Facebook is introducing new features almost every other day to keep its users intact, and provide them with all the possible varieties. But there's not always "Thumbs Up" for all the features introduced. Some features are released just for testing, while some never reach the hype stage which results in the withdrawal of such features. Listed below are certain features that didn't really make any impact despite of privacy issues.
Facebook Lite
Facebook Lite was completely a stripped-down version of the Facebook platform. It was almost like Twitter stream, which enabled the users to see their recent status updates and updates from friends. There was navigation on left hand side with four categories namely, wall, info, friends and photos & videos. This feature was introduced with an intention of helping the users with slower internet and broadband connection so that they can have a daily access to Facebook. But the users were not able to access the features or applications on higher frequency which failed to grab the users. Facebook Lite was introduced in India, Canada and U.S.A, but it was phased out in April 2010, eight months from its release with a statement, "Thanks to everyone who tried out Facebook Lite. We're no longer supporting it, but learned a lot from the test of a slimmed-down site. If you used Lite, you'll now be taken to the main Facebook.com site."
Facebook Gifts
"The Facebook Gift Shop is closing on Aug. 1 as we focus instead on improving other products. As of that date, you will no longer be able to give new gifts from the Gift Shop." was posted in Facebook Blog. Facebook Gift was designed by former Apple employee Susan Kare, it allowed friends to allow each other virtual gifts, selecting through virtual gift shop. It was launched with a valentine theme collection in order to boost off sales and to donate parts proceeds to charity. But in 2007 Facebook changed the payment structure from $1 per gift to a credit-based model of100 points per $1. The shutdown of the product was announced in 2008, with no specific reasons for the failure.
Facebook Inbox
This feature is still unknown to be a failure or not. Much hyped as "Gmail Killer" this particular feature was expected to fade away Gmail from the face of internet. But it didn't fulfill the expectations. This feature was announced as an update to its in-house Messages application that would effortlessly integrate email, Facebook messages, SMS, IM, and Facebook Chat. But the declining popularity of this mail-integrated platform doesn't present much hope for its future.
Facebook Deal
Facebook is shutdown its Deals service. Facebook attempted to enter the area of online offers and deals, but dejectedly failed. Facebook's Deals service was launched as an obvious response to Groupon and LivingSocial and other local deal sites. Google also responded to the burgeoning market with its own Daily Deals service after it failed to purchase Groupon. Facebook's product was very similar to any of the others on the market and failed to successfully leverage much of Facebook's social graph in the way that other products like its games do. The feature lasted for four months from its launch in January 2011. It offered online coupons and discounts from local businesses in five tester cities with users being able to use Facebook Credits to get onto deals of the day. But Facebook was not competent enough against rivals like Groupon and faced failure.
Facebook FBML
Facebook Markup Language (FBML) was launched with an objective of creating business through Facebook profiles. The important tabs like HTML, BODY and HEAD and Javascript could not be used with it, which turned out to be its major problem. The failure of FBML has already been announced from January 2012 onwards. Facebook has appealed the app developers to use CSS, HTML or Javascript as FBML will add no such feature
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