iOS 5.1 beta 3 hints Apple is planning deep Facebook integration - Page 2

This integration with Facebook is cool and all but I really think it's Facebook who should first make their official iOS app stable, fast and logical to use. Nowadays I only use it because I have yet to find a better one - the bar certainly isn't set high. With that said, I wouldn't use Facebook at all if most of my friends weren't there. The updates the service has gotten over the years haven't certainly been received with standing ovations...

It's entirely different story with Twitter, their official app is great (or at least used to be until version 4, IMHO) and if that doesn't cut it for you there are dozens of 3rd-party apps you can choose from. And Twitter also seems a bit more committed to listening to their users instead of doing just what they think is right.

I agree the web is and will continue to decline because of Sirri like things and indeed apps in iOS of any kind except web apps (if they still exist). None of the aforementioned use the web and as you say bypass Google's money making tangle of ad crap. The internet is actually being liberated by the decline of the web IMHO.

I dislike Facebook. A lot of other people, however, can't seem to live without it. This is a smart move by Apple because it will make iOS more appealing over Android for those Facebook lovers. There is no way Facebook is going to allow Android to have deep Facebook integration, not while it is competing with Google Plus.

There was a Microsoft challenge at CES, where Microsoft would pay a person a hundred dollars if the person could take a picture with any non-Windows phone and post it faster to Facebook than a Windows Phone. Microsoft won the challenge most of the time because of Windows deep Face Book integration.

This has been around since at least 5.0.1 on iPhone

go to a contact>edit>give them a twitter user name (if they dont already have one) and a second cell called "facebook" appears. fill out the "facebook" one and a third called "Flickr" appears, etc...

I wonder if integration of Facebook on the operating system level could somehow be used to bypass filters like the great firewall of China or other countries that restrict social networking sites.

Perhaps Apple's servers can be used as an intermediary middle-man to post stuff and not have the user do it directly to FB, could be interesting.

I agree. However I'd argue that social networking has already lost its "cool" factor. These days it is more of a tool, like email is.

The Address Book app on iOS currently doesn't even let you search by anything other than name. it also won't let you put anything in groups or manage your contacts in any way.

That's pretty bad no matter how you slice it.

It has been FIVE YEARS, Apple. FOR FRICK'S SAKE. Maybe, just maybe, I want to look someone up by their phone number. MAYBE.

Not to mention an easier way to merge/sync contact lists without producing multiple copies of the same person. The way it works now, it seems like those I dislike the most appears the most often.

Yes, the OSX address book really needs work. The desktop version is very UN-intuitive. I would also like to be able to group, or link contacts. Personally I can't stand the 'faux' look.

You think that's bad...

I still get one of those "5 Million Free Hours of AOL" CDs every few weeks \

I do have the complete collection though....

Why? Can you add Facebook without first adding a Twitter?

Why do people always raise this point as an argument about social networking?

This isn't a reflection on Facebook. It's a reflection on your Facebook friends! If you have a friends list full of stupid people who you don't like, then you can't complain when you don't like the posts that appear. Why not just limit your friends list to people you actually enjoy communicating with? I'm sure it would make Facebook much less of a trial for you!

Not in the mood to poke through all the responses; has anyone pointed out yet that this has been part of Address Book cards in Lion since its launch and when you enter that field in Lion, it appears in existing 5.0 cards when the information is pushed to your iOS device?


Because then they can't complain about the legion of stupid, not-really-friends they keep on their social networks so that they don't feel like social pariahs?

Rumours of a Facebook ipo in May have been ratcheting up over the last few days.

Any chance there is a link/correlation between Apple's deep integration and Facebook's ipo?

Hopefully (and VERY hopefully) Apple doesn't automate it the other way, by putting up alerts reminding you that your iPhone/iPad isn't linked with your Facebook account yet.

The way I understand it, and this has been the case for a long time, minimalism is a design criteria with most Apple interfaces HW and SW. I actually like the fact that the i/f is simple. I know that geeks like to make it as complicated as possible, because and I'm guessing it makes them appear more knowledgeable. Just like doctors and so on love to use long words and make their writing illegible. And of course if something is complicated it will do that. This doesn't means it is a good product however does it?

The job of people who really understand design is to hold back the sea of people who think that by adding more bells and whistles they think that something can be improved.

This is the one thing I have against most of MS's software. It is so loaded with menus items , drop downs buttons, multiple ribbons etc that it ends up self defeating and I end up giving up trying to find out how to do something because it is buried deep within several levels of hierarchy or dialog boxes or ribbons. Geeks love this level of obscurity. Most people don't. This is why I will never purchase an Android device or Windows PC because I do not want to waste my time trying to figure out how to do the simplest task or spend a weekend re-installing the OS or whatever it takes to provide something that comes standard with the latest relaese of iOS or MacOS. I have better things to do with my life, like actually socialize and meet people!

I also go out of my way to educate Mum and Pops why they should get and Apple device over PC or Android and stupid untarined reps at electronics stores who are so ignorant about the differences between Macs and PC's.

You see the real genius in design is making thinsg simple imho.

Thats why I find the sales figures of Apple so heartening because finally the lies about Windows and their ilk are being seen for what they are. And Joe public is seeing that buying an Apple device is actually making them more productive and less costly in the long run.

Wow- this will really help Facebook take off!

The Internet is a fad. Same with TCP/IP.

Yeah... anything beyond AppleTalk is overkill

Seriously. And how embarrassing when Steve Wozniak comes out and says his iPhone is a thing of beauty but he wished it does all the things his Android phone does.

http://www.cultofandroid.com/2593/ap...-android-does/

Was gonna say XNS or DECnet. You'll laugh but I had a guy from DEC tell me that TCP/IP line before. I thought it was laughable then. I wonder how many are hitting wikipedia looking for DEC, right now.

This is nothing new

1. Open any contact on iOS 5.
2. Tap "Edit"
3. Scroll down and tap "add field"
4. Choose "Profile" (just below "Twitter")
5. Now you can add Facebook profile name.

If you don't see it, tap whatever field does appear and it should give you more options. You can also add your own. If you have the Facebook app and turn on contact syncing, this is already added for matched contacts.

If this were any indication, then Apple must have already added "system wide support" for Flickr, LinkedIn and MySpace too.

Oh thank you for your wisdom, greatly appreciate it. Please friend me so I can turn to you for help with the digital age in the future.

Seriously, my point was about the average user of Facebook not my own friends per se. Think of it as a comment on the value of the majority of the content and a comment on the psychological need many have to pour out their personal day to day crap. People that need to communicate, share photographs etc. have plenty of ways of doing that with those they wish to without being manipulated by Google and Facebook who provide this 'free' service to the gullible simply to gain a marketing base. You are being used!

Having said that, if this addition to iOS sells more Apple hardware, I'm all in.

I worry about the Woz at times, I really do. His machine code in 1978 was astounding. I loved the guy back in the day but I am not sure he should use a 30 year old connection to Apple to act as though he is a qualified person to comment on their current technology any more than my mother. Perhaps he doesn't and it's the journalists who are to blame.

Sheesh my post are dark tonight ... I need another drink!

The Internet as we know it is about less choice than ever before. Horrible.

It's all Facebook, Twitter and Google.

And most don't seem to care, they're just happy posting nonsense on their Facebook to feed their own ego and get kudos from family and friends.

Just a question...if you choose not to use Twitter (or now Facebook apparently) and don't sign up does the Tweet context menu still appear?

One can hope....

Or posting nonsense on Apple Insider to get kudos from complete strangers

I think what he said made sense.

And you said "a relative of mine posted.....". How are we supposed to know this is some made up fantasy relative that only existed to prove your point. Your post was very misleading. Instead of making up things to display your point, just use things that you actually encounter.

I don't have a Facebook, because I think it's a total time waster (as if this forum isn't ). But my wife likes it and would likely enjoy that integration. But I, like others, would much prefer an "off" switch.

Awesome.

Facebook certainly didn't 'remove' my account.

I closed it just over a year ago, received the message that if I didn't log in in 2 weeks or so the account would be deleted.

Recently I logged into my current Facebook account using the wrong email address by mistake and there was the 'deleted' account, exactly how I'd left it previously.

This isn't new it's in the current public iOS 5 release by default it shows as twitter in the contact field but you click on it and it has twitter MySpace Facebook etc

That's what FB offers but I don't think any information I post to the internet is ever gong to be completely erased. It really makes you have to think ahead. Imagine that we'll soon have politicians running for office where everything they posted since they were a child will be online for all to see. I certainly don't want to see how I acted as a teenager brought back up.

As for FB deletion I recommend...

1. Deleting everything you can from your account to make it as basic as possible. That includes removing friends.
2. Setting up your security to be as strict as possible.
3. Changing your password to something completely random so that you'll have to purposely request a new password to sign back on.
4. And then delete the account with the link provided above.

Thread jack....I don't like Facebook either. I've put together an interface or two in my time, and I think theirs positively sucks. It's weak. The user has so little real control over who sees what or is connected to what. I will miss those general notices from friends and family that can't be easily done any other way, but until FB improves their code or yet another company takes a crack at it I'm on lockdown.

They keep having these embarrassing lapses of security and the app itself is wobbly and feels unsteady. I'm a software power user, I like all kinds of interfaces. Database, imaging, music, anything.

If I want to speak to the World Out There I'll make a blog. At least then the distinction is uppermost in mind, I am talking to the World.

Facebook is a dream come true for criminals and jerks. It's so easy to leave those casual remarks. I've seen people post questionnaires with all kinds of personal info there, perfect for identity hackers. I've mistakenly friended someone I thought was a friend someone told me about, only to find my email polluted with snark, spam and hackers calling to each other. They are still making accounts at other places using my name and email. I need a new email.

Is it still possible to get a me.com address from Apple?

me.com is the only way to have an iCloud account, so of course it's possible!

What you can't get is a mac.com account. Or apple.com, unless you work for them.

I have zero interest in Facebook integration and frankly, hope they make this type of thing optional.

Facebook is evil as far as I'm concerned.

Interesting example as to how social media can affect the speed at which gather data.

• http://arstechnica.com/science/news/...-at-a-time.ars

This has been around since 5.0 ... it's also in your OS X address book since 10.7.0.. It's used by Aperture (and iPhoto, I presume) to links face tags in the respective apps to the actual people in Facebook on image uploads... If you don't put your contacts' Facebook names in there, you'll see two of everyone when you try to tag faces on photos -- one that's in your address book, and one that's on Facebook.