So here are a five suggestions I recently sent to Facebook.
1. Favouriting -
Could you please look into a 'favourite'ing feature for FB? You know, like they have for feed readers like Google Reader?
The problem that most of us face right now is that we come across a lot of great items (videos, articles) that friends post on their walls, but we have no way to save them for future reference. This means that they simply float away in time as the wall gets refreshed with newer items and we have no quick way to access them except by going back down the common walls, or going to a friend's page and going down their wall, neither of which is convenient.
True, we do have an option to share the item ourselves, so it appears on our wall, but that seems like a lengthy solution to an easy problem. Also, we shouldn't have to be forced to share an item to view it later, not that it helps much either, as the item will just float down our wall sooner or later.
This is a major issue that a lot of us would like to see fixed. We'd be really grateful if you could work towards some sort of parallel wall or page where we can view at any point of time all the items we've chosen to favourite.
2. Sharing -
And while we're on the subject of parallel walls or separate pages, how about one dedicated to friend's items that we've chosen to share, as opposed to the current scenario, where both shared items and our own posted items are presented on the same wall?
3. Minimizing -
And going further, maybe a way to minimize our wall items, be they present wall items or (hopefully in the near future) shared or favourited items, so we can see them in a quick list with an option to view each item in expandable form, rather than the present situation where we have to scroll down each and every item in a wall, complete with descriptions, thumbnails and all?
4. Feed Reading -
Could you please include some kind of RSS/Atom feed subscription facility for FB. I'm not just talking about subscribing to other people's FB links in the form of a feed, but using FB itself as a feed reader for third party RSS/Atom feeds.
5. Friend Mapping -
Lastly, and I know this is a complicated and more of a futuristic-nice-to-have rather than a must-have feature, but could you please look into the possibility of creating some kind of friend mapping feature for Facebook?
It would prove to be really helpful, and would work sort of like a mind map or semantic network (and be presented in the same way), letting us see how each of our friends is connected to us and to each other, but not on an individual scale as is currently the case, but on a grander scale, with all connections and connectors displayed simultaneously for all friends (or friend groups if that's easier). This might need to be in 2D or 3D form, on a separate dedicated page that could be linked to from the 'Friends' tab on the menu bar.
I've included a link below for reference -
If by some small chance you do find any of my ideas appealing, viable and of potential usefulness, please don't hesitate to send me some small token of appreciation, an iPod touch perhaps, or an iphone? :-)
