Friday, August 28, 2009

Facebook apps

I think Facebook is passing me by.

I wasn't one of the original users--I believe it was started in 2004, and I didn't join until about a year later, when my school was added--but I've been around for awhile, since before you could add photos and before there were networks and before anyone could join and when the URL was still thefacebook.com instead of just facebook.com.

And for the most part, I like the direction it's gone in. I like that it's now accessible to all and I like that people from other countries are starting to join. I like that they have fine-tuned their privacy options to the point now where you can select a specific piece of contact information or a specific group of other personal information and list individual friends who can't see that part of your profile. I think it's moving ahead intelligently and while people always resist change, for the most part I think the changes have been positive.

I also like certain things that haven't changed, like the overall look of the site, and the inability to go overboard with customizing your page--a refreshing change from MySpace, where I'm too old and un-hip to be able to read all the crazy stuff with the insane blinking backgrounds on some of the pages. I like that I know where to look to find specific information on people's profiles. I like the updates and the news feeds and the way that I can keep tabs on what's going on in my friends' lives.

There is one minor thing that I actively dislike about the site, and that's the inability to opt out of receiving notifications when people comment on something after you. Multiple times I have thought twice about commenting on a photo or a status because I didn't want to deal with the headache of nine thousand notifications popping up over the next day or so.

But the thing about Facebook that I don't totally get is the applications. When they were first introduced, I installed a few, but mostly uninstalled them shortly thereafter. I do understand the concept--third-party applications to do just about anything in exchange for access to your personal information. I have Lexulous installed, and I love it. (Speaking of which, if we're FB friends and you play Lexulous too, start a game with me!) But that's the only application that I actively use.

The apps that I don't understand are the ones that send notifications from people you barely know. We all have those friends on FB, the ones who aren't really friends and with whom we never really communicate. So why am I receiving plants for my little green patch from them (especially when I don't even HAVE a little green patch), and invitations to join their team in Mafia Wars? Did they actually select me individually for this honor? Or is it just a massive spam from the app to their entire list of friends?

And also, just because I installed that app to "take your friends' personal quizzes!" to take ONE PERSON'S QUIZ doesn't mean I need a freaking notification every time ANYONE on my friends list sets up a quiz like that. OMG LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE. I'm just saying.

It's gotten to the point where I don't even LOOK at notifications from apps anymore. I never respond to requests or notifications or gifts sent or anything else. They are just not on my radar. And, therefore, I don't install apps on my profile anymore. Even though there might be some really cool ones I'm missing out on. It's just too much for me to deal with. I'll stick with Lexulous, thank you.

What about you? Do you use apps on FB? If so, which ones?

40 comments:

  1. Ahh! Those apps! I hate them. I do the same thing - ignore them. I think you can block them, but I don't remember if it tries to block everything from one person or every form of that application or what, and since it asks a second question whereas ignoring it makes it just go away I continue to ignore. I also hate that they fill up my news feed. I have my personal feed set up not to show any of that kind of stuff for the one or two apps I use (Scrabble, mostly), but other people do not do that and it drives me bonkers.

    Hmm...apparently I needed to vent on this subject. Thanks for the outlet! ;-)

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  2. Ugh! I am actually hating Facebook more and more each day. Like you, I don't respond to any gifts or notifications or anything anymore. In fact, I am hardly on there. It's such a time zapper. And the quizzes are so stupid.

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  3. The apps make me CRAZY. I do not care what flavor of ice cream you are.

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  4. Oh I know. I couldn't figure out what they WERE and then I didn't know what to DO with them and it was all so STRESSFUL! So I stopped responding (and felt guilty - what if they NOTICED?!) but whatever. FB is not for me. I like having the account in case I need it (see: stalker purposes) but it's not something I spend too much time on.

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  5. Hi there! I too hate all the apps on facebook - anytime someone has one in your news feed or invites you to participate in one, you can ignore THAT app. I do it and over time they have lessened. Sure, there are new ones all the time, but I think too that people begin to understand that I'm not going to be sending them 10 little green trees back or 5 gems or plastic peanuts or whatever it is they send. :) Besides that, I just can't keep up with all the stuff people post on FB. Where do people find the TIME?? (I import my blogspot blog into there now so I actually visit FB even less now as peopel on there can read my updates from my blog without me even being there!)

    Janice

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  6. I love Lexulous too! I've also kinda gotten into Farm Town, as ridiculous and stupid as it is (very, I know!). Other than that, I don't do too much. I agree- I get annoyed when all the notifications about quizzes and whatnot pop up, but I mostly just ignore them when I can.

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  7. I'm with you - the apps are really annoying and I ignore all the invites and drinks and plants and all that crap too. I think when people send the stuff to you, it's because you know how you have to sometimes send it to a certain amount of people first and your friends list pops up and you can just select whoever? I think you can also check a box to select all of your friends. Just a thought. But yeah, so annoying. There is a way to set it up so that you don't see when your friends take quizzes. I'm not sure where you go to do it, but I' know it's possible bc a friend of mine did it.

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  8. My Facebook page is still pretty barebones. I rarely upload pictures anymore, and I definitely have nothing to do with the time wasting (as if I don't have enough things to waste my time already) farm, sending drinks/cow/bitch slap, mob wars obsessions. It's almost too annoying when I go to people's pages (usually those in the 40 and up age range) who have no recent activity other than playing these apps day after day after day. And you can block certain things, but I hate the notifications, too. Ohs well.

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  9. I agree with you about the comment notifications. They can be so annoying. I wish you could make it so you only receive replies from the person who originally posted the picture/note/status so if they reply to you you see that.
    As for apps, I used to have a few installed, but now I have completely gotten rid of all non-FB apps. I don't miss them, either. It's just gotten so out of hand. I ignore all the requests to add apps to my profile.

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  10. Unless someone is commenting on something of MINE (pictures and whatnot) I ignore notifications. And actually, on Facebook I've hidden the status updates of people who I only know peripherally and don't much care to see their every move. Unfortunately, the Blackberry FB app hasn't caught up with this so I still hear all about them anyway.

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  11. I completely ignore all of those gifts and crap. I felt guilty at first, but i just don't have the patience to even click "Ignore" so they just pile up in my notifications. I hear you. Though, i'm a little addicted to Bejeweled...

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  12. I loooove FB, but not the apps. I use very few, and none on a regular basis. I think you can change your settings to disallow them somehow...

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  13. You definitely get 'spammed' by the app... everyone gets the notification. I've got a Sex and the City app, FarmTown, and 'How well do you know quiz' app. But yeah, all the notifications are annoying.

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  14. I kind of want to break up with FB. I hardly go on there anymore and when I do, I have to slog through hundreds of quizzes and crap before I even get to the real status updates. And I only have 50 friends! Even with some filters installed, it's too much. Bleh.

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  15. I love lexulous too! I also play mindjolt games (mostly Algerian solitaire) a fair bit if I am bored. Truth be told, aside frlom Lexulous they could remove the apps and I wouldnt care.

    You can de-activate all those follow up emails btw. I've done it! Under 'settings-notifications' it says "notify me when" and you can un-tick things like "someone comments on a photo after I do". You can de-activate those emails for a whole HEAP of things now!

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  16. Those facebook apps annoy me too. I don't see the point of many of them.

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  17. The only things I'll do are a few of those personality quizzes sometimes when I'm totally bored... but otherwise, I mostly use facebook for the Walls, inviting people to Events, etc... I find it's been the easiest way to reach out to my good friends and get quick replies. So I really do use it for social reasons, keeping up with good friends.

    I've had Facebook for quite a few years; I was definitely one of the first out of ANY of my friends. I found it through a LiveJournal community, and then signed up. I'm Canadian and not many of our Universities were even on there yet - I remember my boyfriend's college wasn't on the list and he didn't get a Facebook for months after me (he was totally "against" FB for quite awhile, but I think he was just ~*jealous*~).

    Over time I've really changed mine to have much higher privacy settings, and I have considered deleting my account because as a teacher I don't know if I want to be on Facebook when my career starts to take off... but then again, it's the easiest way for me to stay in touch with my friends (who all use it very actively) so I don't want to miss out on that aspect. I was thinking about keeping it, but just deleting a lot of stuff from my profile and just using it for social reasons.

    (I'm very innocent and teacherish though, so it's not like a future employer could incriminate me for anything on there, however I just like to be careful).

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  18. Oh! Also! I never "send my quiz results" to ANYONE. I always click "skip this step" and don't send any notifications to friends. I find those notifications to be a pain in the ass, so I figure my friends do too!

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  19. I'm with you all the way on this one, Jess. I've been fine with the changes. Like the simplistic layout. And can't stand the applications. They really drive me insane and make me wonder whether Facebook is more fit for 12 years olds than for me (and also whether my friends who participate in said applications really are 12 years old). hahaha. There is a way to hide results from a particular quiz, but you have to see one friend's results before being able to hide all results (versus just turning off that notification like you suggested). The thing I've learned about FREE stuff on the internet is ... we'll never be 100% happy with it and don't have much room to complain. Now, if Facebook started taking money from me to participate, then it'd be a different story.

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  20. I'm with you. I don't pay attention when I get passed a drink, given a cupcake, invited to play Mafia Wars, etc. Most of the quizzes have major spelling errors, too, and that bugs me. Plus, I have one friend who writes long status updates about making dinner, folding laundry, and putting her kids to bed. I just don't care to be bothered with so many details. Oy.

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  21. Your first beef is a huge source of contention in our house. So annoying that you get follow up comments - so annoying.

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  22. Totally addicted to Lexulous. I'm SO glad it's back (although it's slightly different than the original Scrabulous). I'm totally starting a game with you :-)

    I absolutely HATE the stupid quizzes. I hide them in my news feed so I don't have to look at them. I really don't care if the 80's movie character that matches you most is Molly Ringwald from 16 candles. I don't care what your personality type is. I DON'T CARE. Ugh.

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  23. What bothers me are the privacy issues when it comes to photos. When one of my friends comments on my photos all of her friends can see the entire album. And there are some people on her friends list I know, but I am not friends with and they don't need to see all of my photos.

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  24. Hate the apps. I never look at the notifications either, I think I have about 55 of them.

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  25. UGH I KNOW! I block every single stupid quiz that comes up, but they seem to just keep on coming.

    The only apps I have are Circle of Moms and FarmVille. I am far too into FarmVille, but it's super fun. Can't help myself.

    So funny that all your commentors hate the quizzes too! STOP with the quizzes, FB!

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  26. Don't have time to read all the comments so sorry if this a duplicate... (lunchtime at work)
    But you can adjust your "settings" to not receive notifications about applications or anything that happens on facebook, if you want. My just notifies me if I get a message, or a friend request or if someone writes something on my wall. Go to the "Settings" tab at the top right of your page, and then "notifications". You actually have a lot of power of what you receive from Facebook.

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  27. You're right, all these application invites and notifications make me crazy. You know, I have blackberry app and suddenly all these random people add my bb pin? That's frustating.

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  28. just as an aside, you don't have to see the quizzes or games at ALL on your front page. If you go to the left column where it says "Status Updates, News Feed, etc, etc" you just drag and drop Status Updates to the top of that list and voila!

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  29. I'm totally obsessed with FarmVille right now. Sorry.

    There REALLY needs to be a "dislike" option for commenting on stuff.

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  30. Im bad. I have sorority life and farmville and both are terribly addictive

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  31. I have a very small, select group of friends which is mostly family but I do get sick of all those stupid quizzes - who has time to do those? Did I read here that I can change that? Maybe it was the comment settings I am going to change...

    My biggest peeve is that people want to be my friend and I haven't seen them or talked to them in almost 30 years. Uh, I didn't like you then, why would I want to be your friend now? I keep ignoring them but they keep coming back - UGH!

    I have to admit that I am 100% addicted to Farm Town. Almost to the point of scary, but I only play with my little neighbor group and never send any gifts to anyone else, swear!

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  32. I have the same complaints. I don't use apps and try to keep my settings as simple as possible!

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  33. You can opt to not receive notifications after you make a comment on a wall or a photo. Select the settings option, account settings, and then select notifications. There will be a long list where you can opt not to receive email notifications.

    Hope that helps! I think those notifications are incredibly obnoxious.

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  34. Oh my god, the timing of this post is crazy - I quit Myspace about two weeks ago for all the reasons you discussed, and joined Facebook.

    I do like how streamlined it is, but the apps drive me INSANE. My god, I don't want to play pirate games or mafia ones or vampire ones! Quit bugging me, people. And you're right, they pop up constantly. And I'm just anal enough to want a clean inbox.

    It's all very irritating, I even considered closing my account.

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  35. I was a really late Facebook adapter and I'm not 100 percent thrilled with how it's evolved. The constant reminders and stream of news from my friends is more obnoxious than anything else and if I get one more "patch" request, I'm going to lose my mind!

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  36. True story: I worked in one of the college computer labs one term and a woman came in almost every day to use our computers and play the Sim Farm application. For hours every day. As a result, I associate most of these apps with a very sad life, the kind I do not want.

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  37. Amen, Jess! I also get so annoyed regarding the photo comments and all of the application/cause invites. I've thought about leaving Facebook, but I do like it for the "sideline stalking" aspect as awful as that is to admit!

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  38. I've blocked every single FB app that I've been invited to join...it used to be 10-15 per day, now it's only 1 or 2, which is manageable.

    Also, the "hide" feature is my favorite thing of all time.

    xox

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  39. FB apps make me CRAZY!
    I don't need your hugs, kisses, smiles, mafia wars, farm animals, secret easter eggs, food-fight flings, or other game updates, and I really couldn't care less which 'aura' I am!
    Occasionally I'll add a game I think I might like. Then I'll delete it a couple weeks later when I realize I'm not using it or can't figure out how to access it. Mostly, I just want to know what's going on in your life, not play games. I just don't have time for that.
    phew!

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