Frictionless, Facebook?

By  |  Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 11:15 am

My CNET colleague Molly Wood has blogged about the latest Facebook change that’s raising the ire of users:

If your friends are using an app like The Guardian or The Washington Post’s new Social Reader, you’ll get an intercept asking you to authorize the original site’s app so that you can read the story. And, of course, so that every story you read will start being shared automatically on Facebook, thanks to the magic of Open Graph!

I try to withhold a verdict on any Facebook change for a bit–in the past, some that have been jarring at first turn out to be great, or at least okay. But I do agree that it’s disorienting to get the install-this-app prompt when you thought you were clicking on an article. And the fact that I want to read one Washington Post story doesn’t mean I want all my Facebook pals to know about every Washington Post story I read forever after.

 
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1 Comments For This Post

  1. I.M. Thepipe Says:

    I agree 100%! Why should I have to install an app just to read one story? And why should my reading history be plastered all over the InterWebs? Because they've taken this annoying approach, I refuse to read any Washington Post article. If I see an interesting WP headline on Facebook, I'll Google it and read the story elsewhere. The Washington Post can bite me.