Friday Freak Out - Facebook's Murderous Mobile Experience

Friday Freak Out – Facebook’s Murderous Mobile Experience

By the time this loads, I’ll be wearing only beige and brown colours.

Do you recognise the above?!?

That’s what I see every time I launch the Facebook iPhone (and often iPad) application. Not for a split second, oh no, I’m talking about 30-40 seconds. In this age of super fast apps and (most of the time) connections, that is just far from acceptable. It doesn’t stop at load times either, I reckon that 7/10 times I try to upload a photo via the app, it also fails. I can’t speak for Android versions as obviously I wouldn’t lower myself to using such a device. I jest, I jest!

The biggest social network in the world, with the worst mobile experience of the lot. Poor show ‘Zuck’.

The Arrogance of Facebook

We all know that the Facebook IPO sucked. The reasons for this appear to be many, however I can’t help but feel a lack of real commitment to mobile must have played a part. While the web version of the network works pretty well, the mobile experience has been left to dissolve. Yes, they introduced Timeline to the mobile gambit, however I see no signs of improvement of the speed of the app in general. This is despite the fact that the tech community and Facebook user-base have been vocally grumbling about these issues for a long, long time.

One of my Twitter pals – @TourDeFarce sums it up nicely (and rather amusingly)

“I avoid using the iPhone app where possible and only really use the desktop site now. This is especially annoying when it comes to keeping tabs on Birthdays and other Events, as they load up so slowly the time has often passed”

It all pangs of the typical arrogance that Facebook display with the sweeping changes they regularly force upon their users with zero regard for the life-blood of the social behemoth. There is no way that they aren’t aware of the dissatisfaction of their users, yet they choose to let the dissatisfaction continue for far too long.

When will Facebook Fix it?

When Facebook decide to start rolling out their advertising model to mobile apps, I have a funny feeling things will get a lot faster. Until then, I’m sticking to the web version. Its the best way to find out how much people hate their jobs, the rain, their partners and what was consumed for that night’s dinner. Disclaimer – my friends do say interesting stuff, honest.

Are you sick of the Facebook mobile experience? Vent in the comment below. We are using the new Disqus, give it a go!

Mike McGrail

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Filed Under: Facebook

http://twitter.com/richymacd Richard MacDonald

Heartily agree Mike. I wondered if it was just down to me being one of those silly Android user types but no, it seems that the problem of the app being rubbish is widespread. Even the mobile website is better than the app!
http://twitter.com/PaulMarnie Paul Marnie

Can only agree with what you say Mike. I deleted the FB iOS app and replaced it with the mobile version by saving it to the Home Screen. It still isn’t perfect but it is far more reliable than the awful app.

I’m yet to find a reliable mobile solution for FB, even Hootsuite fail to make the experience of FB on the go any better.

In comparison to the rather slick G+ app, FB have a lot of catching up to do
http://twitter.com/lichtie Steve

I’ll second what Richard says. Every time you try to refresh the screen, nothing happens so you do it again thinking you didn’t do it properly and when it catches up, you’re halfway down your timeline! Maddening!

I also agree with the wider points you make about Facebook in general. I read earlier this week they want to put a ‘want’ button on profiles to basically rip off Pintrest. I personally don’t want my entire social media presence to be on one site, I like difference!

I don’t think anyone believes Facebook do anything purely for the good of their membership anymore. Every new move they make or feature they introduce has the purpose of gathering information so they can try and justify the price of their hideous IPO as soon as possible.
Matthew Marley

The mobile app has sucked since their head of mobile dev left last year and they decided to switch to HTML5. I did read something the other day where they said that they are moving away from HTML5 again. They need to look at mobile app’s like G+ and Path which provide a gorgeous mobile UI.
frydmancom

Could it be that it’s the iOS version – not Facebook or their app? Works fine for me on an older version on an iPhone 3GS and their mobile version is fine too. Perhaps you just have too many instagram snapping buddies and way too many friend requests…

JenniMaley

The Android version is just as bad. Yes, I have an Android. Actually I have an iPhone as well and both apps suck equally. Uploading photos is definitely easier on the iPhone though.

http://quillcards.com/blog/ David Bennett

… and the ‘@’ doesn’t work…
Matthew Marley

Both apps are the same that’s why both platforms have problems as both pull the feeds from the HTML5 web interface which is basically wrapped up in a nice wrapper and presented as an app.
http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

I’m please to see that other have the same issues! Thanks for commenting folks!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001245780344 Scott Caldwell

I spotted this on Mashable a week ago which be interesting further reading:
http://mashable.com/2012/06/27/facebook-faster-ios-app/ although it doesn’t really set anything in stone. But yeah, in relation to this post, I HATE the FB app. Probably because it’s the one I want to use, by far, the most.

Flipboard all the way from now on!

http://www.thesocialpenguinblog.com Mike McGrail

Well spotted! I have banned my eyes from looking at Mashable so missed it!

http://twitter.com/littlebigchat Little Big Chat

Totally agree Mike. I stopped using the mobile app a while ago, unless I have no choice. I’ve recently been playing with the Pages Manager app too and while it’s handy, I’ve yet to be convinced.
http://twitter.com/conradr Conrad Rossouw

The IOS app really sucks and that’s because they’re wrapping HTML5 in Objective C web views, which is slow. Path and others use proper classes, and therefore a much quicker experience. You’re better off using the mobile safari version. ( It’s also a little quicker in the Chrome APP ) Facebook’s reportedly working on a native app they say, when? Who knows..

It’s interesting that a company who prides themselves on knowing what users want socially, got mobile so wrong. They have no way to monetise mobile at the moment as there are no ads in the mobile apps. I think that’s why they’re delaying a new app, they can’t figure out how to embed ads in it without annoying everyone.