Facebook, your mobile app is remedial. A company of your status in the tech community should be embarrassed.
— Jeremy Dearringer (@PapaSlingshot) November 13, 2012
This was the first thing I saw this morning when I logged on Twitter.
Now, I don’t want to pile on Facebook all the time, but I keep seeing posts like this around social media including blog posts and even major news sites. The issue just needs to be addressed so business owners can understand that Facebook does have limitations just like other things.
First off, Facebook has long been held at issue for its mobile experience. The company rolled out a new mobile app earlier this year and people are still frustrated with the way it functions as you can see above.
This really brings up another area where Facebook limits businesses.
When you focus on building a following on Facebook you’re at the mercy of any changes the company makes to the user experience. When customers start using their smartphones to visit the site (and they are doing so at a growing rate) you want them to have a good experience. Facebook has been dragging its feet with mobile. Really, their desktop setup really isn’t that great. People have liked it, but it’s just been okay up to this point.
Now, the company doesn’t even seem interested in moving forward with mobile. It’s going to be a limitation on the way people use the site and the app and that will put a limit on what businesses can do with their business pages on the site.
Again, Facebook does have many benefits for businesses. There wouldn’t be companies investing time and money into the site if there wasn’t value there.
You can’t ignore the one billion people using the site. Facebook is the biggest website in the world and for companies looking to get attention from those people it makes sense to invest effort into Facebook.
One example that seems to work really well for companies that use Facebook is the movie industry. For upcoming movies, which are relatively short-term endeavors leading up to the release date, Facebook is a great place to build interest. People can easily share videos with friends on Facebook and interact with the movie page.
There are limitations to creating your own website too. It’s an investment to create a customer experience for your customers. There is more effort to manage your own site compared to a site like Facebook. When Facebook goes down they have a team working to get it back up. You might have a team with your host, but you’re at their will. A website comes with its own headaches.
For a movie situation it might not make sense to invest in a big website when you can just create a Facebook page in a day and be up and running. Then in a few months when the movie buzz is over you can just ove on to the next Facebook page.
For businesses that think long-term, though, building a presence on a website you own and control is the best way to go.
Jeremy from Slingshot SEO above is doing so with his company. They have been investing heavily in blog content, webinar content, infographics, and many other forms of content. It seems to be a long-term strategy that’s paying off.