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January 11, 2008

Facebook To Allow Users To Hide Apps From Profile

Duncan Riley

35 comments »

facebooklogo11.gifFacebook has announced that due to complaints about the over abundance of apps of user profile pages they will soon allow users to hide their apps.

The “profile clean-up” tool is compared to how a “computer’s desktop will remind you to get rid of unused icons” (note here, Facebook is comparing themselves to Windows) that will allow users to move profile boxes to an “extended portion” of their profile.

Users can choose to move any or all of the application boxes, but according to Facebook’s Julie Zhuo Facebook “will recommend that [users] keep the Friends Box, Mini-Feed, Wall, Basic and Personal Information as well as the top 12 application boxes they have added.” Each profile will then have a link at the bottom to “Show Extended Profile, ” that will allow visitors to then see all applications a user has running.

The changes is a good thing for users of Facebook, who have been bombarded with cluttered profile pages that are reminicent of MySpace (without the awful colors) since the Faceebook platform launched last year. App makers on the other hand might not be so impressed. Many rely on profile exposure to help spread their apps virally, and now users can hide their apps, taking that benefit away. Unfortunately though this is still window dressing stuff from Facebook, the non-stop stream of rubbish that emanates from some apps (Funwall and Superwall in particular) remains untouched.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 4:13 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. TechConsumer

    January 14th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

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  1. Boris

    January 11th, 2008 at 4:24 am

    I tried to find it on my facebook profile but it is such a mess that I couldn’t find it…

    ;-)

  2. John Tibbons

    January 11th, 2008 at 4:49 am

    There really needs to be a function that lets you block everyone else’s applications from displaying when you visit their profile. I downright refuse to visit some people’s profiles because they’re loaded with inane applications. I suspect that number of facebook applications correlates negatively with intelligence.

  3. Patrick

    January 11th, 2008 at 5:04 am

    I’m less concerned with how other peoples’ pages look than all the damn “invites” and other notices I get from a lot of the applications. –I absolutely refuse to use any of those ones.

  4. Mantas

    January 11th, 2008 at 5:04 am

    yay! finally. now if I could hide certain apps so I won’t see them at all… (AdBlock-ish)

  5. Mantas

    January 11th, 2008 at 5:06 am

    sorry #2, I didn’t notice you’ve already suggested that - I thought there were no comments… a big + to #2 and #3.

  6. portorikan

    January 11th, 2008 at 5:53 am

    Awesome. I was thinking about starting a classic facebook look group just because of the annoying pages of others. Great idea on their part because I’ll probably hide all of mine.

  7. Timothy

    January 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am

    So suprised it took them this long to do this.

    Ive never really understood the appeal of facebook.

    ———
    http://www.xenbet.com

  8. David Litsky

    January 11th, 2008 at 6:24 am

    My facebook profile is clean and doesn’t spam my friends with superficial notifications. That’s the benefit to using it since its inception at my University.

  9. Todd H. Page

    January 11th, 2008 at 6:40 am

    There is a greasemonkey script that lets you only show the boxes YOU want to see on peoples facebook pages… I only see the core 5 or 6… it makes me so happy to not have to deal with that application bullcrap.

  10. Emily

    January 11th, 2008 at 6:52 am

    Besides a “cleanup tool” this isn’t a huge change. Choosing the right settings when you add an app normally prevents them from loading on your profile anyway. Most of mine have never displayed, and the ones that do I’ve only got what I want showing. All it takes is a few seconds actually reading the options that are checked automatically and making changes.

  11. 1 Million in 365 Days

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:06 am

    Facebook profiles are so annoying with these application pileups. Wonder what made Facebook develop the clean up tool only now?

  12. Josh

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:28 am

    You mean facebook has complaints? Who would have thought.

  13. Matt Alland

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:34 am

    It’s an interesting problem, with the applications. On one hand, Facebook wants to encourage developers to create applications and the motivation to create an application in Facebook is its viral nature. At the same time, there are no real regulations on these applications.

  14. airj1012

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:36 am

    This is huge for them. This is one area where MySpace struggles. A lot of people don’t like the idea of non consistent looking pages. It’s hard to find information, etc. Good job.

  15. micfo.com

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    I think it would be better if they ask people to login before access specific user profile pages.

  16. ITrush

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:46 am

    Great, I was thinking of giving my profile a fresh new look… thanks with these cool tools. Keep us posted TC!

    nhick
    http://www.itrush.com

  17. shams

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:50 am

    A good decision from Facebook.

  18. Dave

    January 11th, 2008 at 7:51 am

    I got fed up with the bombardment of stupid app invites, so I searched for and found this facebook group:

    “Stop Involving Me With Your Facebook Applications. I Will Fucking End You.”

    Join it to send a clear message to your chainmail-forward-leaning friends who have found a fresh new addiction in viral facebook apps.

  19. Jurado

    January 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am

    Dave: Thank you….now, please tell me how to end them?

  20. John

    January 11th, 2008 at 8:22 am

    J. Tibbons is right. Anyone that has 12 applications running should really spend some time off facebook evaluating their existence rather than moving more applications to a second profile. As the future unfolds I can more easily see facebook closing the gap between itself and myspace. By a slim margin it will be a prettier version of myspace only because you can’t put a tiled photograph as the background for your profile page…yet.

  21. Miguel

    January 11th, 2008 at 8:50 am

    Finally a survival of the fittest for the Apps. There was never a ranking system for application qualities. Hopefully this will keep stupid annoying apps off of people’s profile.

  22. Dave

    January 11th, 2008 at 9:26 am

    @19 Jurado,

    The best way I’ve found thus far to handle insane #’s of app requests is to use the ignore button freely. Unfortunately Facebook doesn’t have a “do not call” list yet… it’s just a matter of time, though.

  23. Michael

    January 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Am I understanding that the owner of the profile—not the visitor—is the one who can hide apps? What motivation would anyone have to do this? If someone voluntarily junks up their profile with a zillion apps—which they obviously want people to see or they wouldn’t have added them—why would they hide them?

  24. Mike W

    January 11th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    The applications have turned Facebook into one massive spamming platform.

    I used to enjoy going in and seeing my friends status, new photos etc….

    Now the entire feed is littered with the most inane BS. “So and so took the movie star test - you can to!”

    I have gone from love to loathing as far as facebook is concerned.

  25. David Litsky

    January 11th, 2008 at 11:21 am

    @Mike W - Use Facebook’s privacy controls to your advantage so your mini feed and friends feed aren’t spammed by nonsense.

  26. Josh

    January 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Join my group Facebook Apps Suck:

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6740754003

  27. Greasyguide.com

    January 11th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    Facebook apps are so 2007. I’ve moved on from Facebook. I haven’t login to my account in ages

  28. Wade

    January 11th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    I agree with you all, facebook is becoming too SPAMMY and too MESSY.

    I think they should take a lesson from Google, and try to deliver content based on what each individual is interested in.

    Also, the quality of these apps….my god. Where is the killer facebook app? I haven’t seen even one yet.

  29. Rollo

    January 11th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    “Facebook IS comparing THEMSELVES to Windows.” Is they really?

  30. Abhishek

    January 12th, 2008 at 1:38 am

    Well I just became a member of Bebo and found it pretty well designed and easy to use. Facebook is becoming little spammy now a days and few of my friends still find it tough to use it. I think facebook should get a solution for that first before implementing beacons etc to generate more revenue

  31. JCraig

    January 12th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    Will this finally be the point where people realize that facebook apps are overrated, and few users regularly use any of them much less like them?

    And I definitely agree, the invites to the stupid werewolf or vampire game are the most annoying

  32. Shingi Kanhukamwe

    January 13th, 2008 at 5:42 am

    Finally, Facebook listens, I just recently writing about this whole issue. How interesting that it took them so long to figure out that this is a problem. You’d think that being a “web 2.0″ entity they’d be more responsive but apparently it’s business as usual. Deny there’s a problem until becomes glaringly obvious by which time you’ve successfully alienated a large number of users.

  33. hookedbabe

    January 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    ITS UPP!! THE APP IS UP!! i love it! =)

  34. Nigel

    January 26th, 2008 at 12:24 am

    It’s up - but i still cant hide my info or mini feed box if I want to… not cool. Would at least be nice to be able to move to skinny column with friends but cant do that either. I know its free, but really, look and feel!?! How is a bloke meant to network with people and try to express ones own being freely with mandatory blockage by mini feed….?

    Promises, promises…

    Users can choose to move any or all of the application boxes, but according to Facebook’s Julie Zhuo Facebook “will recommend that [users] keep the Friends Box, Mini-Feed, Wall, Basic and Personal Information as well as the top 12 application boxes they have added.”

    will recommend… or enforce? reminds me of a politician with an army i once heard about

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