William Shatner Slams Facebook App Designed for Celebs Like Him

Memo to Mark Zuckerberg: next time you launch an app aimed at making Facebook easier for celebrities, consider asking William Shatner to beta-test it first.

Shatner — yes, that Shatner, the singer, raconteur and sometime starship captain — launched a blistering broadside against Facebook Mentions on his Tumblr account Tuesday. "I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app," Shatner concluded at the end of a comprehensive review of its features. "It seems to be ill conceived."

If you don't know what Facebook Mentions is, that's probably because you're not famous enough. Launched last week, the app is supposed to make life on the social network easier individuals who command large numbers of fans. They get to swoop in on conversations where fans mention them as well as conduct Q&As from the comfort of — well, anywhere.

But the problems Shatner spotted start at sign-up. The first thing you have to do when firing up Mentions? Follow another celebrity, apparently. Shatner's suggested celebrity was his old frenemy and social media superstar George Takei. When he saw that, the actor says he rolled his eyes and followed Robert Downey Jr. instead. "If this app is for celebrities," Shatner asks, not unreasonably, "then why force them to follow another celebrity in order to set up this app?"

It's a fair point, and one that suggests whomever designed this app isn't familiar with Hollywood's culture of feuds and fragile egos. But Shatner wasn't done. In a five-section review, he compares Facebook Mentions to the previously available Pages app. The review starts to get a little incoherent at this point, as Shatner complains in each case that either both apps have features he'd like to use, or neither.

And despite complaining that the Mentions app is ill-conceived, Shatner concludes: "I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups."

Posted by : Gizmeon