Facebook To Allow Users To Hide Apps From Profile

Facebook has announced that due to complaints about the over abundance of apps of user profile pages they will soon allow users to hide their apps.

The “profile clean-up” tool is compared to how a “computer’s desktop will remind you to get rid of unused icons” (note here, Facebook is comparing themselves to Windows) that will allow users to move profile boxes to an “extended portion” of their profile.

Users can choose to move any or all of the application boxes, but according to Facebook’s Julie Zhuo Facebook “will recommend that [users] keep the Friends Box, Mini-Feed, Wall, Basic and Personal Information as well as the top 12 application boxes they have added.” Each profile will then have a link at the bottom to “Show Extended Profile, ” that will allow visitors to then see all applications a user has running.

The changes is a good thing for users of Facebook, who have been bombarded with cluttered profile pages that are reminicent of MySpace (without the awful colors) since the Faceebook platform launched last year. App makers on the other hand might not be so impressed. Many rely on profile exposure to help spread their apps virally, and now users can hide their apps, taking that benefit away. Unfortunately though this is still window dressing stuff from Facebook, the non-stop stream of rubbish that emanates from some apps (Funwall and Superwall in particular) remains untouched.

Chinese Blogger Beaten To Death By Government Officials

A Chinese blogger has been beaten to death by Government authorities for the crime of attempting to record a protest on his mobile phone.

When Wei was present at some sort of confrontation or protest by local villages against municipal authorities when more than 50 municipal inspectors turned on him, attacking him for five minutes.

According to CNN, the killing has sparked outrage in China, “with thousands expressing outrage in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government.”

The Chinese Government has moved swiftly to detain those involved, arresting 24 municipal inspectors whilst investigating more than 100 others in relation to the incident. Notably (for China) the story was published by the official state news service Xinhua, in what is believed to be an attempt to head off dissent over the mater by demonstrating that the Chinese Government does not condone those involved in the beating.