Facebook Fishbowl…
Facebook is one of the most popular sites on the internet. Most users of Facebook use it as a browser application, that is, they open up the internet, navigate to facebook.com, sign in, and do their business. However, using it in its online form is not always the most convenient or the most useful way to use it. I wanted to check out a desktop Facebook application.
The main difference between a browser app and a desktop app is going to mostly be presentation. When using Facebook on the web, you are going to have the address bar, tab bars, and a status bar. In an information heavy environment like Facebook, you need all the space you can get. A desktop app is going to be able to use all available real estate on the screen to present information.
A secondary difference is going to be the interaction between Facebook and your computer. A browser is an intermediary. In order to take a picture on your computer and put it on Facebook, you need to upload it. This is either a manual selection process or a java application that, in my experiences, only works about half the time. The other half, it just crashes my computer. When using a desktop app, you can simply drag and drop the photo into the app window. Everything else about getting that picture on Facebook is taken care of behind the scenes.
Get going
The desktop application we are going to be checking out is called Fishbowl for Facebook. Currently it is in what is referred to as “trial mode”. It is still a work in progress, you are expected to report any problems, and no support is offered if you have any issues. I heard good things about it though and decided to try it out anyway.
Once you’ve installed it, you can sign in, similar to the browser app version of Facebook.
As you install, you have to allow access for Fishbowl to do a few things: allow it access to Facebook, allow it access to publish items such as photos, statuses, and notes to your profile, and allow it access to grab your friends’ photos, statuses, and notes to import to Fishbowl. The only step left is to wait while Fishbowl imports your information.
Once you are here, things are going to look fairly familiar: status updates, photos, friends, and so on. Some features are lacking, such as the ‘Like’ button. Apparently I’m not allowed to like anything. Other features are more robust than on the web, such as when browsing your friends, in addition to their name and location, you are also given their most recent status update as well as a nice big picture of them.
Another bonus is that the search feature is localized to all of your data. On the web, when I search Facebook, I am shown results for people I don’t know and groups that I’d rather not join. In Fishbowl, if I search for Bob, people named Bob, it finds status updates related to Bob, it finds pictures either taken by Bob or with Bob in the photo, and it shows links that Bob has posted.
Verdict: Underwhelmed
Of course this is my first foray into the world of Facebook desktop apps. Overall, I think they need to add quite a few features and they also need to have that one big idea that will really set it apart from the rest of the crowd.
I’ll keep searching and see what I can find, but in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment with your opinions as to what Desktop apps work best for Facebook as well as other social media sites (Twitter, Linked In, etc). I’m always looking for something new to try.
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