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William Shatner: Facebook’s Mentions App ‘Ill Conceived’

Last week, Facebook announced the launch of its latest app Mentions. It’s an app aimed at letting “public figures” (or celebrities) manage their Facebook presence, talk with fans, an...
William Shatner: Facebook’s Mentions App ‘Ill Conceived’
Written by Chris Crum
  • Last week, Facebook announced the launch of its latest app Mentions. It’s an app aimed at letting “public figures” (or celebrities) manage their Facebook presence, talk with fans, and talk with each other from their mobile devices.

    Celebrity William Shatner is not impressed. He even went so far as to write a review of the app on Tumblr. He says he discovered the new app from a banner ad at the top of his Facebook account. He also uses the Facebook app and the Pages app (which anyone can use to manage their Facebook Pages).

    “When you install the Mentions App you cannot proceed further until you follow another one of their other ‘celebrity’ accounts,” he writes. “The first person on the list I was given was George Takei (rolling my eyes.) I ended up choosing Robert Downey Jr. to follow and then I hid his posts (sorry Robert!) I think that is a big flaw in the set up. If this app is for celebrities then WHY force them to follow another celebrity in order to set up this app? I think that is a flaw; I’m already following those who I want to follow – why insist I follow that short list of others?”

    He proceeds to pick through the feed, mentions/activity, posting, notifications, etc.

    Shatner’s conclusion is as follows: “I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app for “celebrities”. It seems to be ill conceived. I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups. I will continue to use my regular Facebook App as well as the Pages app.”

    At least he’s going to use it.

    Mentions is the latest app from Facebook Creative Labs, which is also responsible for the strange Slinshot app launched last month.

    Image via Tumblr

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