Facebook apps: Mostly spam, no business

Facebook apps. Either you love ‘em or you hate ‘em. I do the latter. There are three reasons for my hate.

First, they feel like spam. I nearly vommit everytime I get an invitation for some silly app or every time I cannot do anything without installing yet another app. It’s app hell.

Second, it feels like the people making the apps have little other plan than the vain hope to get famous and sell of some, in my eyes, completely useless app company to the highest bidder while laughing all the way to the bank. Don’t get me wrong here - of course it’s great to be acquired. I’m just questioning the fundamental health of the rationale for going into such a transaction.

Third, it seems like there’s absolutely no business model in Facebook apps. Even though I enjoy to have fun, I enjoy the fun even more when there’s a thought through business model associated with it. There aren’t on most Facebook apps. Oh yes, there’s advertising. Yes, but these numbers are so paltry that it hardly qualifies as a model let alone as a business.

It’s about time people wake up and start making things that count and provide value - both to users and (financially speaking) to the creators. And Facebook doesn’t seem to be the place.