Facebook Will Have a Hard Time Breaking Up With Stalking Apps
Facebook has killed the stalker app BreakUp Notifier, which lets you know when someone's status turns "single" -- but not before it racked up an impressive three million users in three days. And now a similar app, Waiting Room, has arrived. After the popularity of BreakUp Notifier, Facebook would be delusional to believe that it can stop the avalanche of stalker apps hitting the website.
Help facilitate breakups
The goal of Waiting Room is simple: Help your true love realize that he or she is with the wrong person. As Sarah Kessler of Mashable explains:
When you indicate interest in an unavailable Facebook friend, that person gets an e-mail notification that there is someone in his or her "WaitingRoom" (this person need not have the app installed at this point). The identity of the admirer isn't revealed until the recipient has changed his or her Facebook status to single.
The notification lets the admired person know that there is someone else available. There are some ethical issues with the app. For instance, a person could send a fake WaitingRoom notice to his or her partner to encourage a breakup or, alternatively, test the partner's faithfulness. It is these murky waters that will make WaitingRoom and similar apps very popular.
Potential waste of Facebook resources
Facebook does need to monitor and regulate its site, but it needs to be realistic about how throughly it can scrub the website of these apps.
It only needs to look at companies with similar dilemmas:
- Apple (APPL) virtually declared the App Store porn free, but is hurting innocent publishers with a censorship policy that's broad, capricious and yet still hasn't removed all the adult material
- Amazon (AMZN) is banning controversial books, but also creating angry customers and authors while still failing to clean up its virtual shelves
Photo courtesy of Thomas Euler // CC 2.0
Related: