10 Famous Facebook Flops - InformationWeek

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Comments
10 Famous Facebook Flops
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WKash
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WKash,
 User Rank: Author
2/11/2014 | 3:47:05 PM
Re: Maybe Not All Bad
I agree -- no one ever made progress by following the crowd. That said, Facebook is in the tough spot of having its every move scrutinized by a huge crowd.  That makes it more crucial to test its ideas with its customers before suddenly alienating them in public, as they tended to do in their earlier "flops."
mak63
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mak63,
 User Rank: Ninja
2/8/2014 | 12:51:26 AM
no clue
I'm a Facebook user, but to be honest, besides Facebook Home; which I saw last year in an AT&T phone, I don't know or don't remember any of these flops.
I guess is not a bad thing, right?
Kristin Burnham
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50%
Kristin Burnham,
 User Rank: Author
2/7/2014 | 4:39:20 PM
Re: Maybe Not All Bad
That's a great point, and one that all businesses can heed. Make mistakes, learn from them, and don't be afraid of failure.
hrutledge974
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hrutledge974,
 User Rank: Apprentice
2/7/2014 | 3:09:05 PM
Maybe Not All Bad
Progress is made by those who try and fail and try again.  No one ever made progress by following the crowd.  They may have had these failures but Zuckerberg still is a billionaire.
David F. Carr
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David F. Carr,
 User Rank: Author
2/7/2014 | 12:36:41 PM
FBML not a flop, just a first try
I wouldn't classify FBML as a flop. It enabled the first generation of Facebook applications, helping build the platform on top of the social network. It had drawbacks, certainly, since developers needed to learn yet another markup language. Once Facebook figured out a way that it could enable apps and page tabs with a combination of HTML iFrames and a Javascript SDK, the doors opened much wider. Now, essentially anyone with HTML and JavaScript skills could build an app or adapt an existing web app to function as an embedded Facebook app.

But that first generation of FBML apps created the initial momentum for the very concept of a Facebook app, even though the technical means of delivering apps later changed.
Ariella
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Ariella,
 User Rank: Author
2/6/2014 | 5:47:48 PM
Re: Facebook
@Kristen yes, but then I have to go to the trouble of untagging. I have to do that for some posts, too.  And I feel like I'm cleaning up after others. I very rarely tag people, and when I do it's only for a single name of a person I know is interested in the topic. I never do a group of dozens on something fairly general.  The only thing worse than being tagged where you don't want to be is being placed with groups without your permission. I have told people I will unfriend them if they do that to me. Yes, I can remove myself and do, but I shouldn't have to go through the trouble of doing that for something I never opted into in the first place.
Kristin Burnham
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50%
Kristin Burnham,
 User Rank: Author
2/6/2014 | 5:34:25 PM
Re: Facebook email was an odd one
Exactly. Not only that, but its messaging app really popular. One of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situations.
Kristin Burnham
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50%
Kristin Burnham,
 User Rank: Author
2/6/2014 | 5:31:53 PM
Re: Facebook
If someone posts a photo to Facebook and tags themself or someone else, you (the photo owner) and the person tagged receive alerts. They can choose to untag themselves and request that the uploader remove it if it's particularly compromising.
David F. Carr
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50%
David F. Carr,
 User Rank: Author
2/5/2014 | 9:17:33 AM
Facebook email was an odd one
I still don't know what Facebook was trying to accomplish by adding email addresses, when its messaging is so un-email like (no subject lines for example)
WKash
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50%
WKash,
 User Rank: Author
2/4/2014 | 5:33:43 PM
Re: Facebook IPO Really?
Very true. It's a good example where not all flops end badly and that often times, flops offer the inflection point to  rebound and do even better.

 
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