Can't agree enough. Every day I'm confronted with a list of new pirate, zombie or pie throwing alerts from my dear, well meaning friends, but widgets are not why I'm on Facebook. I don't want to be poked. I want to talk. I want to interact. Throwing a pie in my general virtual direction does not a conversation make.

On a side tangent - I use Facebook to show a personal face for my business life, which in my opinion is one of the greatest things about social media gaining a foothold in the business world. Enough with faceless email, show me what marketing book you're reading. I don't want an emoticon, I want to see the pictures from your last company community service day.

Chelle:

I never respond to pie-throwing, etc. I think it's dumb - even if I were using it for personal reasons (which I don't).

I agree with you on how Facebook should be used - to show the human side of your business profile.

As people - and businesses - start to understand that it's not just about clutter, it's about connecting, I'm sure we'll see more pictures of team-building events, book reviews and lessons learned.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Lena, I think you, and our 16 year old friend Evan Poteet, raise some valid points. And yet the reality is that these applications are still immensely attractive to the new kid on the social networking block -- "wow, how cool, I'll share this with my entire friend list!"

As marketers, we need to ask ourselves whether that generic "new kid in the block" group is the group you're targeting. Or, preferably, is it a specific group of people with specific interests. If the latter, I would add to your list above that companies consider fostering meaningful conversation via a Facebook group -- or perhaps starting a completely new social network via Ning that is dedicated to the topic you want to discuss.

Cory:

Thanks for chiming in...

I agree. I'mn ot against widgets and Facebook apps totally...they're great when they make sense.

But, when they're cool, like Scrabulous, some mega corp gets a bug and shuts the whole thing down. Nonsense.

Corps don't want to play the game (pun intended), but they don't want anyone else to either. It's such a wet blanket approach to social media.

All I'm calling for here is a bit of reason, you know? Someone to check the idea before they develop the app. Someone who says, "will other people think this is cool and USE it...or do WE just think it's cool because we're drinking from the corporate Kool-Aid spigot?"

-Lena

I think that Facebook et al are leaving the door open for niche networks to have less bling and more biz.

Personally, I find that damn wall the most annoying bling thing about Facebook. I'm off to find a Facebook digger widget to knock it down....