In the last few months I have used my social graph a few times in my efforts to characterize a system i've been working on. From my experience i have learned that many people of vision have no clue about what the market wants or what is most important to the users and I decided to just ask them for their opinion without giving them an explanation to why I do this, which, in my opinion, was irrelevant. I have used my graph to create a think tank that was totally unavailable to me in the pre-facebook era and am constantly amazed by what people say and by the amount of knowledge accumulated on a page like this. Pay attention to how people express what they think and how they interact with each other, it's fascinating. I'd love to know what you think about this after you read. Also, I want to apologize for how this post looks in my Wordpress, as this is a bilingual blog it has its language issues of alignment…i'll sort them out soon.
The following is my Facebook note and all 46 comments that came after.
In Facebook, what would you choose? (please leave a comment)
Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 4:21pm
Hey guys,
I have a Facebook question for you:
If Facebook gave you just 1 option to choose from it's basic applications,
and basic applications are: status lines, notes, photos, posted items, videos, events and groups.
1- which would you choose to be be as the only application?
2- which application in your opinion is the heart of the system?
if you were tagged, i would really appreciate it if you leave a comment, it's a kind of a pole for the job i'm doing now. Iif you weren't tagged, i'd appreciate it if you left your comment anyway, I need as many answers as possible.
===THANK YOU IN ADVANCE===
at 4:24pm on April 26th, 2008
I can't choose just one.
I use: Status, Notes, Photos, Events, Videos, Chat and Groups.
Together they represent the heart of Facebook for me.
at 4:29pm on April 26th, 2008
'caus everybody needs to know what's up with me
at 4:33pm on April 26th, 2008
Photos
Events
Notes
Chat
at 4:35pm on April 26th, 2008
2. Again, the heart of the system from my POV is no doubt: "Events"
Why ?
1. There are many services for video and photos as well for notes: all are OK and much better than FB.
2. Status updates is being used by around ~5%-10% of FB users – so it cant be the heart, and as well cant be the reason why people joined FB from the first moment.
3. Groups are fine from my POV, but not the heart.
SO: Events (which are connected to groups btw) – are a great way to announce and share between friends and partners some kind of gathering (and usuall a non virtual gathering).
I can think of any other app/service that had made it to such success with sharing events.
Hence, videos, photos and status are extra and events is the heart.
at 4:37pm on April 26th, 2008
for pics – flickr/photobucket/picasa
for status – twitter/pownce
for vid – youtube/seesmic/qik
for notes – wp/blogger/typepad
posted items – su/digg/del.icio.us
events – google calender/event based social networks?
groups – forums/blogs etc.
In my opinion the mini feeds is the core value of Facebook.
As a user, you want to be up-to-date at any time in what your friends are doing (and as you all know, its pretty addictive and time consuming therefor its monetizable
Omer Perchik wrote
at 4:40pm on April 26th, 2008
And if you make my pick one : Events (Better execution then other places on the web)
at 4:51pm on April 26th, 2008
at 4:58pm on April 26th, 2008
It's probably worth mentioning though that events wouldn't be the same without the options of incorporating photos, video and notes…
Roy Man wrote
profile
photos
messages
events
groups
status
notes
videos
remove from the bottom and you'll get less facebook each time
i dont know where to locate chat as it is still new.
Nir Ofir wrote
It aggregates all the activity of my friends and in a more friendly way than friendfeed. All the rest can be done in other, open, platforms.
at 5:07pm on April 26th, 2008
at 5:10pm on April 26th, 2008
and notes from del.icio.us
and so on.
Tal.
at 5:18pm on April 26th, 2008
at 6:02pm on April 26th, 2008
at 6:11pm on April 26th, 2008
at 6:28pm on April 26th, 2008
at 6:45pm on April 26th, 2008
at 7:08pm on April 26th, 2008
Though the heart of FB is that it offers all these things together, with mashups of them – event photos and videos, and the such. take that away, and though you have the heart of FB, you lose the liver. and the body will die.
at 7:19pm on April 26th, 2008
at 8:09pm on April 26th, 2008
birthday notifications, Saves alot of hassle
at 8:19pm on April 26th, 2008
at 9:23pm on April 26th, 2008
I've removed people from the list here and added others:)
at 9:29pm on April 26th, 2008
at 9:45pm on April 26th, 2008
at 9:51pm on April 26th, 2008
at 10:01pm on April 26th, 2008
it is the combination, the flexibility of usage and the fact that everyone are here that is making it what it is.
at 10:08pm on April 26th, 2008
If I had to choose one thing from the list, I'd be inclined to choose status line even though lately my status updates have increasingly been updated from Twitter more than they have directly through FB.
Coming in a close second is groups, for the reasons that Ronsho iterated above.
at 11:09pm on April 26th, 2008
at 11:55pm on April 26th, 2008
at 11:56pm on April 26th, 2008
Since twitter can replace the status line, friendfeed is similar to the newsfeed, del.icio.us for notes, etc.. its’ obviously the combination of these apps that gives FB its advantage.
at 1:06am on April 27th, 2008
at 1:38am on April 27th, 2008
good luck.
at 1:47am on April 27th, 2008
I can use dedicated sites for photos and videos, and most of the rest may be handled by Twitter.
at 4:06am on April 27th, 2008
at 8:27am on April 27th, 2008
at 9:47am on April 27th, 2008
at 12:42pm on April 27th, 2008
Status = twitter.
Notes = blogs.
Photos = flickr.
Videos = youtube.
I defiantly don't use groups to the max, and if I really want to share a posted item, I'd blog it.
Sure, events could be covered with evite, but of this bunch, this would get my vote.
at 2:05pm on April 27th, 2008
So, you'd want to be in different places to do different things?
at 2:40pm on April 27th, 2008
Sure, I can use feeds and API's to bring things together for friends to see in Facebook, but specialist/niche platforms will always excel in their niche.
Amit Ohayon wrote
at 8:45am on April 28th, 2008
2. Messages are cute – and gmail-ish
3. Pictures are cute – and flickr-ish
4. Events are cute – and evite-ish
5. Videos are cute – and youtube-ish
etc…
And most of the other applications are annoyances (to me.)
So what is Facebook good for?
For me, I have a "small" friends list of around 200 people – people I know, want to stay in touch with, whom in any other way I would probably lose touch with.
FB allows me a glimpse into what my friends are doing, and helps me retain a connection, despite geographical boundaries, timezone differences and just plain forgetting to write.
So all the services/applications that are provided by the core engine are nice enough, and have their specialties (like photo tagging, which I like), but for a REALLY good photo album, use Picasa or Flickr. When your photos include friends, add that to FB and tag them.
(comment is now getting too long for FB to allow it…
Xen Mendelsohn wrote
Plaxo Pulse also now tries to offer mini feeds but I guess it is just a little too late.
at 12:15pm on April 28th, 2008
ONLY? I wouldn't bother with Facebook if it only had one.
There is no ONE application I would choose. The combo is status-photos-messages.2- which application in your opinion is the heart of the system
The minifeed. fast, short info, to lead (by choice) to other items
at 1:32pm on April 28th, 2008
at 2:25pm on April 28th, 2008
