Facebook’s fizzling IPO has captured the attention of most media outlets and cast the company in a dark light in lieu of the million who lost money in the deal. The doesn’t mean that the service isn’t improving all the time – indeed, it means that the service has to become even more valuable in order to keep its 850 million users from leaking into other nascent, though less-developed social networks.
What would Facebook be if there weren’t continuing improvements to enhance the user experience? Facebook itself has allowed in-browser chatting, the ability to upload and tag friends in photos and videos, private messaging, event creation and – its latest and greatest enhancement – Open Graph. The Open Graph system allows third-party companies to write web applications that can then plug into the Facebook mainframe. You probably remember when Facebook Apps debuted and you suddenly started getting invitations to play Mob Wars every day. The system has gotten considerably more sophisticated since then and allows for things like integration between Facebook and desktop apps (i.e. Spotify). OnConference, a company specializing in conference calls, has even created a Facebook app for video chatting with your friend list.
All this is to say that we’re approaching a brave new world of Facebook integration. Here’s a closer look at some of the apps that enhance Facebook’s user experience:
- Cover Photo Apps: Ever since Facebook has moved to its current “timeline” format, users have had the option to upload two photos – the profile photo and the cover photo. While the profile photo is essentially the same as what you had prior to the format change, the new cover photo allows your page to have a lot of presence. However, not everyone is a photo designer, which can make creating or editing a photo for your cover photo difficult. Luckily, there’s an app for that. The Schweppes Profile app enables users to create stunning cover photos, even if you don’t have all the technical know-how.
- Photo Zoom: You know what a pain it can be to individually click on Facebook photos to increase their sizes, so you can actually, you know, see them? There’s an app for that: The Facebook Photo Zoom app (an extension of Google Chrome) will increase the photos to their full sizes as you drag your mouse cursor across it, eliminating one of Facebook’s annoyances and preventing you from having to click around all over the page.
- Time Counter: How much time do you spend on Facebook? If you download the Time Counter app, you can know for sure. The thing about Facebook is that it can be great for killing a few minutes here and there and for staying up to date on what all of your friends are doing. But Time Counter can make sure that Facebook isn’t preventing you from doing all the more important things you need to get done in your life like homework, your job, etc.
- Facebook Video: One of the most popular apps available for Facebook is the video app. Specifically, by opening the app on your mobile device or webcam, you can record and upload videos right from the app and into Facebook. Facebook folks themselves created the app, so you know it’s reliable.
- Countdown: Acquiring this app allows you to count down to various points of interest throughout the year. For instance, are you getting married? Are you graduating college? Are you just really looking forward to a big football game a few months down the road? When you download the countdown clock, Facebook will post a countdown to such a milestone event right in your profile, keeping you and your friends updated on the latest big event.
- Where I’ve Been: Are you a world traveler? Do you want to show off all the places that you’ve been to your Facebook friends? When you download the Where I’ve Been app, you can tag all of the places that you’ve been for all of your friends to see.
As you can see, a Facebook experience is much more than just the functionality that Facebook has provided you with. There are various apps that can enhance your experience and make Facebook “more” than just a social network.
