Crappy Apps Infect Facebook
Posted by Nick O'Neill on January 10th, 2008 10:23 AMThis morning I spent a few minutes looking through the “Recently Popular” applications on Facebook and I have to say that I’m not impressed. Click on “Most Activity” in the application directory and you will be even more disappointed. Today, I am proud to present those applications that show up on the first page of “Most Activity”:
- Secret Revealer
- Who were you in a past life?
- What’s your sexual personality?
- On a deserted island with…
- Kral & Kraliçe
- Lil’ Green Patch
- Are you a jerk?
- Which rockstar are you?
- Funnest Person Contest
- Yes or No?
- Best buds
- What is your sexual personality?
- What is your Dance Style?
- Penis or Vagina?
- What kind of chocolate would you be?
- Which swear word are you?
- Is he your soulmate?
- What is your booze IQ?
- What Type of Music Are You?
This will not be a daily activity on this blog due to the lack of quality listed in the directory. Today, the number of the applications in the directory will surpass 13,000. This many applications has made the current application directory practically useless. This makes me wonder will there be a more efficient system for filtering throug the junk and determining which ones are worthwhile to try out?
One of the most disappointing applications is “What swear word are you?” The application asks you a list of 10 or 11 random questions. You are then forced to invite 20 people prior to finding out what swear word you are. I cannot possibly imagine the result of this survey being worthy of me inviting 20 of my closest friends to the application. Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users thought it was worthwhile though. Yesterday the application attracted close to 180,000 users.
Is there any value in creating applications like these? I can’t possibly imagine an advertiser deciding that it’s a good idea to advertise on the “What kind of slut are you?” application. What filtering tools would help you to find the best applications? Do you think these crappy applications are becoming a serious problem?
January 10th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Start with a ‘rate this application’ option.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:52 am
We’re starting down the ‘long tail’ path of Facebook apps where the long tail is infected with lots of ‘craplets’, mainly because they’re easy to develop and they offer a predictable growth curve and success path.
But that doesn’t mean we’re only seeing crappy apps on Facebook, there are a number of apps that are beginning to provide real value to users, not least is Eat-A-Rama, our new restaurant sharing and discovery app that has the largest number of real restaurant listings in North America, over a quarter million at last count. It’s an example of how you can offer people real utility that takes advantage of the social connections that Facebook has built in to its platform.
On another note, I recently looked at the Top 20 apps, according to Adonomics, and there’s an interesting shift going on there. The list is populated with well-known apps like Super Wall and Graffiti and Vampires, etc. These are the juggernauts of the app world in terms of how many usere they have but what was interesting is that over 75% of them appear to be on the decline and not just a one-week decline but they appear to trend downward. Not sure if this will rectify itself but it could mean that a change is taking place. Who will take over the top spots? Who knows, but it could be apps that offer real usefulness. I, for one, hope so!
January 10th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
i think the question is what do the users want and which users are using this applications? i guess you can say the results speak for themselves.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
They definitely need a “rate this application” feature for QUANTITATIVE parsing of application quality. (the shout-out “wall” reviews are useless). The rating should be prominently places on the app install page so that when you get an invitation you can easily evaluate before installing. Applications below a certain rating threshold should have limits placed on invitations sent out to limit their viral potential (i.e. no more than 5 invites per user sent out instead of 20). Newsfeed and mini-feed event maximums for those applications should also be crippled to limit their viral potential.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
The beauty, not the flaw, of this whole this is the easy accessability.
If people want to find GOOD apps, I suggest they find a trusted app reviewer
January 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
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January 10th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Facebook should adopt a digg style rating system for applications.
Alternatively they should develop an algorithm which “scores” applications based not on the number of users but the usage of the application and the time between installing it and removing it.
Finally they should introduce an accreditation system whereby developers could submit their application for consideration as a “Facebook Gold App” (or something similar)
January 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
The part I hate more is when they decide you have to invite your friends… personally, I want to try the app first to invite. Why app developers are always tempting you to invite your friends? It’s really annoying. Say NO to pyramidal apps!!
And yes, also there’s a lot of crap tests… I don’t see the point in socialize via crap tests.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:17 am
[…] in the recent months, (the majority of them at least mildly annoying with a healthy portion ranging from completely juvenile to all-out inappropriate), it’s become easier for the businessperson to tune out Facebook. I don’t blame them […]