9 ms·

I tried it out but I found it too suffocating -- Facebook, like Google, wants their "feed" to be your main IV-line of info-tainment but in practice the vapid up

by criley 13y ago

I tried it out but I found it too suffocating -- Facebook, like Google, wants their "feed" to be your main IV-line of info-tainment but in practice the vapid updates of friends mixed in with poorly constructed advertisements isn't very engaging. If someone makes Facebook Home for aggregated RSS feeds, than they've invented mobile crack and I will never be able to put it down. So maybe don't do that. Also, Chat Heads is the best SMS implementation I've used on Android, so kudos to Facebook for that.

TillE 13y ago
Flipboard does quite a good job of grabbing content from multiple sources of your choice and displaying them in an attractive format. It's not a homescreen thing, but that's probably for the best. Do you really want non-urgent things shoved in your face constantly? Google Now has the most useful approach here, and I'm eager to see that developed even further. If you could populate it with selected RSS feeds, that would be nice.
- bergie 13y ago
  Flipboard does have a Daydream mode, where you can let it take the screen over whenever your Android device is docked or charging (you decide which, or both) This way essentially Flipboard-formatted RSS becomes your screen saver.
  - spinchange 13y ago
    This is an awesome new feature discovery for me, but I don't think my phone will ever have a net gain in charge anymore.
- spinchange 13y ago
  The HTC One UI has an interesting feature for the default home screen that many compare to Flipboard called BlinkFeed. Choices of news feeds are limited and controlled, but it shows lots of promise in terms of attractive formatting and pulling in content from various social nets & news sources with tight integration with the social apps on your phone. (ala updating/replying/reposting something from home screen) http://blog.htc.com/2013/03/htc-one-blinkfeed/ http://blog.htc.com/2013/03/htc-one-blinkfeed/
lallysingh 13y ago
>If someone makes Facebook Home for aggregated RSS feeds, than they've invented mobile crack and I will never be able to put it down. So maybe don't do that. Reader?
- criley 13y ago
  Errr, no, Reader would be like the Facebook App. A dedicated app to do something... I mean, if someone created a full lockscreen/homescreen replacement around the idea of my feeds and my content with the same polish and quality that Facebook did, that that would be my killer app.
Karunamon 13y ago
vapid updates of friends Don't friend people on Facebook who post garbage. Any social service (Facebook, Twitter, etc) is only as good as the effort you put into curating the experience. Oh, and if you feel you must friend someone, you can just hide everything they post from your news feed.
- rmrfrmrf 13y ago
  Stop blaming the users for a bad product, especially when your suggestion goes against the core purpose of the product in question.
  - volaski 13y ago
    Oh yeah and there's email, phone, and all kinds of other communication platforms. They are all bad products because there's so much spam, right?
    - rmrfrmrf 13y ago
      "e-mail" and "phone" are not products. That's like calling Facebook "internet".
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- spinchange 13y ago
  Has it occurred to you that there might be a use-case mismatch between treating a social network as a source of always-on, in-your-face infotainment and a communications vehicle with imperfect yet valued human beings you know and care about? Or do you expect everyone you know to be excellent, always-interesting, content curators?
  - Karunamon 13y ago
    I expect users of a social network service to understand the most basic details of how such a service works. Slamming the service because you don't like the postings of people you chose to subscribe to is just a little bit ridiculous. It would be like subscribing to political blogs on $rssApp and then leaving bad ratings for the app because your news stream is filled with political news. Facebook's tools have been pretty good so far from blocking spam from friends. Games (the main offenders) can be outright hidden or blocked, noisy or shitposting friends can be turned down to manageable levels (updates -> only important) or hidden outright. Really the best thing they could add for flexibility is a keyword filter... So i'll say it again. You, the user, is ultimately responsible for what comes up in your stream.
freshfunk 13y ago
There are no ads currently in Home. Are you sure you really paid attention?
- nwh 13y ago
  Just because there's no Facebook advertising itself doesn't mean there's no advertising. Facebook seems to be a crazy mix of "share and like and win" advertising, "share and like and win" like farming, floods of bait advertising from games, and any other number of bizarre scams their users get mixed up in.
nooneelsebut 13y ago
> the vapid updates of friends mixed in with poorly constructed advertisements isn't very engaging Did you really expect prolific and intense discussion? This is Facebook we're talking about here... If there were an HN Home I would download it without even thinking.
alaskamiller 13y ago
Simplest answer is Tumblr. It's crack to the digital kids these days.

by criley 13y ago

TillE 13y ago

Flipboard does quite a good job of grabbing content from multiple sources of your choice and displaying them in an attractive format. It's not a homescreen thing, but that's probably for the best. Do you really want non-urgent things shoved in your face constantly? Google Now has the most useful approach here, and I'm eager to see that developed even further. If you could populate it with selected RSS feeds, that would be nice.

bergie 13y ago
Flipboard does have a Daydream mode, where you can let it take the screen over whenever your Android device is docked or charging (you decide which, or both) This way essentially Flipboard-formatted RSS becomes your screen saver.
- spinchange 13y ago
  This is an awesome new feature discovery for me, but I don't think my phone will ever have a net gain in charge anymore.
spinchange 13y ago
The HTC One UI has an interesting feature for the default home screen that many compare to Flipboard called BlinkFeed. Choices of news feeds are limited and controlled, but it shows lots of promise in terms of attractive formatting and pulling in content from various social nets & news sources with tight integration with the social apps on your phone. (ala updating/replying/reposting something from home screen) http://blog.htc.com/2013/03/htc-one-blinkfeed/ http://blog.htc.com/2013/03/htc-one-blinkfeed/

lallysingh 13y ago

>If someone makes Facebook Home for aggregated RSS feeds, than they've invented mobile crack and I will never be able to put it down. So maybe don't do that. Reader?

criley 13y ago
Errr, no, Reader would be like the Facebook App. A dedicated app to do something... I mean, if someone created a full lockscreen/homescreen replacement around the idea of my feeds and my content with the same polish and quality that Facebook did, that that would be my killer app.

Karunamon 13y ago

vapid updates of friends Don't friend people on Facebook who post garbage. Any social service (Facebook, Twitter, etc) is only as good as the effort you put into curating the experience. Oh, and if you feel you must friend someone, you can just hide everything they post from your news feed.

rmrfrmrf 13y ago
Stop blaming the users for a bad product, especially when your suggestion goes against the core purpose of the product in question.
- volaski 13y ago
  Oh yeah and there's email, phone, and all kinds of other communication platforms. They are all bad products because there's so much spam, right?
  - rmrfrmrf 13y ago
    "e-mail" and "phone" are not products. That's like calling Facebook "internet".
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
spinchange 13y ago
Has it occurred to you that there might be a use-case mismatch between treating a social network as a source of always-on, in-your-face infotainment and a communications vehicle with imperfect yet valued human beings you know and care about? Or do you expect everyone you know to be excellent, always-interesting, content curators?
- Karunamon 13y ago
  I expect users of a social network service to understand the most basic details of how such a service works. Slamming the service because you don't like the postings of people you chose to subscribe to is just a little bit ridiculous. It would be like subscribing to political blogs on $rssApp and then leaving bad ratings for the app because your news stream is filled with political news. Facebook's tools have been pretty good so far from blocking spam from friends. Games (the main offenders) can be outright hidden or blocked, noisy or shitposting friends can be turned down to manageable levels (updates -> only important) or hidden outright. Really the best thing they could add for flexibility is a keyword filter... So i'll say it again. You, the user, is ultimately responsible for what comes up in your stream.

freshfunk 13y ago

There are no ads currently in Home. Are you sure you really paid attention?

nwh 13y ago
Just because there's no Facebook advertising itself doesn't mean there's no advertising. Facebook seems to be a crazy mix of "share and like and win" advertising, "share and like and win" like farming, floods of bait advertising from games, and any other number of bizarre scams their users get mixed up in.

nooneelsebut 13y ago

> the vapid updates of friends mixed in with poorly constructed advertisements isn't very engaging Did you really expect prolific and intense discussion? This is Facebook we're talking about here... If there were an HN Home I would download it without even thinking.

alaskamiller 13y ago

Simplest answer is Tumblr. It's crack to the digital kids these days.