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Facebook apps the pet rock of the 2000's
JP Holecka Nov 27, 2008 - filed under: Social Media Comment (1)
Is the facebook app really dead? For at least six to eight months after the apps launched it seemed like everyone was under savage bombardment of zombie armies attacks and requests for Funwall signups. Yes there was no end of hype over the facebook app phenomenon. From facebook users too the numerous big brands that wanted a facebook app of their very own. It was the talk of the interactive community back in 2007 and early 2008. Clients would usually call me at the agency and ask "We want a facebook app. Can you build us one?" Most of the time the clients never new why they needed it or what a facebook app really was but they knew that it was a "must have". Those days are now gone and I can't even imagine trying to sell an app to a client today. That was only 6 or 7 months ago. Things move so quickly in this interactive world.

What killed the app you ask? Well there are a couple of thing in my opinion that put the death nail into the facebook application platform.

The 18 month attention span with all new shinny things. 

Yes that's right. There is a cycle of consumer interest in any given product or service that lasts approximately 18 moths or so. If you look at the Apple product lifecycle it is just under this at around 14 months, giving about 3-4 months for traction. Also I believe the pet rock was around for roughly the same amount of time back in the 70's.

This summer's much hyped redesign of the facebook profile page that put the apps on a tab somewhere at the back of the page.

There was much hype and noise surrounding the facebook redesign this summer. Some reviews were positive but mostly negative. I myself like the new design and think that the site's usability went way up. One downside for many users and app developers specifically was that the new design pushed the apps to the last tab on the profile page. I did not personally mind as I never really used the apps to begin with. Oh sure I tried them out more for the exploration and insight than anything else. I still have a few apps loaded on my page like Tumblr.com and Lastfm.com but ditched the zombies a long time ago.

The iPhone 3G and it's tremendously popular app store.

Apple's launch of the long awaited iPhone 3G with the apps store coincided with the facebook redesign, 18 month cycle of interest and the finite amount of time that a person has in any given day to dedicate to the Internet. In fact the iPhone facebook app version 2.0 was probably a contributing factor as well. To this day it is in the top 25 most popular apps in the iTunes store. 

To coin an overused phrase it was "the perfect...cough..cough...storm" that killed the facebook app. I have a feeling that a lot of those facebook app developers are now immersed in the iPhone SDK trying to stay afloat.

If the facebook app has been replaced by iPhone app store then what will be after that? Maybe look at the Android platform I hear it is going to be hot!

tags:// Web, trends, marketing, iPhone, facebook, advertising
Powershiftermedia.com, built from the bottom up.
JP Holecka Nov 6, 2008 - filed under: Powershifter Media Comment (0)


Welcome to Powershifter Media's new website. It’s built on an open source CMS called Joomla! (The exclamation is actually part of the name). 

Why choose Joomla!?

Flexibility: As a consultancy of one I need to be able to manage my site quickly and cost effectively without employing a developer for site updates. Open source offers cost effectiveness and freedom from being tied to a certain vendor for future updates and changes.

Community: Joomla! is built on bottom-up foundations that make working with open source tools so effective. Just ask the Obama folks about the power of a 'bottom up' organization.


Searchability: The entire site is search engine optimized (SEO) out of the gate.  And because I’m using ajax instead of Flash, every part of the site will get crawled and indexed by the search engines.

Economy: I should practice what I preach! I am constantly telling my clients that static sites are inefficient, costly and depend on having a full time development team standing by to publish every bit of new content that you throw their way. How Web 1.0 is that?

Sure, critics will say that employing Joomla! presents design and system limitations. But I feel that having form meet function and being able to get your fresh content out on the Web quickly and cost-effectively outweighs the Joomla’s restrictions. And as Powershifter evolves, watch for those restrictions to fall away as I push Joomla! into overdrive to see just how far it can take my business.

tags:// Web, Strategy, Powershifter Media, Open Source, Joomla!, CMS