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« Grabbing SEO by the Long Tail — Social Networking and blogging for self-masturbatory egomaniacs — a guide »

My big social web app’ wish list!

Tuesday, 13 May 2008 — by Wayne Smallman

Social Networking & Social Media websites and applications form a big part of my daily routine. If I’m going to use something on a regular basis, I need them to work just the right side of not being annoying or difficult to use — oh how I wish…

Pownce

When it comes to micro-blogging, Pownce is the place to be. Twitter! I hear you cry. Thing is, Twitter is a status update tool, not a micro-blogging platform.

While both Pownce and Twitter have a place, they are not the same. However, even micro-blogging services get the blues:

1. For starters, here’s 5 ways in which Pownce could be improved.
2. Pownce has a desktop client based on Adobe’s Air widget platform. It’s usable, but it’s also really not the finished article! Someone needs to finish this application off.
3. This wasn’t always the case, but Pownce has gotten slow recently. Plus, there are Twitter-esque outages, too. This needs addressing.
4. Twitter allows its members to use a picture for their background. Now I know Pownce offers whole themes, but all the same, making that a paid-for feature is a little poor.

Twitter

There was a time when I had only good things to say about Twitter. Then I became vehemently opposed to Twitter.

Now, once again, Twitter is in my good books, but it’s still far from perfect:

1. OK, let’s get the obvious wish out of the way; I think Twitter needs to work on its up-time.
2. Needs a “mutual friends” option for friend requests, just like on Facebook.
3. Twitter uses TinyURL to truncate the links added to Tweets. This needs to be supported within the message text box itself.
4. In a similar fashion to Pownce, a drop-down / pop-up menu of friends which when selected to drops their @name into the text box would be great.
5. Maybe there’s an argument for turning Twitter into a Facebook application. That way, we’d be pretty sure of a reduction in downtime.

Google

More and more of what I do is done through one Google property or another. Over time, I can see me not using Microsoft Office anymore and using Google Docs instead.

That said, things aren’t entirely perfect on planet Google:

1. Would be great to have GTalk integrated right into Google Docs. That would be a great productivity boost.
2. The biggest problem Google faces right now is the sheer number of applications they have, some of which, like Google FeedBurner, Analytics and Webmaster Tools should be combined into one application.
3. Google Browser Sync is a fantastic Add-On for Firefox, but I’d like it to manage and synchronize my RSS feeds, too.

Facebook

The amount of influence exerted by Facebook is formidable and growing week by week. A lot of people rely on Facebook, forming the very heart of their on-line social activities.

And since the release of Facebook chat, there’s one less reason for people to use a stand-alone chat client.

And with great power comes even greater responsibility. Just ask Google and Microsoft:

1. A measure of control over the types of applications being recommended to us isn’t unreasonable. Trust me, Facebook Application Fatigue is a very annoying thing to suffer from.
2. The ability to remove specific items from the News Feed.
3. Posted Items on Pages should really appear in the News Feed.
4. Like a lot of people I know, we use Facebook for both personal and professional reasons. We really need a option to offer more than one type of profile page to specific friends, or groups of friends.

StumbleUpon

For me, StumbleUpon is a fantastic place to find stuff. Not only that, StumbleUpon is as good a Social Network as it is a Social Media website.

However, it’s not like StumbleUpon is without its flaws. That said, of all the Social Networks I’ve tried over the years, it’s the one that I’m still on almost every day:

1. When I use the “Send to” feature in the toolbar, I’d like that message CC’d into my Messages.
2. When people visit my profile, I’d like to be able to see where they came in from — be that a group, an article I’d published, a friends profile or even a Tag.
3. I’d like to specify what articles my friends can push my way with the “Send to” tool. Personally, I get annoyed when people send me off-topic stuff. So I’d like to set an option to only allow messages that match the Tags I’m subscribed to.
4. A proper email client wouldn’t go amiss, either. And while we’re at it, some editing options (buttons for bold, italic, underline, URL et cetera) just like in WordPress.
5. The 200 friend limit on StumbleUpon is unjustifiable and bizarre. Plus, it’s not well known and causes confusion for a lot of people when they hit it. Remove the limit and let people add as many friends as they like!

Digg

I’ve sort of got back into Digg recently, if only a little. Truth be known, I’ve never been a huge fan of Digg, but it’s got a place.

For some, Digg is almost like a way of life — their way of making an impression on the Social Media landscape:

1. Much like StumbleUpon, I’d like to specify what articles my friends can push my way with the “Shout” tool. Personally, I get annoyed when people send me off-topic stuff. So I’d like to set an option to only allow Shouts that match the Topics I’m subscribed to.
2. Being able to group friends by Topic would make it much easier send Shouts out to specific people.
3. While the Shout feature is good, it’s also susceptible to spamming, too. So I recently came up with a short how-to guide explaining how to hide spammy Shouts on Digg.

OK, so this edged close to a protracted whinge, but hey! Seriously though, we know everything can’t be perfect, and hopefully, my many issues might just be well received.

Do you have your own list of Social Networking & Social Media peeves? Feel free to share…

Recommended reading

• Pownce: micro-blogging made easy
• 5 sure steps to a better Pownce
• What Twitter is(n’t)…
• Twitter isn’t Jesus
• Google FeedBurner, Analytics and Webmaster Tools should be combined
• Whither Google Browser Sync?
• Facebook ventures into Instant Messaging
• A cure for Facebook App Fatigue
• 9 things wrong with StumbleUpon
• 5 essential StumbleUpon power points
• StumbleUpon falters on friend limit
• Doin’ it and (nearly) Diggin’ it!
• How to hide spammy Shouts on Digg

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