Facebook Platform

Sometimes FB developers suck. Namely, when I have to add an application just to see what somebody else has done with it. It's the equivalent annoyance of having to login to comment, or to rate something on a site. I see the app on their profile, and there are options to interact with it. I try to do something, but they require me to add the app to do anything. So, of course, I decline the app and never see what I was trying to see.

It's just really frustrating that many developers force you to add the app to see anything about it, and it seems a bit backwards. I'm not going to add an app without seeing inside it first, but if I have to add it to see inside, I'll never add it. Now, this doesn't seem to be troubling many developers, as they are racking up users quite easily. Nevertheless, I'd appreciate it if developers would stop trying to build mini walled gardens inside the walled FB estate.

On a larger note, I'm still waiting for the FB app to beat all FB apps in terms of actual usefulness. Maybe I just haven't found it yet, but I really don't want gimmicky things on my profile and I think the FB platform has much better uses than trying to build up vampire points.

On a smaller note, the abundance of crappy looking FB apps being launched has reaffirmed my opinion originally derived from MySpace profiles that most people out there have absolutely zero sense of design.