6 ms·

The Future of Widgets on Facebook: Dead

35 points by nickb 18y ago

makecheck 18y ago
Quite true. As mentioned in the article, the Boxes tab from Facebook obscures most of the "fun" stuff added to profiles. I've returned to Facebook many times in recent weeks, and I can't recall a single time I clicked the Boxes tab (on my profile, or anyone else's). Those apps were interesting when they were "in my face", but now I forget they even exist.
- kirse 18y ago
  Yea, I like how they encouraged people to develop all these profile widgets, and then effectively created an "All the Extra Crap Here" tab and stuck every single application into it. I'm so glad I chose to sell off my apps before these changes came into play. The purpose of the initial system was to allow people to spice up their profiles for others to see. Sticking them into another tab just wipes out that purpose and makes Applications an individual user focus. And seriously, "Boxes"??? Even the name of the tab sounds like it's just a dump-bin.
  - unalone 18y ago
    I think they encourages people to develop USEFUL profile widgets. The biggest and best applications get to put their widgets in the sidebar of the profile on every page. And, of course, now you can make a full TAB for your app, so if you have a big idea you can give it a lot of space.
    - mmilo 18y ago
      Exactly right, the way I see it, they have given the power to users to decide how and where to display their apps and widgets.
petercooper 18y ago
On the plus side, Facebook can avoid going the MySpace route and maintain a clean, functional system by putting the myriad of applications in a cleaner place.
- umangjaipuria 18y ago
  My thoughts exactly. Although both are functional in their own way. MySpace is about me. Facebook seems to want to position itself about my network.
  - buglewood 18y ago
    There's no support for that.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- sidsavara 18y ago
  I agree. I have never liked widgets much on pages. I do agree though that it would be nice to give people the option (from a READER perspective) put the apps/widgets back on the single profile page. Personally I like that everything is pushed off to the side.
iigs 18y ago
Talk about a picture being worth 1000 words -- I read the article and thought "sure, it makes sense, that's probably a problem" and then saw the traffic graph. Wow. Everybody knows that this is a risk of developing inside someone else's walled garden. I wonder if there will ever be a way to implicitly or explicitly calculate the risk of something like this happening with any given platform. As someone who might develop for a platform, I can't see myself signing up for one where that's likely to happen, and that's one major thing that has kept me from developing iPhone apps.
- lacker 18y ago
  To be fair, that traffic graph is pretty misleading. It looks like it's dropping many orders of magnitude, but really the drop is from around 850 to 400. It looks more extreme than it really is because the limits of the Y axis are from 990 to 320. Fiddling with the range of a graph when people will assume it's 0 to something is pretty dodgy. Not to mention there's no key on it to say what the numbers stand for.
  - sanj 18y ago
    That graph is copied directly from facebook's statistics screen.
    - eru 18y ago
      That does not make it better.
    - lacker 18y ago
      Sure, I don't mean to say anyone's being malicious here, I'm just saying, it's a shame to look at that graph and think "Oh wow what a big deal this is!" when really you're being shocked by the choice of y axis range.
- abl 18y ago
  it may be a walled garden of sorts, but unlike apple, facebook does not prevent the developers from introducing apps that compete with the garden's in-house functionality. They let the users decide instead what's best for the users.
spoiledtechie 18y ago
Maybe the developers need to refocus on the new design so they need time to release...
jotto 18y ago
The problem is worse than this article describes. You can no longer find an application you visit unless you "bookmark" it. If you visit a new application, you must specifically click a bookmark button at the bottom of the screen AKA "taskbar", otherwise you will have to click "Applications", "Edit", then navigate through about 5 tabs, find your application and bookmark it. Keeping Facebook clean is important but this has had, at least the short term effect of hiding (presumably desired) applications from users.
bigthboy 18y ago
The point in this article about Expression vs. Sharing is a key point that I've always thought to be true. Facebook, in my opinion, works to shut out people's expressions. In a way, Facebook, and their management, have a conformist position. Social Networking, in my opinion anyways, is supposed to be about..ehhh...socializing. That should include me being able to be exposed to new ideas, new people, new opinions, and likewise being able to express my ideas and my opinions. I think one of the big problems that we've seen with the new Facebook, and resulting decline in Widgets, is they took away a large portion of what allowed people to be different on Facebook. I will admit I use Facebook for only 2 purposes... I use it to play Mobwars (a random and pointless game) and to chat with my friends (not via messages but that IM program in that handy little bar at the bottom of the page). I don't ever visit anyone's profiles... I've had a hell of a time trying to find groups and such that are interesting to join, as with pages. I also am blessed to be able to see everything my friends are doing... hello Stalkerbook. Facebook it seems, is becoming a mere screw around (time sink) and basic communications system. Even the communication aspect I don't think will last as more people get SmartPhones and are able to use features that are becoming increasingly cheap to send text messages. We're left then with a time sink... At least at Myspace we can be expressive...and find new music, new groups...
- colinplamondon 18y ago
  Give me a break, are you seriously saying that you 'express yourself' through Bush count-down clocks and quizzes on what kind of a serial killer you are ?
  - bigthboy 18y ago
    While I see your point on the "What kind of serial killer are you." Things like a Bush countdown clock is a way of expressing your discontent with the current president/administration. And in the scope of things I'm not limiting it to just these sorts of things. I'm talking about general ways of putting expressive ideas and symbols on your page.
adrianwaj 18y ago
Someone should do a startup that takes the best of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Socialbrowse and Friendfeed. I'll help.
- prospero 18y ago
  You can start by explaining how this combination of features would be compelling enough to get users from any of these services to migrate to yours.
  - adrianwaj 18y ago
    The first thing FriendFeed lacks is a profile of the user. If I use my Friendfeed account as a link for someone to find out about me (ie in an email footer), then having some profile information alongside my feeds makes sense. This is more of a Facebook profile feature I'm thinking inserted into a FriendFeed-like 'base' site. Also, FriendFeed lacks distinction between Friends and Subscribers, currently there are only subscribers. A person's life also consists of events they are going to, places they are or have been employed, and place they've travelled to. Each of these would be represented. Furthermore, as a webmaster, I'd like to login and see what on-site comments have been made about pages on my site and by whom. There should be a toolbar, allowing me to like/digg/approve any page I come across and then comment on it. Those comments can be accessed back on the site, in a sidebar like socialbrowse, or 'pulled-into' any site that wants them. In the sidebar, I should also see where else on the web discussion for any page is occurring. Also, I should be able to see what pages my friends are on at any time, and there should be a toggle to turn off the broadcast of my browsing behaviour to stay 'under the radar.' There should be chat too, either with friends or people on the same page. Also, an author or content creator profile should be seen in the toolbar of any page so a webmaster or author can claim their site or page. A business can create a profile page and then keep it updated with the latest news, product offerings, events, press releases and fundings associated with it for stakeholders to follow. The new site should allow 'Tweet'-like updates, and also presence updates of where someone is located and friends and news occurring in that physical zone. There's no reason the aforementioned sites (twitter, facebook, socialbrowse etc.) can't be integrated to some extent (especially Friendfeed), but ideally this site would be standalone and a replacement. It may in fact copy text and content straight off qualifying external sites for redisplay, like imgfave does for photos. That way, it can start to track authors I like, and I can then view articles on-site without logos and ads as seen on the source site. News for example can be submitted on-site and attached to a company or individual or, it can be aggregated from elsewhere like on Friendfeed. Expanding overall submission capabilities would be a goal. It can also implement the OpenSocial SPI. Information is semantically marked-up and searchable.
vaksel 18y ago
Maybe the widgets need to refocus on the actual user doing the install?
colinplamondon 18y ago
Facebook is positioning their applications as Applications with a capital 'A'. From the 'Start' looking 'Applications' button on the bottom left to the shortcuts, it seems like Facebook is trying to encourage people to build real apps with real value. Think more Excel and iTunes and less Vampires and Werewolves- the problem is, the FB platform was getting known for shitty spam apps, not for the truly useful and innovative applications that FB can be used for. By killing the spam apps they help the real apps, like Scrabulous, Causes, and Flixster.
quasimojo 18y ago
well played facebook! well played. use the app monkeys to help build traffic, then kick them off the rez. haha well played indeed. thats sharecropping for you children. will be amusing to watch the slide/rockyou wankers fall back into the well of mediocrity that spawned them.
fallentimes 18y ago
Good. Most of the facebook applications are spammy & awful. I didn't like the new facebook at first, but now, after getting used to it, I really do.

35 points by nickb 18y ago

Quite true. As mentioned in the article, the Boxes tab from Facebook obscures most of the "fun" stuff added to profiles. I've returned to Facebook many times in recent weeks, and I can't recall a single time I clicked the Boxes tab (on my profile, or anyone else's). Those apps were interesting when they were "in my face", but now I forget they even exist.

kirse 18y ago
Yea, I like how they encouraged people to develop all these profile widgets, and then effectively created an "All the Extra Crap Here" tab and stuck every single application into it. I'm so glad I chose to sell off my apps before these changes came into play. The purpose of the initial system was to allow people to spice up their profiles for others to see. Sticking them into another tab just wipes out that purpose and makes Applications an individual user focus. And seriously, "Boxes"??? Even the name of the tab sounds like it's just a dump-bin.
- unalone 18y ago
  I think they encourages people to develop USEFUL profile widgets. The biggest and best applications get to put their widgets in the sidebar of the profile on every page. And, of course, now you can make a full TAB for your app, so if you have a big idea you can give it a lot of space.
  - mmilo 18y ago
    Exactly right, the way I see it, they have given the power to users to decide how and where to display their apps and widgets.

petercooper 18y ago

On the plus side, Facebook can avoid going the MySpace route and maintain a clean, functional system by putting the myriad of applications in a cleaner place.

umangjaipuria 18y ago
My thoughts exactly. Although both are functional in their own way. MySpace is about me. Facebook seems to want to position itself about my network.
- buglewood 18y ago
  There's no support for that.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
sidsavara 18y ago
I agree. I have never liked widgets much on pages. I do agree though that it would be nice to give people the option (from a READER perspective) put the apps/widgets back on the single profile page. Personally I like that everything is pushed off to the side.

iigs 18y ago

Talk about a picture being worth 1000 words -- I read the article and thought "sure, it makes sense, that's probably a problem" and then saw the traffic graph. Wow. Everybody knows that this is a risk of developing inside someone else's walled garden. I wonder if there will ever be a way to implicitly or explicitly calculate the risk of something like this happening with any given platform. As someone who might develop for a platform, I can't see myself signing up for one where that's likely to happen, and that's one major thing that has kept me from developing iPhone apps.

lacker 18y ago
To be fair, that traffic graph is pretty misleading. It looks like it's dropping many orders of magnitude, but really the drop is from around 850 to 400. It looks more extreme than it really is because the limits of the Y axis are from 990 to 320. Fiddling with the range of a graph when people will assume it's 0 to something is pretty dodgy. Not to mention there's no key on it to say what the numbers stand for.
- sanj 18y ago
  That graph is copied directly from facebook's statistics screen.
  - eru 18y ago
    That does not make it better.
  - lacker 18y ago
    Sure, I don't mean to say anyone's being malicious here, I'm just saying, it's a shame to look at that graph and think "Oh wow what a big deal this is!" when really you're being shocked by the choice of y axis range.
abl 18y ago
it may be a walled garden of sorts, but unlike apple, facebook does not prevent the developers from introducing apps that compete with the garden's in-house functionality. They let the users decide instead what's best for the users.

spoiledtechie 18y ago

Maybe the developers need to refocus on the new design so they need time to release...

jotto 18y ago

The problem is worse than this article describes. You can no longer find an application you visit unless you "bookmark" it. If you visit a new application, you must specifically click a bookmark button at the bottom of the screen AKA "taskbar", otherwise you will have to click "Applications", "Edit", then navigate through about 5 tabs, find your application and bookmark it. Keeping Facebook clean is important but this has had, at least the short term effect of hiding (presumably desired) applications from users.

bigthboy 18y ago

The point in this article about Expression vs. Sharing is a key point that I've always thought to be true. Facebook, in my opinion, works to shut out people's expressions. In a way, Facebook, and their management, have a conformist position. Social Networking, in my opinion anyways, is supposed to be about..ehhh...socializing. That should include me being able to be exposed to new ideas, new people, new opinions, and likewise being able to express my ideas and my opinions. I think one of the big problems that we've seen with the new Facebook, and resulting decline in Widgets, is they took away a large portion of what allowed people to be different on Facebook. I will admit I use Facebook for only 2 purposes... I use it to play Mobwars (a random and pointless game) and to chat with my friends (not via messages but that IM program in that handy little bar at the bottom of the page). I don't ever visit anyone's profiles... I've had a hell of a time trying to find groups and such that are interesting to join, as with pages. I also am blessed to be able to see everything my friends are doing... hello Stalkerbook. Facebook it seems, is becoming a mere screw around (time sink) and basic communications system. Even the communication aspect I don't think will last as more people get SmartPhones and are able to use features that are becoming increasingly cheap to send text messages. We're left then with a time sink... At least at Myspace we can be expressive...and find new music, new groups...

colinplamondon 18y ago
Give me a break, are you seriously saying that you 'express yourself' through Bush count-down clocks and quizzes on what kind of a serial killer you are ?
- bigthboy 18y ago
  While I see your point on the "What kind of serial killer are you." Things like a Bush countdown clock is a way of expressing your discontent with the current president/administration. And in the scope of things I'm not limiting it to just these sorts of things. I'm talking about general ways of putting expressive ideas and symbols on your page.

adrianwaj 18y ago

Someone should do a startup that takes the best of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Socialbrowse and Friendfeed. I'll help.

prospero 18y ago
You can start by explaining how this combination of features would be compelling enough to get users from any of these services to migrate to yours.
- adrianwaj 18y ago
  The first thing FriendFeed lacks is a profile of the user. If I use my Friendfeed account as a link for someone to find out about me (ie in an email footer), then having some profile information alongside my feeds makes sense. This is more of a Facebook profile feature I'm thinking inserted into a FriendFeed-like 'base' site. Also, FriendFeed lacks distinction between Friends and Subscribers, currently there are only subscribers. A person's life also consists of events they are going to, places they are or have been employed, and place they've travelled to. Each of these would be represented. Furthermore, as a webmaster, I'd like to login and see what on-site comments have been made about pages on my site and by whom. There should be a toolbar, allowing me to like/digg/approve any page I come across and then comment on it. Those comments can be accessed back on the site, in a sidebar like socialbrowse, or 'pulled-into' any site that wants them. In the sidebar, I should also see where else on the web discussion for any page is occurring. Also, I should be able to see what pages my friends are on at any time, and there should be a toggle to turn off the broadcast of my browsing behaviour to stay 'under the radar.' There should be chat too, either with friends or people on the same page. Also, an author or content creator profile should be seen in the toolbar of any page so a webmaster or author can claim their site or page. A business can create a profile page and then keep it updated with the latest news, product offerings, events, press releases and fundings associated with it for stakeholders to follow. The new site should allow 'Tweet'-like updates, and also presence updates of where someone is located and friends and news occurring in that physical zone. There's no reason the aforementioned sites (twitter, facebook, socialbrowse etc.) can't be integrated to some extent (especially Friendfeed), but ideally this site would be standalone and a replacement. It may in fact copy text and content straight off qualifying external sites for redisplay, like imgfave does for photos. That way, it can start to track authors I like, and I can then view articles on-site without logos and ads as seen on the source site. News for example can be submitted on-site and attached to a company or individual or, it can be aggregated from elsewhere like on Friendfeed. Expanding overall submission capabilities would be a goal. It can also implement the OpenSocial SPI. Information is semantically marked-up and searchable.

vaksel 18y ago

Maybe the widgets need to refocus on the actual user doing the install?

colinplamondon 18y ago

Facebook is positioning their applications as Applications with a capital 'A'. From the 'Start' looking 'Applications' button on the bottom left to the shortcuts, it seems like Facebook is trying to encourage people to build real apps with real value. Think more Excel and iTunes and less Vampires and Werewolves- the problem is, the FB platform was getting known for shitty spam apps, not for the truly useful and innovative applications that FB can be used for. By killing the spam apps they help the real apps, like Scrabulous, Causes, and Flixster.

quasimojo 18y ago

well played facebook! well played. use the app monkeys to help build traffic, then kick them off the rez. haha well played indeed. thats sharecropping for you children. will be amusing to watch the slide/rockyou wankers fall back into the well of mediocrity that spawned them.

fallentimes 18y ago

Good. Most of the facebook applications are spammy & awful. I didn't like the new facebook at first, but now, after getting used to it, I really do.