by Peter Bremen

Created on: July 28, 2008   Last Updated: September 30, 2008

Like Milk For Cookies

Facebook is to iPhone as milk is to cookies: perfectly good on their own but even better together. The key strengths of Facebook - the deep sense of community, the immediacy of the content, and the endless ways to share information and form connections with other users - make a seamless and powerful combination with the iPhone, whose latest incarnation is geared toward a more affordable, mass-market audience while preserving its sleek design and cutting-edge technology appeal. In many ways the iPhone is the perfect way to access Facebook, whose homepage lists an up-to-the-second summary of the activities and moods of the user's contacts. How better to keep friends and contacts apprised of the running commentary of your thoughts and feelings than to update them on the run, wherever you and your iPhone may go?

The interface itself will be familiar to Facebook users but in keeping with the sleek, stylish look-and-feel of the iPhone, the simplified Facebook application concentrates on the core elements of the site, highlighting what your friends are up to recently, who has added whom as a new contact, and any other noteworthy updates. The two-tiered navigation layout at the top of the screen preserves the overall simplicity of the application while offering users ready access to the key functions of the site. Better still, the screen slides sideways when moving between options in a simple, natural way that iPhone users will be readily familiar and comfortable with.

Even the regular Facebook functionalities have been redesigned to enhance the iPhone user's experience of the application. Notifications are easy to spot from the familiar red callout box in the corner of the screen, but do not interfere with ready use of the application. Photos are shown in thumbnail size first to minimize the need to scroll over screen after screen of larger images. The Inbox function works well with the iPhone keypad, making it an easy Internet Messenger stand-in for sending messages via Facebook instead of texting. And perhaps most importantly, gone are the rather annoying second-party applications, most of which are silly games, quizzes, or other time-wasting fripperies that detract from the core features of Facebook.

The Facebook iPhone application smartly focuses on the most relevant and powerful capabilities of Facebook, and its simplified interface capitalizes on the potential of the iPhone to reach countless individual users wherever they are and allow them to be immersed in an online community even when away from a desktop or laptop. A slick and natural combination of mutually attractive technologies, the Facebook iPhone application brings realtime interactivity to a surprisingly simple yet potent new level.

Pass the milk.

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