While I’m pretty happy with my social networking sites and emails, just some little things…

Facebook: Have you ever tried searching for your old posts on Facebook? You go down and click “Older Posts”. Then your page suddenly doubles in size. Go down and click the same thing again. Another page is added. You can keep clicking till your Web page is 100 pages long or your computer crashes, depending on how good your system is and your patience level. Why can’t they just separate it page by page like most websites do?

You can also try the search the button on the right hand top, but that’s erratic. If you know the keyword to your post, you can still find it, though it is not always reliable. Reminds me of how lousy the Wikipedia search used to be a few years back. Even if you got one letter wrong, then alternative search suggestions would not show up. Thank god they rectified that!

Desperately needed is a Search option not only for Friends/Groups, but specifically for Status Messages, Links, Notes and Application too, for both you and your Friends’ home pages.

Secondly, on the right hand side of every update you can choose to stop getting updates of a particular friend or application (like Quizzes, Farmville, Mafia Wars etc) if you are not interested. This can be undone at any time using the Edit Options button at the right hand bottom. You can also use that to limit the number of feeds to 25, 50, 250 friends, whatever…

But that’s a one-way traffic. I can moderate the updates that I “Receive” and not the ones that I “Send”. If you don’t understand what I’m saying, then let me explain. Say I have 100 Friends, 50 from the office and 50 from my family. Now if I say, “I’m tired of work.” I only want my family to see it and not my colleagues. On the other hand, I may be talking about a family get-together that my office will not at all be interested in. Facebook already allows you to make Lists. When posting a Status Update, Link, Note or updates related to other applications, you should have the choice of it appearing universally or only to certain lists of Friends. Right now they have just put the option of tagging friends on Status Updates.

I also think “Friends” is misleading. “Connections” is more applicable.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn will keep goading you to add new connections with the “People You May Know” box that comes on the right hand top. You see a familiar face and send the invite and the person doesn’t remember you well, clicking “Don’t Know” in the option. That’s fine, but if 5 people say that, then your direct invitation option will be disabled and you’ll have to furnish an email. In the long run you may also have your account disabled. Isn’t that rather harsh?

In today’s environment, you may regularly attend events, group meetings and the like. You may chat with some stranger for 15-20 days and after a few days if he sends an invite and you may not recall him. Clicking the “Don’t Know” option would be penalizing him. You may also know a person well and still not want him in your network. Again, the “Don’t Know” seems superfluous.

When an invitation is received, one should get the following choices:
1. Accept. 2. Know the person, but decline. 3. Don’t recall the person. 4. Don’t know the person.
Only the fourth option should invite a penalty.
This will also give a better picture of how people want to and don’t want to connect.

Gmail: I got hooked to Mozilla Firefox because of tabbed browsing. I’m used to opening multiple tabs (sometimes till Firefox crashes). If a good story has 5 links, then I go Control Click Click Click… and all 5 open. 10 new mails and open them all at once in different tabs and then keep shutting them down with a keyboard commands. (I try to minimize usage of the mouse. Kinder on the poor ole fingers!) However, Gmail is the only major service that doesn’t allow it. You’ve got to keep clicking next, next, next…

OK, maybe I’m going a bit too far with the last Gmail bit…
But one can’t complain too much… these are all free services after all!

© Sunil Rajguru