites sold for ….You Tube 1.6 Billion, Digg $60 Million, MySpace.com $580 million ….. and MySpace.com now has 106 Million users and counting…… In 14 years of starting and growing Internet businesses and all my years before in offline business development I have never witnesses such a phenomenon of businesses selling for this much money in such a short period of time. As a result I dont thing they had the time to develop infrastructures and clear profit models…. its been an unprecedented two years in this industry and in my opinion a paradigm shift in business as we know it historically …. but the reason I bring this up is that Facebook is similar in that they have had unparalleled growth and not much time to really develop all of the service applications (whistles and bells) that are possible to optimize their position and profits.

So annoying or not any business who experiences the kind of growth, valuation, and success as rapidly as these social sites (like Facebook)
the only constant will be change ….we ain’t seen nothin yet .

By: Diabolic Preacher

Diabolic Preacher — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:13:58 +0000

how does opening the facebook platform for 3rd party developers and for startups who want to use the existing network infrastructure while giving each user more control on per application and per person basis than most other sites, make it any complicated… don’t like it? sign out

By: K4

K4 — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:12:12 +0000

There’s too much crap going on in Facebook. It’s turning into MySpace…I still think it’s better, because it doesn’t crash when I go to someones profile, but it’s got to end somewhere.

I’m all for having developers do stuff for facebook, but lets keep out the stupidity.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:31:03 +0000

I’m a fairly recent Facebook convert, and I love that my friends and I can send quick notes to each other and see each other’s pics. Yes, I know we could do it via e-mail, but with Facebook you see what your friend posted and you are reminded to talk to them or you respond to what they are saying. I am not the FB target market, being 40+. I found the apps annoying at first but quickly learned to ignore them. Obviously people like them, as they seem to be adding them fast and furiously.

As far as FB vs MySpace goes, the facebook interface is clean, consistent, and easy on the eyes. A much more enjoyable experience.