DISQUS

Rob Gordon · 1 year ago

Are you guys on the payroll of Facebook or something? VentureBeat seems to have endless, fawning coverage of Facebook. I'll admit that I am in the minority of those who think the site is boorish- and maybe it is because of my age. I don't think though that as their user base grows up they will put up with the ridiculous restrictions on Facbook- for example, I tried to post a relevant message on a different city, and was not allowed to do that- and who cares what school I went to. Facebook is a kiddie site- it is for people with too much time on their hands.

Eric Eldon · 1 year ago

Rob Gordon, fair enough. I'm willing to take heat for covering Facebook. I'm one of the people who think that it does matter. I'm making a point of covering why, as you'll see from the posts I've done so far about advertising, e-commerce, and other ways that people can create businesses out of social networks.

I know that according to pole I did last Friday afternoon about Facebook, *half* of a fairly random sampling of VentureBeat readers think that Facebook is doomed.

http://venturebeat.com/2008/02/22/facebook-hiri...

I generally do posts that argue against that argue against skeptics like you. But of course, you'll also notice that we do not-so-fawning posts about Facebook from time to time. :)

Sherwin · 1 year ago

These changes are horrible. Especially if they "integrate" the Wall into Mini Feed or put the Wall in its own tab. The wall is really the whole point of facebook, its how you communicate. Look, people go on facebook to stalk. Anything that impedes stalking is no good.

Berto · 1 year ago

Sherwin is blunt and scary but has a point. The wall is the most fun part of Facebook. I can't wait for the online mass-hysteria if they kill the wall as is.

The reason why Facebook is relevant is because it knows more about a massive group of people than even Google does. That *alone* is worth billions in terms of targeted marketing and advertising opportunities.

Michael Martin · 1 year ago

This is a brilliant move. Facebook's attraction for users from the beginning was that it offered a less cluttered interface. While the apps do offer new features, they've dragged Facebooks marginally closer to MySpace. Improvements like this will only consolidate Facebook's comparative advantage as a social networking tool.

Gideon Davidson · 1 year ago

I am basically a fan of Facebook, which is one site that has managed to hold my interest/distract me for a while. Yet, it is always in danger of straying too far from it's roots, in which friends could talk and interact with one another in a relaxing and fairly intimate way. A lot of these apps encourage too much impersonal behaviour and also the annoying pressure to 'invite friends' who probably aren't interested in joining the app.

'Funwall' has become nothing more than spam for me, with videos and chain-letters clogging the space. I just ignore it now. Superwall is basically okay, but it just means having two walls, one a bit more flexible than the other and it didn't catch on with friends- perhaps if it had it might have become a source of spam too. So I do understand a legitimate push on Facebook's part to 'kill them off'.

I have actually started making new aquaintances, maybe even friends there, so I am exposing myself to possible annoyances- but for some reason this hasn't happened, perhaps due to the checks and balances you are allowed.

What I am getting at (in a round-about way!) is that Facebooks unique strengths are based around being able to intimately interact with real friends online, with games and fun messaging. It has been unobtrusive and intuitive enough to attract people like me, in their 30's, that are alienated by the glitzy, rap-culture influenced style of things like MySpace, that is from an emerging culture of younger generations which almost scare us old fogies!

Mixing everything up with news feeds that concern people you may not even know (i.e. friends of friends) could water down the comfort level. At the same time, though, it needs to grow through people meeting new people, it's just finding the best way to do this.

diana · 1 year ago

it's too hard to change or cancel our profiles on the facebook ,, why ?