Facebook loses a few bitches

About time

Never used the site, just seemed like a complete waste of time for me. I almost signed up once, but realised that social networks are just too much hard work for me. When I am not coding, I like to spend my time away from the machine. Using it as a gateway to contact my friends is not my thing. I have an email client and a mobile phone for that.

And having been in the software industry for a good many years now and survived one large bubble bursting, I can't wait to see this new emporer fall from grace.

It is anythibg but revolutionary and for it to continue this pretence is laughable.

RIP

It killed itself by the ridiculous number of invites/application - I logged back in after a week away and had 40 invites to poke/join groups/become a vampire/ blah blah. It's very useful for staying in touch with odd people, and a fun gimmic for close friends, but it lives or dies by it's userbase, and as soon as the next Facebook comes along, it's dead in the water.

As if people couldn't see this two years ago though. The founders were right to milk it's evaluation while they could, and they're welcome to die laughing with millions in the bank, but some people at Microsoft must have some egg on their faces by now.

Finally

People are starting to wake up and smell the privacy problems. This can only be a good thing, 400,000 people can't be wrong. Ok enough, rant over.......

Dot Com Burst 2.0

Can we coin a new el reg term.

Think we are about to enter

Dot Com Burst 2.0

Can someone please blog about it!

Painful

I had resisted joining facebook until last night, mainly on privacy grounds. I must admit that after using it for about 2 hours, it is painful to say the least.

The website is poorly designed a slugish at the best of times. It is difficult to use, certainly to find people. However best of all, trying to hide ur personal info, is so complicated and irritating. I found the best solution was not to add any info.

Losing face

Got an e-mail from a friend inviting me to be one of his 'friends' on Facebook -- 'Sorry, I don't do Facebook'.

'All you have to do is join, then you can join the list of my friends and vote on something that's a joke'

'It's not that I don't want to be one of your friends it's just that I don't see the point of signing up to Facebook'

'But it's so easy'

Aaaarrgh! I realise now that 'social networking' is no different from little huddles of kids dissing each other in the playground. That or playing Top Trumps - and not the card version, either.

My ball, I'm getting me coat as well

Facebook

1) Facebook

2) ????

3) Profit

Bloatware attacks!!!

I think it's gone downhill, I tried Myspace for a short period and absolutely hated the service because of the spam and crap people had on their profiles, then saw Facebook when it was in it infancy, it was great, a good way to keep in touch with friends and there was no clutter on profiles.

Now when I log on I too get a handful of requests to install applications that are completely pointless and no doubt harvest information for the developers!

Not meaning to be patronising, but...

"Five per cent fewer" :

Wow Chris, my English teacher would be so proud of you! Kudos.

Meanwhile I refuse to join any of these soc. net. sites.

I am a member of an online network that is strictly for (new) business contacts, and does not pretend otherwise. Plus we can exchange professional answers to members' (IT) questions., etc.

Interestingly, the ads there are minimal.

@Carl

Hey man, this is the Reg: Everyone has a right to an unfounded opinion based upon hearsay and conjecture, regardless of how pointless or stupid it may be!

Carl Fletcher, you are Wrong

CF: "It's going to transition from something that's overhyped into just another tool that most people use"

No, it's not. It's going to fail, and be shut-down, because it's crap, I haven't signed up, because it seems like a total waste of time to me, but that doesn't mean that I don't have an opinion, in fact, I do have one, and I've just stated it. People don't have to sign up for something to know what it's like -- I don't have to sign up for the Nazi party to know that it's rather dull (to say the least).

I've got friends who use this service, and they've shown me their profiles, and the profiles of other people they work with. I didn't have to sign up to see this. And, now that I have seen it, I know for a fact that it's a very poor site, obviously set up by 'entrepreneurs' with their usual lack of fore-site, due diligence, and quality.

The only people regularly using this stuff are teenagers -- whey they're not out recording fights on their mobile handsets.

Where's my violin?

Just like theme pubs

All the sites like Facebook are quite similar to theme pubs. For a while they are very popular, but one day, very suddenly, they become unfashionable and everybody moves to a different theme pub.

You don't hear much buzz about My Space any more.

@eddiewren

"Useful for keeping in touch with odd people."

Odd people always seem to manage to keep in touch with me fine, no matter how hard I try to shake them. :)

leaving the sinking ship

i've just deleted my facebook and myspazz accounts today. it's been months since i logged into either for more than a couple of minutes. initially, i thought the ability to reconnect with old friends was quite interesting but as someone above said, once you've re-found each other you take it onto other channels such as phone or email.

i'm also totally sick of having to wade through a zillion completely and utterly moronic messages every time i login to facebook, telling me that one or other of my [normally intelligent friends] has invited me to give them a virtual hug, buy them a virtual pint, play virtual zombies with them, or partake in some f**king survey about my favourite type of frying pan or join some dickwad group called 'we think ironing on a wednesday is fun!'

what a load of crap it all is. thank god i only dabbled in the messaging side of it, never got involved in this other dross and am now pulling the plug!

-----

paris, coz she probably thinks myspazz and facebook are 'like really y'know freakin' awesome!'

I'll get my coat.

Well I can honestly say that when having a profile on those sites starts effecting your real life prospects (such as recruiters checking your on-line profile when you apply for a job, etc) Friends Reunited had similar horror stories about marriage breakups, employers seeing what someone had written and sacking them over it, etc. Facebook is no different in this regard.

People are now either getting clued up to the risks or just plain getting bored with social networking. Web 2.0 bubble has burst, and the sweetest part of this now is that Microsoft is going to lose money over it as the realisation creeps in that Facebook was vastly overvalued.

Popcorn anyone?

At last !

I signed up for facebook to meet friends from school.

Despite leaving school over 19 years ago, some of them still seemed act exactly the same.

I left facebook - what a waste of time.

Back to irc and newsgroups for like-minded and intelligent discussion.

To all the haters...

... you've clearly never played Scrabulous. It's about the only reason I login to FB anymore.

Chilly here, so I'll take coat, hat, gloves & thermal undies, please.

...they've only got the same problem as northern rock

why do venture capitalists keep giving money to people with crap business ideas?

i agree completely with the people who says facebook's useless; their business plan is to get you in touch with people who you've already met, but didn't like enough to keep in contact with.

what makes mark z(s)uckerberg think that introducing two people again is a good idea?

hence the link with northern rock.... which idiot thought of the business plan 'let's buy sub-prime debt'. come on, the clue's in the title.

and now we have to deal with the government bailing out a company because their business isn't viable (why?!!), and our girlfriends bookmarking Facebook on Firefox 3 Beta 3.

come on love, the latest release candidate's only been out a few days and there's already a facebook button on my screen!

mine's the smoking jacket lined with tin foil.

Back to...

the trainspotting for them then?

Social Networking? It's called THE PUB! (or nightclub / winebar / local taxi rank, whatever your preference!!)

Billy?

as in NO (real/actual) MATES.

LinkedIn your next...

Facebook gets its coat...

Privacy issues?

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot think of a single communication technology that failed due to privacy concerns.

Sure, a small number of people will be concerned about the privacy issues on Facebook, but I would argue - as have some others here - that the biggest reason behind the fall in users... err, bitches... is that once you've established contact with your friends, there really isn't much useful to do on the site.

There is obviously some form of need for social networking, but Facebook doesn't seem to be the final answer. Not even close.

Hello I am here!

I think I'm one of those 400,000 people

-- It used to be a vibrant way to communicate with friends and share pictures. Now it's just pages of shit like ninja's vs. wankers or something.

well I use it...

I don't like the application requests, and I'm well aware that each time I add one I'm 'giving away' my marketing details to developers, else they wouldn't have gone through the trouble of creating them...

and virtual hugs/flowers/presents etc are all very well, but also a bit... well shit...

so why do I use it?

I use it to keep in contact with friends, it's cheaper than a text message (free) and less formal than an email.

when was the last time I emailed a friend? years ago, when was the last time I sent then a quick essage to say hello how are you on facebook, earlier today.

so far as not contacting people,

yes, I agree, I've got 'friends' on there that I met in school that I didn't talk to in school and don't talk to now.

conversly, it's a nice thing to be put back in contact with friends who I still talk to in person as well as on facebook.

also it provides a nice platform for people to update people on what's happening, (such as event invites to friends birthday parties), -like one I'm going to at the weekend.

it has it's use, those people who left their old schol buddies because they didn't like them won't like it, those people who'd circle of friends extends little further than the walls of their office/house/local pub won't find a use for it,

but I do find a use for it, keeping contact with some old friends who have moved too far away to see all the time, but who I do still like to talk informally to.

Collaboration Sandbox @Sarah Bee

Is everyone aware that this is how the rising crop of teenagers and college students expect to experience the web and work together? The next logical step is in facilitating internal corporate collaboration. In other words, let it cut its teeth and go through a few iterations in the classic buzz lifecycle then weed out the fluff. Someone needs to get a 1.0 out there for internal business users to allow for more dynamic organization based on interests, connections, and skill sets. This naturally leads to organizing more compatible virtual teams and increasing revenue while allowing quicker time to market or better competitive response.

Facebook to me is stupid, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is some value there or it would not have attracted so much attention. The annoy-a-tron threshold is simply being reached since there are not enough controls...it is not that the fad is ending as being so 2007 it's just that as people point out if one is constantly badgered by unwanted connections and exposed personal information without adequate returns the shine wears off quickly. Some competitor will come along and get it right. Besides people like finding or meeting other people.

There is your IT angle?

Godwin's Law

@Lord Baphomet

I know this rule of internet arguing is very common, but surely comparing Facebook to the Nazi party at this juncture just because you think it's boring is slightly hysterical, no?

Yay less of people's info is online!!

well until the ID Card Database gets Owned or lost on some discs somewhere.

Never joined, Never cared, looked pretty damn awful to use, good riddens i say!

no way can that many user's be wrong

waits for the next crappy site to appear

how about betterprivacybook.com ;)

there's one the Gov should read.

It's been all downhill since 1439

What I worry about most is the impact on kids today of the printing press. Before books our kids would go outside to play and interact with each other. Now my kids just want to stay inside and read. What kind of world will it be when everyone has grown up reading rather than talking to the people around them?

It's the begining of the end I tell you!!

This internet addict

belongs to about four different forums, all to do with things that interest me.

As well as being able to share those interests, there is a fair amount of social exchange too, which even extends to meeting real people in the flesh sometimes.

The Register and the BBC provide news information, and, although I tend to post occasionally here but not get involved in conversations (yesterdays threads are...yesterdays threads) I also enjoy the expression of opinion here at the Reg.

There are several other sites that I keep up every day, and several blogs that I read occasionally, for fun and for information and, occasionally I get out of the house.

I've looked at Myspace, and occasionally check on the pages of a couple of friends there, only to discover that, despite being 'media' people they haven't updated their absurdly complex, slow-to-load, multi-media pages since the last time I looked. I don't want or need it. I don;t feel any need for facebook.

I've heard mention of this web 2.0 from time to time, and, despite a certain technical background, have never really understood what it means (but then, at one time I was a bit of a minor wizard at regular expressions, but never knew what those two words actually meant).

It looks like Web 2.0 will have gone away by the time I get around to it!

Another one for the coat, please, although in a tropical climate I have absolutely no need of such a thing

Those figures may be a bit misleading

Facebook has started emailing you the contents of messages friends write on your wall / send as messages. You don't need to log on in order to read a quick message anymore.

I think this strategy is likely to improve its longevity.

"business users ... dynamic organization ... interests, connections, and skill sets".

You mean like used to happen with Compuserve and CIX?

Or (in certain circumstances, e.g. inside DIGITAL itself) as used to happen with VAXNotes?

Or more recently with other toys whose names I foeget (Lotus had one?).

Virtual teams, it's the next big thing, because the old fogeys that remember it being overhyped the last couple of times round are all past it now and just waiting for what remains of their pension to evaporate, and the young whippersnappers holding the IT purse strings think this stuff is ever so new and shiny and flash.

Combinatorial explosion to imaginary.

Web 2.0 is ok but I'm just human. There was a reason I didn't want to be on FB and those old ex mates were ex.

If you already make friends easilly and don't need the boost up faux anonymity gives u then the whole 'folksonomy' thing is just interesting at best.

The mini app thing of FB was interesting too but wildly too successful and hence annoying with no brakes on it.

Last.fm ... yep that's good 2.0. I chow on that daily and want its content to have children.

Noone doubts Wikipedia apart from those so retentive they challenge the imaginary number for it's ability to dissapear through it's own orifice.

So 3.0 is around the corner ... a symantic dreamboat soup? I want a place where I can walk the moors suck in data and spew out thought with direct brain control of my personal metaspace without a console ... but then I'm a geek.

EPIC FAIL

this is one FAIL for the ages.

http://failsalon.com/

@John A Blackley

"Amid all the self-congratulation and sneering, let's remember this: Facebook, MySpace, et al are the first (popular) generation of these applications and, despite the reduction in numbers, still have an avid user base."

No, AOL and Compuserve were the first generation. You had a user name, a profile, the ability to form groups, chat, etc. And then it got destroyed by hoards of idiots and the commercial spam that followed them. Sound familiar? Sound like eBay? Like MySpace? Like Facebook?

Back in the early 90's AOL actually was a lot like what Facebook first appeared as. Then the millions of disks mailed out brought millions of idiots and destroyed the community. Commercialization won.

Once eBay got popular the listings were flooded by a small handful of commercial powersellers who flooded the listings with a bunch of identical items that were not even a good deal just so you couldn't actually find the occasional good deal that showed up. Commercialization won.

I never saw MySpace before it was covered in fugly porn banner ads but apparently it was once upon a time relatively pollution free.

Never been to Facebook but from what I've heard its been destroyed by "application" spam.

The problem is, as you look at the death of these once popular destinations, you'll notice the cycle gets faster and faster. The spammers have gotten much faster at showing up and ruining the party.

Its Inviting itself to Death

I quite like facebook...there i said it!

I had a brief flirtation with the silly side for a week and then removed all those apps. I dont add people who i dont actually know from outside facebook so i only have 35 friends but they are ALL actually friends. It has allowed me to speak to old friends who i lost contact with which is good. I actually realised the privacy aspects of it so i firstly didnt enter any useful information or even photos in the first place and then secondly locked down my profile so tight that its all but invisible to people who aren't my friends. Finally i am quite happy to keep using it for what it is, a social networking utlity, the second coming it isnt (Unless you consider as Web 2.0 second coming & going) despite the hype.

I don't however use Myspazzz or any of the rest though.

Facebook though seems determined to commit suicide as quickly as possible. There are so many applications inviting that you can have hundreds if you dont check for a week. There is infact a petition of 700,000 people who are demanding and end to the whole app invite spam fiasco. I reckon unless Facebook listens then the end will come sooner than it thought.

Facebooks business model is advertising, they can serve them up as they wish, probably best using some google contextual tech. That though is a limited revenue stream and Facebook needs to work on reducing their hardware requirements to the point that the adds actually make them a profit. Be nice if they charged apps money as well.

In summary, it will drag on for years yet but slowly and surely they will realise that its basically just a a whole pile of websites (profiles) to serve adds onto and they better cut costs to reflect this limited revenue stream.

I use it and see a future for it...

I moved abroad a couple of years back and use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends abroad.

I most use it for Scrabulous, Battleships and the photo sharing. I also like the way it formats messages -- long conversations are easier to track than emails.

I don't install apps that have no value to me. I decline invites from people I meet daily or those I really don't want to get back in touch with. I aim to keep my friends list as small as possible.

I can't give an expert opinion on how Facebook.com will fare, but I reckon MS will consider licensing it to corporations and large orgs for internal use.

The ability to create apps would be great for corporations, especially if MS could make it easy to port .NET apps over to FB with minimal change.

As other posters have said, this is still early days for these apps. I don't think social networking is dead in the water.

anonymous coward invites facebook to a virtual-liquidation

I only use it to keep track of people I want to avoid.

I still say myspace is great for checking out new bands without a) having to buy their records or b) break any copyright laws. I also use it to promote (albeit in a low key way) my own music. Other than that...its pointless.

i signed up...

I had been putting off signing up for ages, but recently after having a couple of holidays everyone was "oh you must use it" we'll keep in touch. blaa blaa yadda yadda

I joined to check out 'friends' photos of the holidays. okay so far :p

BUT the thing is not 3 months later it is so annoying, apps this, app that but you must add 25 friends or what a loads of annoying bo^^ocks!!!

Cheap second hand servers anyone

Seem like there might be a number of 2nd hand servers coming on the the market in the semi-near furture

I found a useful 'social networking' site

It's called gaydar (gaydar.co.uk). It's pretty ad-free, and I get to meet nice and not so nice people. Some of them I now know well, others intimately if not well. Now if facebook, bebo and myspace could follow this example, they might take off again....

Re: ...they've only got the same problem as northern rock

Northern Rock didn't buy sub-prime debt. What they were doing was lending poeple money to buy houses and the source of that money was the inter-bank lending market. Typically those loans are in the 3-month range. When the loan period is over then the loan is repaid by taking out a new loan for the same amount. The income from the mortgages paid the interest on the loans.

When the sub-prime crisis hit all banks became wary about lending to each other as they had no real way of knowing how exposed everyone else was to this issue, and hence their credit worthiness. This led to a rapid spike increase in the interest rate that these types of loans were offered at.

It is that spike which precipitated the crisis at northern rock. NR found that it was unable to roll the loans forwards at an interest rate that it could repay from the monies it was recieving so it started to bite in to it's capital base (savings, essentially) The story hit the news and people started withdrawing their money from NR further reducing it's capital base. The credit worthiness of NR was now in serious doubt and no-one would lend to it. The crisis was now locked in, and the bank became insolvent.

So, while the sub-prime crisis was the trigger factor, it was not the precise cause. Ironically, if NR had securitised and sold off the UK consumer mortgage debt to the institutions buying sub-prime US mortgate debt (CDOs in the parlance) then it would have been immune to the crisis as the risk would have been transferred to the buyer.

</finance pedant>

Nothing to do with FB, but hey.

Just a glorified virus...

I don't mind legit sites out there, that honestly go about giving you a service, google, yahoo, msn. Heck I even don't mind the advertisments from those sites, but facebook to me is a glorified virus. I mean what idiot creates a system that right off the bat wants your, hotmail login info INCLUDING PASSWORD, along with any other systems you wish to enter. Then what MORON enters there passwords? That is how I got my first Facebook e-mail, however when I set up my account I laughed when it asked to search for my friends, then just skipped that part knowing how stupid and unsafe that is.

Glad people are finally getting tired of this site it is pathetic, the only reason I am on it is 2 friends and my GF likes it, so I have an account. Overall I hope facebook dies a quick death.

Malware!

Where are all the teenagers going to download their trojans and adware from now?

Finding friends...

The creepy thing is that Facebook was supposed to be the Friends Reunited of our generation and we all know what happened to that... people found their old school mates, realised it would cost a fiver subscription to get in touch with them and then didn't bother.

FR had a massive advantage over FB because it was designed to solve a problem, to get people in touch with each other. FB was designed for picture sharing at college but has now lost its way. The 'friend finder' only allows you to locate people who you already have in your email address directory (so people you are already in touch with) and was basically designed to increase the userbase.

If I want to find a person whose name I can't quite remember but who I met on Sark while I was living there 8 years ago then Facebook is not the tool for the job... if I want to find the friend of a friend that I met a few weeks back and who was photographed and correctly tagged then Facebook is (or at least used to be). Now, however, I have the contact details of everyone I want to contact so FB is useless to me other than for the photo sharing features (which was the attraction in the first place).

If they lose the apps or scale down the apps (maybe by removing all invite features) then I may stick with it but considering a mildly skilled PHP hacker (in the correct sense of the word) managed to hack together an app in about 2 hours (including 15 mins reading the documentation) it's just too easy for any old git to pollute the experience with silly vampire/ninja/pirate/werewolf junk.