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Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

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Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#51

Post by pinkbucket »

RegEx wrote: post #38
anon808 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I just can't figure out how to do it without losing contact with my friends." easy . . . call them, visit them, email them, write letters to them. you don't need an application to managed personal relationships.

Facebook has monetized the hardship of letting friendships go. People change, shit happens, and you have to move on. Facebook, however, makes us believe we can keep these relationships going forever. I'm sure there are many successful reconnection stories, but I bet there are magnitudes more 'talked for a few days after not seeing each other for a few years, and that was that' stories.

That's not to say there isn't value in that. I've been really happy to connect with old acquaintances over just a message or two. I don't really want much more contact than that.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#52

Post by codemac »

swang wrote: post #33
imgabe wrote: post #10

> “By default, messages from friends or friends of friends go into your Inbox. Everything else goes to your Other folder So, your email service works in this way that's completely unlike every other email service in existence (where all messages go to the inbox unless you tell them otherwise), and it's the users' fault for not understanding it?

Facebook knows most users don't want another email account that is just going to get filled with spam. So how does Facebook deal with spam? Simple, it puts it into your Others folder. Otherwise you get users complaining about spam in their messages.

Because anything not from someone in my Facebook friends list is spam?

Jesus, why didn't any of these anti-spam devices, programs, companies, etc think of it! We'll just make a per user white list and be done with it!

Oh wait, that's a horrible idea, and you should feel bad.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#54

Post by fallenhitokiri »

freehunter wrote: post #45
bmj wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you, but there's another issue here: some of your friends may not actually respond to email messages. Personally, I'm a fan of email and letter writing (and not a fan of the phone), but I've fallen out of touch with several friends because if you don't contact them via Facebook or Twitter (I do neither), you won't hear back from them.

Another thing email doesn't do well: the idea of "I have something to say, but passively". Maybe you want to announce a change in your life, or a party, or some thought that you had. It's far less annoying to put it on Facebook where your friends can digest it (or not) at their leisure, rather than in an email demanding to be read. "Hey, what's your new address?" "I emailed it to you, go search through your messages"…

The only problem I see with your email sentence is that some clients lack a decent search functionality.

Some improvements and it would IMHO be as easy, if not easier, as opening Facebook, trying to find a contact and fight against the timeline to find the information you are looking for.

I think the party part is a bit of personal choice. If I run a party I want to notify $foo people. And $foo is always a smaller number than my Facebook "friends". I just prefer the ability to select people and only tell them what I want to say without creating tons of groups for everything.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#55

Post by pinkbucket »

thesis wrote: post #20
spaghetti wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jumping ship was easy for me. I catch-up with my local friends in person at a local bar or cafe. I catch-up with my remote friends by traveling to their city and going to a bar or cafe there. Or they come visit me. It's infinity more satisfying and relaxing that consuming status updates containing skewed and filtered representations of someone's life.

As far as visiting all my remote friends or them visiting me (somewhat often)... that's easier said then done for me and I bet most people.

Yeah, it's difficult enough when you are neighbours! (Sad but true.) That's not to say that we can't try harder.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#56

Post by agscala »

cjdavis wrote: post #42

I've never heard of the 'other' folder before. So I go look for it and find a message from an old college friend getting back in touch. From 10 months ago. Thanks FB.

Wow, I just checked mine and I also had messages that I completely missed from people that I would have like to have been notified about. Just peachy.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#57

Post by gnaritas »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #39
anon808 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I just can't figure out how to do it without losing contact with my friends." easy . . . call them, visit them, email them, write letters to them. you don't need an application to managed personal relationships.

>> "you don't need an application to managed personal relationships" You do when you're keeping in touch with friends you've made throughout your life and not just your current ones. That's the thing Facebook makes easy. Also email and writing letters don't really work. If I sent a letter to a friend I seriously doubt they would bother responding, and most people I know personally don't use email. They use Facebook.…

> You do when you're keeping in touch with friends you've made throughout your life and not just your current ones.

Your friends are the current ones. Those other people aren't friends anymore, they're acquaintances, people you used to know but don't see anymore. Friend isn't a permanent status, it's the people you hang out with and see on a regular basis. If your only contact with a person is through facebook, they aren't your friends.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#58

Post by MartinCron »

Splines wrote: post #36
Xcelerate wrote: post #19

I think Facebook is a great company, but their message system needs a bit of work. Last year I was at their HQ and one of the engineers was working with someone I knew on some code. The engineer said "send me a message on Facebook". So the guy sends it, and then the FB engineer said "I don't see it -- are you sure you sent it?" It took a few minutes before we all realized it had gone into the "other" section of the m…

Facebook needs to dogfood their own stuff. I remember reading about how they use IRC internally. Very cool, but it makes you wonder why they don't use facebook messages for everything.

It seems that Facebook and IRC seem to be well suited for very different kinds of communications. There's no reason that you can't use both.

Re: Facebook Blames Email Problems On User "Confusion"

#60

Post by WiseWeasel »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #31

Facebook seems to be losing sight of what people want to use them for: snooping on their friends. ;) I wonder what the MVP of a Facebook de-throner would be. Google+ showed pretty well it wasn't about fighting them head-on. Instagram was making pretty good progress in an oblique fashion. What other directions could you come at this problem from?

Well, LinkedIn already has the professional identity market locked down, so an entrant would probably want to focus on personal/private identity.

One approach would be something targeted at dating and meeting people who share your preferred activities, while letting you manage how much of your real identity you want to reveal. Think Second Life meets FourSquare, with avatars, pseudonyms and various exaggerated expressions of individuality.

Another approach would be something for sharing information privately with a group of existing friends, building group identity. Think private clubhouse.

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