Some Facebook apps have certainly gone out of hand. Lingering over someone else’s Facebook page is perhaps an unspoken reality for many, but installing an app to push people’s relationship status updates to you is borderline stalkerish. Continuing on from my earlier post on No To Facebook Depression, digital morality seems to be hitting a new low with new app developers.
The tagline of the app Breakup Notifier reads:
“You like someone. They’re in a relationship. Be the first to know when they’re out of it.”
The tagline of the app Crush Notifier reads:
“You like someone. They like you back. Get crushed.”
Apparently when Breakup Notifier was launched in February this year, more than 3 million users flocked to the tool almost overnight. While the demand kept rising by the day, it was confirmed shortly and officially that Facebook broke up with the Breakup Notifier. According to the Washington Post, “…the affair was short-lived”.
And if this hasn’t creeped you out enough, shortly after Breakup Notifier folded, a new app Waiting Room came to the rescue by offering former Breakup Notifier users upgraded stalkerish efficiency.
The tagline of the app Waiting Room reads:
“Wish a friend was single? Anonymously enter a friend’s WaitingRoom and give them a hint that they have options. WaitingRoom will give you the confidence to become single again — if that’s what you really want.”
According to Mashable.com, “Not only will the Facebook app notify you when the person you’re pining after relieves himself or herself from a relationship, but it will also help you anonymously encourage that breakup. Here’s how it works: When you indicate interest in an unavailable Facebook friend, that person gets an e-mail notification that there is someone in his or her “WaitingRoom” (this person need not have the app installed at this point). The identity of the admirer isn’t revealed until the recipient has changed his or her Facebook status to single.”
What has our world come to these days? Should we get into caves to safeguard our already fragile relationships from being further sabotaged?
On the other hand, supporters’ rebuttal is likely to be: “If recruiters can use business networking portals like LinkedIn to poach us from leaving our current employers onto hotter, fancier alternatives, why couldn’t we do it on Facebook for our lifetime happiness?”
Sick logic it is, I have to say.
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