Facebook’s Cancer

Even though the original notification said it was coming from a friend, it was coming from “Feed.” Even though it said something had been posted to my wall nothing had been!

notification.jpgFacebook has been a fun experience. Unfortunately my time on the site is getting less-and-less enjoyable as Facebook’s apps bend the truth or even lie to try and sucker me in! It is a cancer eating at the Facebook experience.

Here’s an example.

This afternoon I got notified a friend had posted something on my wall (the links will take you to screengrabs so you can see what I saw).

If you’re not on Facebook this message means someone left something for you in a public space where everyone can see and comment.

Actually, there was no activity from this person on my wall! The message was a lie.

Hmmmm. I clicked on the highlighted part of the notification. Instead of taking my to my wall as an actual message would it took me to a permission form.

Read carefully. The form tells you nothing and asks for everything! Say yes and you’re giving it access to all your friends.

The application is called “Feed.” That’s a generic term. Is it meant to confuse? Probably.

Even though the original notification said it was coming from a friend, it was coming from “Feed.” Even though it said something had been posted to my wall nothing had!

Finally I clicked a very tiny “x” on the notification next to my friend’s name. This is how you tell “Feed” to bug off. It’s something you can only do if you already know. The “x” isn’t there unless you mouse over its location. It’s as well hidden as can be!

Finally you’re takena form to remove you from “Feed.”

Unfortunately there are dozens… or hundreds of these Feed-like applications. I have done this many times… many, many times.

Not all of Facebook is bad, but this is a real concern and a real pain-in-the-ass.

Originally I limited my friends to… uh… friends. That approach was wrong. Hundreds of viewers were turned down before my approach changed. Now if you ask, you’re my friend!

That explains how I acquired 1,335 friends. With that many there’s a lot to read.

It is difficult to believe Facebook doesn’t know this subterfuge is going on. It’s time to stop it or some day Facebook will find itself marginalized and reduced as MySpace is. That will happen long after it loses me.

3 thoughts on “Facebook’s Cancer”

  1. agreed 100%. Also with applications like that, some of (okay, many of) them are virus magents. My parents desktop is currently down b/c of a facebook application virus.

  2. Hopefully Facebook (which I rarely use anymore) will fix this before they shoot themselves in the foot.

    What I don’t understand is the connection between this problem and your decision to add anyone who asks as your friend. How is doing that going to help with this problem? In fact, isn’t it going to make it much worse by having so many people on your friends list?

    Peter

  3. I found that viewers who asked to be my friend were offended when I was more selective. I made a conscious decision that it was in my best interest to allow Facebook to be part of my professional life.

    So, yes–more users–some naive where computers are concerned, makes the problem more troublesome. However, that’s Facebook’s fault, not my friends’.

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