I’ve been keeping up with the news on the amount of downloads Facebook’s app for the iPhone has received. Being an iPhone user and early adopter of Facebook since I’m a college student, it satisfied a certain amount of curiosity I have with Facebook these days. Recently, they’ve reached over 1 million downloads, which is no small feat. While I personally prefer to play Tap Tap Revenge on my iPhone these days, the number of downloads meant nothing to me for one main reason….

The Facebook Website Is Better

I feel cheated by Facebook in so many ways. How do you release a Facebook app with no ability to write on a friend’s wall, the very center of every Facebook profile? While they’ve added this feature since the release, there’s still a ton missing. The Facebook app is not a full featured client for the iPhone. You’re better off adding the website to your homescreen. There are numerous features missing such as editing your profile, reading notifications from pages you’re a fan of, accepting friend request and adding friends. I don’t even know who’s birthday is coming up unless I head to the website. Facebook is very important for remembering birthdays. It’s very limited in its functionality and really only provides you with the the bare basics. You can’t even hold your finger over a friend’s picture to save to your phone (you can’t do this on the website either).

Facebook App

Facebook Website: Friend Request

Calling All Developers

All in all, I think it’s a pathetic attempt by Facebook just to ensure no one took their spot. However, to all developers I say there’s still time and room. I will surely switch for a full featured Facebook client. Right now, I only use the app because I have two Facebook accounts. I use the app for the profile I don’t need to interact with very much as you can’t add more than one profile to the Facebook app to simply switch between one or more accounts. Sigh.