Facebook falls on face ?

Just seen that it is "Temporarily Unavailable".....and they are working on it.

While they are not looking, I am emboldened by others (like A VC) to point out what I think are the glaringly obvious faults with Facebook.

1. The messaging - why do I get an email telling me I have a message etc - just give me the darn message in the email.

2. Added to that, why can't I just set up an email feed or RSS or something for when new data appears in the groups I have joined. Yahoo Groups has done this for yonks.

3. It is very time consuming to use any of the functions really...too many pages have to be hit, the methods of doing things are actually pretty inelegant

4. I hate having to load up the wodgets (sorry, applications) myself so I can see them on my friends' pages - and there are just too many darn apps to boot (I note that the "app churn" of my friends is increasing btw)

5. Whats with all these pokes, dead sheep, zombies etc...will they last? Its cute for a bit, but boy does it pall fast.....

6. The entire canon of work of the feminist movement re discrimination at work has just been trashed... I can just go on facebook and see every darn thing that I can't ask in an interview - and a lot more besides.

7. Those Terms of Service are draconian.

Now, people who have my email addy are mailing me on Facebook.....look, its a much more cumbersome process that way - if you have my email address, email me - I can do it faster - reply offline, pick it up on multiple devices, all those great comms tricks we took for granted in Web 1.0.

(There was an article in the (UK) Times today saying its the New Generation Gap - ie if you don't get Facebook you're so over the hill. That may be so, but (therefore speaking as an old curmudgeon) it seems to me its really just Yahoo Groups (with 2007 style graphics) mixed with a standard Buddy Page service and lots of noisy wodgets. )

Except it has worse communications functionality and its far less open.

In fact I suspect the Youth of Today, rather than "getting it", are being very naive on 3 counts here:

(i) Privacy - just how naive can these kids be....letting it all hang out is fine at Uni, but unlike your miscreant elders, you will have a record forever of all those misjudgements. There are Yahoo groups where the more er...arcane....interests also exist, but people on them are anonymous.

(ii) Content T&C.....people are writing the novel of their lives on Facebook, and someone else owns the IP

(iii) Simple functionality - if you know email, listservers, RSS etc then this is just a plain cumbersome system.

Still, it is very popular right now (well, in the press anyway, other services are bigger but get much less airtime).....but it just seems that bit too high friction to use - probably because Facebook has clearly been optimised for Stats Hounds:

(1) High web page count - you bet, you can't move without going to another webpage, and no way are you going to export data to a more convenient aggregator when you could come and visit the webpages again

(2) Long Time spent on site - yes, as above...and its time consuming to do most things, it is quite a clunky UI in many ways (eg reading group posts etc)

It really would not be too hard to make it better, but of course page views and time spent would drop off.

I am clearly in an heretical minority (an early un-adopter?) but I just can't see how this will retain users over the longer term. It is just too high friction to use as it now stands.

C'mon Yahoo.....you don't need to buy these guys - just a better graphical UI on Groups, a closer link and a bit more SocNet functionality (and a bit more oomph) on your profile pages, some close linking to all the other great apps you have (Delicious, Flickr et al) and you'd have a far better service - and a bigger one I'd bet. Instant media darling time......

Update...just found this.....it may have been hacked. I'll add that to my list, its the New Windows - seriously though, if its not hacked now it will be - do they really think they can collect all that valuable personal data without others wanting to get at it?

Update 2...its even made TechCrunch.....there is clearly a real danger that people actually have to work !