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    Factbox: Facebook Fails Again with Unannounced Email and Find Friends Nearby App Changes

    By | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Jun 26, 2012

    A flurry of Facebook developments and repercussions on Monday led to the fast demise of the Find Friends Nearby app on Tuesday. From a board of directors announcement to user rage over stealth email changes, the Find Friends Nearby app introduction almost went unnoticed.

    Despite other Facebook distractions, the Find Friends Nearby app did receive some media coverage that may have contributed to its timely cancellation. Here's what went down:

    * Facebook quietly introduced the Find Friends Nearby app on Monday according to the Today in Tech blog. Along with how-to instructions, the blog warned users that they would be visible to non-friends too.

    * The Week asked if the Find Friends Nearby app was creepy. While the optional and voluntary aspects were highlighted, the report clarified the app's intent was to facilitate an increase of Facebook mobile users.

    * Mashable ripped Facebook for its long history of un-user-friendly actions like repetitive unannounced user setting changes, their history of lackluster apps and deficient features including Facebook mobile.

    * Facebook's stock price fell on Monday and closed at $32.06, well below the initial $38 IPO price.

    * Facebook scrapped their Find Friends Nearby app on Tuesday, one day after its muted introduction.

    * The Find Friends Nearby app launch was initially overshadowed by the formal announcement on Monday of executive Sheryl Sandberg as the first woman on their board of directors.

    * The Find Friends Nearby app was nearly overshadowed when several tech media outlets, like the Atlantic Wire, derided Facebook for pushy default user email address changes.

    * AP reported that the Facebook email changes were first noted over the weekend by bloggers. The news media outcry followed on Monday.

    * Privacy concerns over Facebook's facial recognition software acquisition sparked further speculation of unannounced user privacy changes as a Facebook continuous modus operandi.

    * While the tech news outlets ranted about the Find Friends Nearby app and user email changes, the financial news outlets, like The Daily Feed, joined the outcry on Tuesday.

    * Despite their notorious fails, foibles, repeated user irritations and public outcries, Nielsen.com reported Facebook was second in May 2012, for U.S. users with 152,718,000 unique visitors who averaged nearly seven hours time spent per visit.

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