The application is native, which means it doesn’t have any of the CPU usage issues or quirks of Adobe AIR. Using the app is very straightforward: as new messages, notifications, and wall posts come in, you’ll see a Growl-like notification box slide into view. Even better for avid sharers, the application features a universal hotkey for sending out a new status update, though this doesn’t seem to have support for all of Facebook Publisher’s functionality (sharing photos, etc.). You’ll also quickly find that aside from updating your status, most of the functions featured in the app (like composing a new message or viewing your News Feed) are really just links to the Facebook website — you can’t do much from within the app itself. That said, if you’re just looking for a way to bring your Facebook notifications to your desktop, this is a perfect solution.
Of course, this isn’t the first application that brings Facebook to your desktop — a number of third party apps like Amigo, Seesmic and TweetDeck offer some of the same functionality (and more). And Facebook has built its own AIR app that lets you view your News Feed and post status updates.
Thanks to Gambit for the tip.
It seems like Facebook’s iPhone app and now mac app have better UI than fb.com. Perhaps it is time for them to enhance the UI on fb.com
I’m liking that. I have the FB toolbar on my Mac’s firefox, but it’d be nice to be able to see FB without being in my browser (even though I am all the time anyway hah)
This could be a decent app in a few iterations when the developers bring it up to speed with the Firefox Facebook toolbar, which has more of the features I use multiple times a day, right out of the box.
Great. Facebook Overload. I am already spending less time on Facebook. Why would I need this?
I second that. For me, the Facebook trend has peaked. Soon I’ll be dropping it off at Goodwill.
Nice to have an experimental app from Facebook. Even there are other desktop notification apps, mostly all wish to try this beta session app. Hope this would give a new experience.
Looks awesome. I used to use Amigo a lot but have sort of gave up on it.
I am excited to start using this application.
You can’t paste in the little status update box … how sad
. besides that.. pretty cool!
awesome.
This is pretty sweet.
Yeah, this is awesome.
I didn’t think it was available for some reason till I re-read your post. I just installed it. Can you say mac-lust!? This thing is awesome.
Tired of FB everywhere – I dont need them to surround me. Thank you but no thanks.
Ha Ha all those 3rd party apps like seesmic will go the way of the dinosaurs, twitter is also working on stuff to screw their developers, why didn’t they learn.
Repeat – you can not make a business substantially reliable on someone else’s platform, there is no future there.
FMenu + Growl.
this is insanely stupid. Now no one needs to go to facebook to see the updates. Less ad impressions. Less ad revenue per user. A smart extension that will undoubtedly destroy their revenue stream. IS no one over there thinking about this stuff.
The notifications don’t contain a lot of information. Now people will see the notification, go on Facebook and waste a lot of time they should have spent working.
Of course, no one seems to have pointed out that this app wasn’t made by Facebook. It says so right there on the page you linked to.
Does this only work on Leopard? I can’t get it to open in Tiger.
This is nice for mac users who want to update their status without going to Facebook. I only wish it would work with fanpages too. I’m glad Facebook is making their own apps and this is not another adobe air app.
Thanks for the tip.
ooo and it uses growl… just wish it allowed for a quick view of the last five news updates on my feed… yes I have yet to get sick of facebook.
It’s a great move, Facebook becoming less of a “destination” and more of a cloud service to stay connected only plays in their favor. I’d much rather use my iPhone or get desktop notifications of all “social activity” peripherally than stay camped out on facebook all day.
I definitely come and go with the service – it ebbs and flows. The occasional onslaught of 7th grade friends definitely scares me away for a few days, but the updated privacy and notification filters have made the whole experience much nicer.
If you look at the left sidebar you will see that it says “this application was NOT developed by Facebook”. How come you say is in house?
Can someone please tell me what is so wrong with Adobe Air?
I m not a mac user .. so not of use for me … and do we need this app .. god .. we already have it on phoned .. PC .. plz .. no notifications of who updated what ?
Best,
Ashlee
uh, when i went to that link it says that it was NOT developed by facebook…could you please clarify?
It’s definitely crazy how much facebook has conquered our lives. Updates through Twitter integration, 3.0 on iPhone (which rocks), Firefox Toolbar, Tweetdeck integration…it’s only a matter of time before someone has their lifestream broadcasting directly on facebook!
Good for people who cannot live without Facebook
Where is the PC version?
Is this really Growl notifications or just Growl like, I guess I will see soon. Facebook app + Growl = Push notifications for facebook using Prowl on iPhone.
Sweet!