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The author nails it in their last bullet point: "Facebook, STEP UP and stop your big partners from hurting your product, users and whole ecosystem once in a whi

The author nails it in their last bullet point: "Facebook, STEP UP and stop your big partners from hurting your product, users and whole ecosystem once in a while!" If Facebook doesn't police a major partner from abusing its API like this, they are effectively condoing this behavior and inviting their other app partners to do the same. I can't believe that Facebook has become another MySpace. Its product/market fit was so strong just a few years ago that they seemed unbeatable: a true anti-MySpace. Since then, it seems like in their pursuit for growth they've basically completely gutted their product/market fit and worked to destroy the trust they'd built up with their users.

brendanobrien 14y ago
Absolutely agreed. Given the magnitude of the platform at this point, I'm assuming some of the 'MySpace vibe' is a necessary byproduct. Pruning overgrowth from companies like Zynga & co is my number one request as a facebook user.
brador 14y ago
How big a piece would it take from Facebooks user count if Zynga dropped Facebook entirely and started it's own social network with Zynga game exclusivity?
- kevingadd 14y ago
  Zynga moving away wouldn't make users stop using Facebook. It might drop usage numbers or hurt other metrics, but nobody's going to quit Facebook just to play Farmville 2. The vast majority of users on Facebook are there because it's Facebook, and their friends have accounts, etc.
  - eli 14y ago
    I think the better question is how many people join Facebook each month because it has Farmville (and then perhaps also connect to friends and family). I'm sure that's a minority, but it's not zero.
    - AJ007 14y ago
      An even better question is how many people lose interest in checking Facebook every day because their feed is filled with baloney. Its a lot like email. The email address that only my friends have, I watch all day. The email address every asshole I've done business with in the past 5 years has I check about once a week. (Everyone important has my phone number.)
      - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
        If your feed is filled with baloney, and you let it stay that way, then it's partially your fault as well. Facebook has so many ways to control what shows up in your feed, and you should really take advantage of them. Don't like updates from a specific game or app? You can turn off all updates from that source. Don't like updates from your uncle grandpa joe but can't deal with the social fallout of unfriending him? You can change your subscription to only see "important updates", or you can unsubscribe from a user altogether. Friended or subscribing to someone cool and don't see enough of their updates by default? You can specifically subscribe to see all of their posts rather than just the ones Facebook thinks you'll like. There's even more options than that available to you, just click on a post and choose Hide, and you'll get multiple options for what you can do with that. Use it liberally if your friends list is full of people who post things you don't want to see. The power is in your hands.
        graeme 14y ago
        Those options aren't obvious, and they change. The "show only important updated" option disappeared from my feed recently.
        graeme 14y ago
        For anyone looking, I found where it went. You can hide a post, then it will give you subscription options.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
- wtracy 14y ago
  Zynga experimented with that by having a gaming portal that bypassed FB entirely. It seems to be attract almost no traffic.
adwf 14y ago
Unfortunately it's a bit tough for Facebook to do that, given that Zynga make up something like 15-20% of their total revenue. They probably should do; but it's a tough decision to make now that they are answerable to shareholders.
r00fus 14y ago
> I can't believe that Facebook has become another MySpace. I can. I know many social app development groups (outsourced in India) who worked on MySpace and are now working on Facebook - though they say the real money is moving to iOS, Android and Windows8 app dev.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
meritt 14y ago
A very substantial portion of Facebook's revenue is derived from Zynga customers buying virtual currency -- FB takes a 30% commission of every dollar redeemed into Facebook Credits. While it obviously needs to be remedied for the benefit of user-experience FB also has shareholders who want to continue to see positive revenue gains.
- eric-hu 14y ago
  I was somewhat skeptical of this claim, so I did some googling. TLDR: FB made about 10% of its 2011 revenue, $4270 M, from Facebook Credits, $470 M. Their projected 2012 revenue is $5042 M, of which $811 M is expected to come from 'Facebook Payments and other revenue'. This doesn't say how much of that revenue comes from Zynga specifically, though Sources: http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/20/facebook-revenue-2011/ http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/20/facebook-revenue-2011/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/08/30/poof-1-billion-slashed-from-2012-facebook-revenue-forecast/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/08/30/poof-1-bill...

brendanobrien 14y ago

Absolutely agreed. Given the magnitude of the platform at this point, I'm assuming some of the 'MySpace vibe' is a necessary byproduct. Pruning overgrowth from companies like Zynga & co is my number one request as a facebook user.

brador 14y ago

How big a piece would it take from Facebooks user count if Zynga dropped Facebook entirely and started it's own social network with Zynga game exclusivity?

kevingadd 14y ago
Zynga moving away wouldn't make users stop using Facebook. It might drop usage numbers or hurt other metrics, but nobody's going to quit Facebook just to play Farmville 2. The vast majority of users on Facebook are there because it's Facebook, and their friends have accounts, etc.
- eli 14y ago
  I think the better question is how many people join Facebook each month because it has Farmville (and then perhaps also connect to friends and family). I'm sure that's a minority, but it's not zero.
  - AJ007 14y ago
    An even better question is how many people lose interest in checking Facebook every day because their feed is filled with baloney. Its a lot like email. The email address that only my friends have, I watch all day. The email address every asshole I've done business with in the past 5 years has I check about once a week. (Everyone important has my phone number.)
    - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
      If your feed is filled with baloney, and you let it stay that way, then it's partially your fault as well. Facebook has so many ways to control what shows up in your feed, and you should really take advantage of them. Don't like updates from a specific game or app? You can turn off all updates from that source. Don't like updates from your uncle grandpa joe but can't deal with the social fallout of unfriending him? You can change your subscription to only see "important updates", or you can unsubscribe from a user altogether. Friended or subscribing to someone cool and don't see enough of their updates by default? You can specifically subscribe to see all of their posts rather than just the ones Facebook thinks you'll like. There's even more options than that available to you, just click on a post and choose Hide, and you'll get multiple options for what you can do with that. Use it liberally if your friends list is full of people who post things you don't want to see. The power is in your hands.
      - graeme 14y ago
        Those options aren't obvious, and they change. The "show only important updated" option disappeared from my feed recently.
        graeme 14y ago
        For anyone looking, I found where it went. You can hide a post, then it will give you subscription options.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
wtracy 14y ago
Zynga experimented with that by having a gaming portal that bypassed FB entirely. It seems to be attract almost no traffic.

adwf 14y ago

Unfortunately it's a bit tough for Facebook to do that, given that Zynga make up something like 15-20% of their total revenue. They probably should do; but it's a tough decision to make now that they are answerable to shareholders.

r00fus 14y ago

> I can't believe that Facebook has become another MySpace. I can. I know many social app development groups (outsourced in India) who worked on MySpace and are now working on Facebook - though they say the real money is moving to iOS, Android and Windows8 app dev.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

meritt 14y ago

A very substantial portion of Facebook's revenue is derived from Zynga customers buying virtual currency -- FB takes a 30% commission of every dollar redeemed into Facebook Credits. While it obviously needs to be remedied for the benefit of user-experience FB also has shareholders who want to continue to see positive revenue gains.

eric-hu 14y ago
I was somewhat skeptical of this claim, so I did some googling. TLDR: FB made about 10% of its 2011 revenue, $4270 M, from Facebook Credits, $470 M. Their projected 2012 revenue is $5042 M, of which $811 M is expected to come from 'Facebook Payments and other revenue'. This doesn't say how much of that revenue comes from Zynga specifically, though Sources: http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/20/facebook-revenue-2011/ http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/20/facebook-revenue-2011/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/08/30/poof-1-billion-slashed-from-2012-facebook-revenue-forecast/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/08/30/poof-1-bill...