Facebook Dumps MySpace Type Profile Apps. Facebook has announced this weekend that they will be making changes to the user profile pages. They are looking for more “Relevancy & Simplicity”. What this really means is that they do not want profile pages to look like myspace.(cluttered, visually noisy and 1 dimensional).

The facebook profile cleanup crew has been dispersed and they look like they mean business. I think the 1 dimensional apps that litter the facebook ecosystem are clearly on their way to the garbage dump.

I suspect that they will be severely hindering apps that do not take you to a canvass page. I also suspect that they will change some integration points and look at how often an app actually “does something”. This just might mean the end of “What is your…” quiz type of apps. The “use it once and forget it app” just might be on it’s last leg with facebook ready to yank the carpet out from under it in the coming weeks/days. They just might end up in the scrapheap where some might argue they belong.

I have always maintained that facebook is a Communication Platform at it’s core. That is what it does really well. Facebook facilitates communication efficiency and brings interesting social graph connections to the surface. It looks like having a facebook strategy that is not 1 dimensional is becoming critical.

This is what facebook is looking for from applications: valuable information, meaningful activity, relevancy & trust. Who does that sound like? Google. That is exactly what Google does. These things bring value to end users.

Here is the word from facebook on Profile changes: Read between the lines
The improved profile design helps better align the goals of application developers with the principles of the Platform ecosystem by:

* Helping users communicate and share information more efficiently
* Generating more meaningful activity
* Providing valuable information to users
* Increasing user trust

Applications that further these objectives will be more successful and achieve greater usage. We encourage application developers to focus on building applications that facilitate communication, generate meaningful activity, and increase users’ trust.

How will the improved profile design affect existing applications? We’re going to give your applications more integration points within the profile so your applications fit more seamlessly into the Facebook user experience. Applications that use these tools in a way that users find valuable and meaningful will find success. However, some challenges could lie ahead for those applications that don’t provide value and meaning for users

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