Most office workers like to look at Facebook on their PCs. But not only is it easier for the user to view their ‘news feed’ on a desktop, it’s also easy for passersby to see. For privacy and job security reasons, the user would prefer to conceal the content and source of data. The Facebook page design is well known and distinguishable from afar. The solution for desktop browsing of a News Feed is to use a desktop application, which is now possible using Adobe AIR technology and the Facebook Feed API (which developers use to tap into the FB server).
I propose making a desktop application that resembles an Excel sheet. Each row could contain, in one column, a friend name, and in the next column, their status or news item. In subsequent columns, the user could ‘like’,'unlike’, and ‘comment.’ In this way, instead of having to “Alt-Tab” away from the Facebook web page to an Excel sheet, the very act of using Facebook would look productive.
Other features: Maybe a workbook could have a sheet for each of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. And, you could customize the look of the app to resemble your office’s version of Excel (Mac, 2003, 2008 etc). It’s also easy to insert advertising messages. The mockup above innocently includes messages from Del Monte and Coca Cola.
I’m hesitant to create this application because it would likely decrease productivity and because another developer could easily create and market such an app. TweetDeck for example could skin its app to resemble Excel.
But I thought it would be a good sample in my portfolio for an AIR and Facebook app. What do you think?
