"Spamturitis" and Facebook's Signal to Noise Factor

"Spamturitis" is the combination of too much spam combined with too many features.  If you look at the above note from Marcus Brown—you can see he's had enough of Facebook.  Not sure if it was because of Spamturitis, or some other reason—but I can tell you that I can relate to the valid criticism of Facebook which is that your friends can turn into spammers and sometimes it feels like the Web application has just too many things you can do with it.  If Marcus were to look at his social solar system, then Facebook has become the equivalent of Pluto.  Many of us are re-thinking what social applications have a better signal to noise ratio.

Personally, I still like Facebook and find it useful—but I'm considering turning off some features that clutter my inbox (like Super Wall).  For me, 2008 is all about increasing signal and reducing noise.  Anyone else feeling the same way?  Or differently?

Comments

[Connie Reece]

I have already turned off my Super Wall and Fun Wall -- one plain old wall is enough, thanks. And I am ignoring invitations to almost all new apps -- even from close personal friends. I still SuperPoke, but don't use XMe or send/receive drinks,etc. ... at some point it just got to be too much. I still like many FB features and use it quite a bit, but I'm of the same frame of mind as you: more signal, less noise.

[Ike]

For all intents and purposes, I have done the same.

For the last four months, I've logged into Facebook about once every other weekend, just to update the "news" that I am not there anymore.

I'll leave the page up for Old Friends to find me when they create new accounts, but I'm clear up front that I will not interact there.

[Fredrik Johnsen]

I've noticed my Facebook use declining over the last few weeks as well, and I definitely think the signal to noise ratio is pretty bad right now.

I guess it all comes down to who you add as friends, but hopefully the new feature that enables putting friends in groups can be evolved to reduce some of the clutter (or information from cluttering friends).

[Mario Vellandi]

The interruption factor has become a nuisance, even as a passive user. I've felt the same about it having too many features, some of that though is due to its ecosystem nature.
To me, FB is just a connection repository from distant acquaintances to close friends.

[Nadyne Mielke]

When I first started using Facebook, it was all shiny and new to me, and I added applications willy-nilly. Now that the shininess has worn off, I've been removing the applications that don't add value for me. I haven't found myself wanting to leave it completely, but that's largely because I've been able to exert enough control (so far) over the signal:noise ratio.

[Steve Sammartino]

I agree, it's jsut getting ugly. There was an interesting debate on a blog post I did recently.
http://startupblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/quote-ben-rowe/

Cheers
steve.

[David Gillespie]

I'm with Fredrik, my use has been declining too. Ever since the release of the BlackBerry Facebook app I have only logged in intermittently to clean up the list of applications friends had added that I had no interest in.

I'm keen to see the next batch of figures that gets released though showing adoption and usage rates; I have a funny feeling the storm around Beacon was blowing a gale only among those with vested interests in social media, and the vast majority of users suffered nothing more than a mild breeze as they went about super-poking everyone they could get their hands on. We shall see...

[Mark McGuinness]

I'm resisting installing any kind of Funwall, Superwall etc. Having to install a new application every time I get a new message is not my idea of fun.

There are obviously big advantages to an open platform system but we're starting to see the drawbacks on FB.

[The Kaiser]

Blimey that was quick David.

Actually Facebook wasn't really like Pluto, it was more like quicksand.

[David Cushman]

I've been stripping out all kinds of walls and superwalls. They annoy for the same reason friendspam was a recipe for disaster for the facebook ad models. Too much auto-opt-in going on. Great to give facebook initial scale - a very risky strategy once the community has its feet under the table.

[David Cushman]

I've been stripping out all kinds of walls and superwalls. They annoy for the same reason friendspam was a recipe for disaster for the facebook ad models. Too much auto-opt-in going on. Great to give facebook initial scale - a very risky strategy once the community has its feet under the table.

[Des Walsh]

I've been getting declining signups to new apps, deleting others, rejecting invites for groups I have no interest in, leaving groups I'm not participating in. I'm irritated by the people who spam and hope they'll get over it when they realise no one is reading what they send. I risked upsetting a few people and being downgraded in the funloving stakes, but it's all reasonably manageable now.

And it's good to read posts like this that make me feel I'm not just a curmudgeon. Or at least that I'm not the only curmudgeon around.

[John Bennett]

I've just started using Facebook, and I'm already scaling back. I'm ignoring invitations for nearly every application. It's seems like a platform for applications that waste time. Yes, colorful descriptions of werewolf attacks are amusing the first or second time, but they quickly become repetitive clutter on the page. In general, this is the sort of detritus I'm trying to get rid of, not wallow deeper into. (Notifications of every little game all the people I know are playing? Are you serious?) I have to wonder if there won't be more of a backlash. To avoid a backlash among business users, Facebook may need to develop some truly useful apps beyond the basic connectivity provided by other networks such as LinkedIn.

[Branislav Peric]

I turned down FunWall 2 days ago, I had the exact same feeling of overwhelmingness.

[Stephen Collins]

Like pretty much everyone here, I touch Facebook as needed rather than as a matter of course. I keep my apps to a minimum (and need to strip some more), don't add new apps, and only connect with people I actually know or have a relationship of some for with an existing connection.

[Shingi Kanhukamwe]

I definitely agree that Facebook has ramped up the noise and diminished the signal in their attempt to be “open”. I was having the same thoughts on my blog today. There is more and more information related to things applications have done and a plethora of automatically generated messages and less and less information related to actual people. I think Facebook really needs to get back to facilitating engagement because the direction they are heading in now is only contributing to increased estrangement from the platform.

[Belinda K]

Agreed!
Which makes me wonder... does Facebook REALLY listen to what their users want?

How many companies sell a product that THEY believe will benefit the customer, without ever asking them?

[Shari Voigt]

I like the idea of Facebook, but not the reality of it. Most of the playful applications are out of place on a professional profile. It would be nice to have more of a real interaction with people than being sent a virtual drink, a poke, or the same YouTube video a "friend" has sent to 80 other people.

I'm not ready to give up on it though. I'm more careful lately with what I'll allow on my SuperWall and I'm really not interested in new applications. It remains to be seen if Facebook can be useful for building business relationships online, but I'm hopeful.

[Tanja]

I too have started with stripping all kinds of walls, stickie-things and like-me's. And try to educate my friends not to spam me with these horrible foreward messages or applications. They should introduce a "I think this crap is spam"-button to all these kinds of messages.

[Curtis Hougland]

Spamturitis is a symptom of Attention Overload Syndrome, I think. As applications mature from cute icons to meaningful utilities, some of the glitter has to fall off the page. For now, there is a novelty to all the Food Fighting and Poking, because we are all more or less newbies with apps. But you can't argue with how many people are involved, and you have to wonder if the lines between spam and applications will continue to blur. That as advertisers get involved, they will kill the golden goose like so many time before...

[Martha Mihaly]

I am really glad that you brought this up. The whole idea of these applications within facebook is baffling to me. Perhaps my time is more improtant to me than to those who are constantly writing on my superwall, poking me, or sending me stuff.

I've resisted adding most applications, and now log in very infrequently. The insanity of getting an email from fb telling me to go there so that I can read a post to my superwall boggles my mind. If someone I know wants to tell me something then it's easier for all concerned to send an email.

Having said that I agree with many of the comments above that fb was shiny and new and attractive. Initially I think it was a high value commodity offerring a completely new experience to its users. I think what many of us are overlooking though is that fb was never meant to target grown professionals, but rather University students - many of the applications clearly reflect the intitial demographic.

Does FB listen to its users? - the whole "breast feeding photos = pornography" sould indicate that they don't care much for their growing constituency.

[ceeque]

well lets face(book) it, the place has become an advertisers/spammers heaven nowadays unfortunately! All these pesky applications wanting to devour all your friends before you can even install it (just don`t miss that "skip" button!!??) drives me crazy. Yet I know many folk who will happily install anything and everything coming their way so it obviously works for some people though I hate to say what I think about that!

[Adam Kayce]

Absolutely; I switched off all notifications (except requests for "friendship"), and never go of my own volition anymore.

The only reason I haven't cancelled my account is that it's a contact point for people from my past, and family, at times.

But yes, I'm gone from crackbook, uh, facebook, too.

[Jonathan Trenn]

I've been saying for some time now that there still is an opportunity for some sort of new professionally-oriented media site that takes the best of Facebook and of LinkedIn. For all I know, it could end up being linked in.

Since Beacon debuted and I became more active on Twitter, my usage of Facebook has been reduced to five minutes of housekeeping per day.

The constant applications poking or superpoking me on my Wall, or Superwall, of Funwall, having people buy drinks for me or biting me, etc. became enough. Especially since I allegedly have to remove much of this stuff if I want to delete my account. Great post here.

[Wade Rockett]

Here's something that Facebook has accomplished that no other social network has managed so far: Facebook and its third-party apps give me an easy way to keep in frequent touch with a large number of my friends and family members in ways that they're comfortable with.

Eric and I primarily interact through Scrabulous games.

Margo and I take turns SuperPoking each other.

Matt and I write on each other's walls.

Margot and I exchange written messages.

I comment on Teresa's notes and shared links.

Some of these people are hardcore social media users, and some of them are not. Facebook somehow managed to bring all of us together in one place and provided us with a huge variety of communication tools to pick and choose from.

That being said, clearly people have to decide where they want to draw the line. It would help if Facebook provided a way for my friends to know what those limits are without asking me. ("Wade has asked not to receive Oregon Trail invitations, but he would be happy to play Scrabulous with you.")

[Whitney]

Facebook is a microcosm of the evolution of the web itself. First it was barren, so anything visually or conceptually interesting was worth our time. Now that it has matured, we've realized that just because you *can* do something with technology doesn't mean you *should*.

[Whitney Hess]

Looky here! Facebook just added an option to hide your "Extended Profile." You can choose which content parts to have collapsed by default. Definitely cuts down on the clutter, but will anyone use it? I already set mine up.

http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=64

[DA]

Ya Whitney, I noticed that today and of course I opted to have the defaults collapsed. It's a step in the right direction.

[Nacho Pastor]

Facebook Usable??