Facebook's iOS app starts polluting News Feed with 'People you may know'
The folks at App Advice contacted us about something I just noticed myself this morning: Facebook's iOS app is rolling out a "People you may know" feature identical to what's on the social network's full site.
This new Facebook feature has instantly got me and many other users annoyed at the app, particularly after the recent "#dickbar" debacle which convinced me to permanently abandon the official Twitter client for a third-party app. Some people may welcome this feature, but part of the reason I like Facebook's iPhone app more than the actual site itself is that a lot of the useless cruft that pollutes Facebook is stripped away in its app. I don't get deluged with ads or those annoying little app requests that people like to send out en masse; instead, all I'm presented with is all I actually want, the News Feed, photos and my friends list.
Much like the official Twitter app's (now mercifully removed) QuickBar, this "People you may know" feature is something completely irrelevant to my interests (absolutely everyone ever suggested by this feature has been someone I do not actually know). Like Twitter's QuickBar, I know I'll never use this feature, but it's also something that, for now, I'm unable to get rid of. I seriously hope the Facebook team has learned from the backlash over Twitter's QuickBar and isn't planning on making "People you may know" a permanent feature that users aren't allowed to disable. Otherwise, at least there are always third-party options to tide me over until they come to their senses.
