« Facebook Versus Google
CPMs on Social Networks Are Low, Deal With It »

Do You Use Social Applications?

Posted by Nick O'Neill on June 3rd, 2008 5:44 PM

All the buzz for the past year has been about social applications, interactive pieces of media that you can install on your Facebook profile as well as on MySpace, Bebo and a number of other social networks. A few weeks ago, Facebook boomed to over 1 billion application installations but since then it appears that growth has been relatively stagnant and has even dropped a little.

When applications launched last year users rushed to install them. I rapidly began cataloging all of the applications on AllFacebook but eventually slowed down with posting about new ones so frequently because the novelty seemed to wear off. I’ve enjoyed playing a number of the games on Facebook but unfortunately I just don’t have time to anymore. Social applications tend to be a way for me to waste time, not to get work done.

While I don’t think that social applications are dead, I have a feeling that a lot of users will grow out of them. Then again, I’d imagine that people were saying similar things about the web years ago considering all the pornography and junk that’s out there. While things like Twitter and FriendFeed have made it easier for me to communicate, games and dating applications don’t help me accomplish much aside from putting off work that I need to get done.

Have you grown out of applications as well or are you still frequenting them? Are there any particular apps that you use on a regular basis?

Posted in Analysis
  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 4 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    I have to say I enjoyed the excitement of the deluge of social apps that swelled in my FB notifications in the months following F8. It was cool to see what people were coming up with — games, clever little widgets, occasionally something really creative or useful. I loved the Bob Dylan app...so clever, a hint a a new way of branding/marketing...and of course the excellent NYTimes "most forwarded articles" app, which beautifully integrated a valuable social experience (sharing news articles) with a tie-in to the native NYTimes site.

    I must say, though, I quickly became annoyed with the "Virtual Armpit Fart" category of app, which swarmed in plague-like proportions in the late months of '07, and found myself cringing at anything that contained the words "Super," "Poke," "Naughty" or "Throw."

    But that might just be my advanced age speaking. I am older, by a factor of 2, than the average FB user.

    I am glad that FB added a "block this app" option so that I can spare myself from receiving countless mind-numbing invitations to apps I really don't want to use.

    I do find myself wishing for more practical apps on Facebook. I like how it centralizes a number of my connecting and "staying informed" activities and I would use it more if it delivered more functional value. I think I'd like FB, or something like it, to feel more like a desktop to me; there are some collaborative projects that would be convenient to work on in such an environment.

    I continue to use a list-making app that (full disclosure) I developed on FB several months back. I use it to create shopping lists, planners of all types, to-do lists and more. It's especially useful when people share lists together (often for fun, but for productivity, too), and I'm proud to say that although our user base is MUCH lower than the NaughtyPoke type of app, our daily usage and retention is quite high.

    Take a look if you'd like:

    http://apps.facebook.com/listing/

    cheers,

    Ellen
    • ^
    • v
    Say it ain't so, Nick! Granted, all those apps can be a waste of time at times, and it is extremely difficult to maintain the excitement that occured when they first sprang (sprung?) on the scene, but if a pundit like you can't even maintain his excitement, how can any of us?

    But, ok, I see your point. While I do find several apps a great way to keep in touch with friends (Owned!) or feel like I'm actually making a difference in the world (Lil Green Patch), I'll admit that 90% of the apps I've downloaded over the last year go completely unused.

    Thanks for the perspective.

    Cheers,
    Matt
    • ^
    • v
    @Matt, I agree ... I'm supposed to be an evangelist of these applications. I have clients that are benefiting from these applications but I have to be honest. I have a duty to my readers to give them an accurate perspective even if that conflicts with what my sales duty is unfortunately.

    If I'm tired of using applications, I'm going to say it. It means there is an inherent flaw in the system. We need a better way to have the cream float to the top. It's unfortunate but I believe that this is the current reality.
    • ^
    • v
    I use a few of my apps from time-to-time though many of them are just novelty apps to create a visualization of my network or things like that.

    To be honest though, most of the applications I added after the initial couple months of the platform were ones that I've seen profiled and reviewed on AllFacebook.com. So I think you should post about them periodically, but maybe only the best of the best that you find. Or perhaps a weekly recommendation?

Trackbacks

blog comments powered by Disqus