Sometimes it’s the little things that you have to love about the internet; especially when little things can help you clean up a big mess. I’m willing to bet that you’ve got hundreds of Facebook application invitations and requests that are sitting on your account cluttering things up. IgnoreAll.com is a simple Javascript bookmarklet that with one click selects the “ignore” option on every request except for friend requests, group invites and event notifications. It is simple and sweet.
It’s probably not in Facebook’s short term interest to offer this kind of functionality but thank goodness someone has built it. In the long run Facebook would be well served to respond meaningfully to the backlash its Platform has incurred. One of the most popular posts we’ve had here in months, for example, was about the news that you can now hide rarely used apps on your own profile. That probably didn’t go far enough. It’s things like this that are a make or break on usability and long-term user retention. People are drawn to stay because of their social connections, but they are pushed to leave by usability annoyances – why not decrease those annoyances where possible in order to make the decision to stay easier?
I found IgnoreAll via Amit Agarwal, who consistently discovers some of the coolest apps, widgets and tricks before anyone else. If you’re not among his 18k subscribers, you should be. Thanks Amit!