You might have noticed that Haze Guitars has been on Facebook for a bit.

Well, no longer.

I am planning to delete the Haze Guitars Business Page because Facebook is buggy, poorly designed and effectively hobbles business owners who do not wish to create a personal Facebook account too.  I will delete the Haze Guitars business page in the next couple of days but wanted to post this first.

My reasons are as follows:

• Facebook has failed to properly or consistently import my own blog posts into Facebook Notes (including, ironically, the post mentioning that Haze Guitars was on Facebook).  This has been ongoing and repeating and, if the number of similar complaints in the support forums are any indication, is endemic and shows no signs of being resolved.
• In an attempt to work around this issue, I have attempted to install one of the 3rd party Facebook apps to allow RSS feeds be imported.  Facebook, however, will not allow me to browse applications, much less install one.  An attempt to browse Facebook’s application directory won’t even load the page – it simply displays a spinning, please-wait cursor until I get fed up and eventually close the page.  Sneaking around the back door to a particular application’s page doesn’t provide any method to install it.
• It almost goes without saying, the same goes for the FBML application which I wanted to install to create a landing page.
• Attempting to claim a Facebook username tells me that it is available and prompts me to claim it.  The process fails to complete, however, and hangs with a ‘Loading…’ overlay.  Waiting is pointless – it doesn’t load.
• Many settings cannot be changed unless the ‘standalone’ business page is linked to a personal Facebook account.  I don’t have a personal Facebook account.  I had one but got rid of it in a similar, simmering fit of annoyance.  I don’t want a personal Facebook account and resent being forced to have one in order to properly manage a business page.
• The iPhone Facebook application will not allow me to login and, in what is becoming a familiar theme, hangs on the login screen.  Again, I have found mentions of many users suffering this problem as far back as 2008.
• It’s worth mentioning that I’m no luddite.  This isn’t a some sort of computer-literacy issue.  Also, these issues are cross-browser (Safari, Firefox, Opera) and persistent. And, if you’re thinking I have some sort of grudge against Facebook, that’s probably a fair observation – I believe it’s warranted though.

As I mentioned, I don’t have a personal Facebook account but felt that having a business page on Facebook was a shrewd thing to do.  Whether or not that is the case, the fact remains that life is too short and contains enough stress without having to try work around Facebook’s many limitations and annoyances.

If you’re interested, I’d really like it if you could check out the other spots I hang out online.

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