“We’ve rebuilt the app so it’s faster and easier to use.” With this latest statement issued at the iTunes store, Facebook has gained several points with its mobile users.
When in Rome…Facebook may have understood the need but seemed to have avoided the eventual: which was to go native on the iOS. Finally, they recently hauled their mobile app on iPhone and iPad by switching from the web-friendly HTML5 to i-friendly Objective C. The 5.0 version update contains more than double the speed than its predecessor.
We can only guess the reason for delay. Could be because HTML5 allows direct access to content and updates, whereas using Objective C means rerouting through the app store. By the time the app opened to Newsfeed, it would be time for the user on the go (Facebook needs to be reminded of this), to get on with whatever is on their busy agenda. Another reason could be HTML5’s cross-platform compatibility.
This delay proved costly as users deleted the app because of its snail-paced speed. Goes to show the company needs to speed up its decision-making and action process too. But what they have made it clear that mobile is the way to go. And hopefully they’re reading up on feedback too.
Users do understand the trouble that goes into making technological changes. One little feedback among a torrent of spam can prove to be most useful for companies like Facebook, who attempt to balance their monetary success, which is not happening as well as expected, but also to fulfill user demands that are just as fast paced.
So time is most crucial here, because of the growing competition among social networks like Foursquare that are completely mobile. And no sooner have they improved on speed come a another hail of comments about how they need to work on other features such as sharing and to pay equal attention to other mobile devices such as Android and Blackberry.
On the other hand there are Facebook developers who have to contend with the changes too. They have been content since the introduction of Facebook App Center on iPhone, because that meant they did not have to make create two separate apps for the web plus iOS. It may be that they would have to do a little more learning. Right now Facebook apps on require a blend of PHP and HTML5, but it’s likely that it will soon become mandatory for all programming languages to be device-specific. It’s now a question of how cross platform compatibility will be possible when and if the change does happen.
Salman Ghaznavi is the founder of Avenuesocial Inc. a company focused on social media marketing and tool design & development. Avenuesocial is one of the premium Facebook App Consultants, and My role is to actively pursue a global strategy, create and help roll-out Avenuesocial social tool, the AS Pathways. The AS Pathways tool offers social media marketing and analytics with integrated campaign management (on Facebook and Twitter), multi-channel execution, engagement reports and user management.
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