Facebook App Grafitti

App Grafitti, according to the app developer, is an application which enables you to “spice up” your Facebook profile's layout. You know, like in the old days when MySpace was very popular and you were able to change your layout based on your interests? But can it really work on Facebook?

I did not want to ruin my own Facebook layout nor have spam on my profile, so I created a new Facebook account in order to try it out. I called the new profile “Zhao Mao”, because yesterday almost half of the world's population was celebrating Chinese New Year!

After I filled out all the information, I went right away to the App Grafitti's page. First I arrived on the welcome page and right after I was directed to the main page, which has a big text on top: “Customize Your Facebook Profile! Add Some Style to Your Facebook Profile with Free Facebook Layouts!”. Right, interesting!

So I wanted his profile to have a layout with Chinese elements in it (because Zhao Mao is a Chinese guy!). In the search box, I typed the word “Chinese” and 22 results showed up. I decided to choose “Chinese Dumplings” layout (just because I love Chinese dumplings!)

Next step is to download a programme called AppGrafitti. During the installation process, they will ask multiple times if you want to install some side-programmes: annoying! Right after the installation, the layout of Zhao Mao's profile changed. Here is how it looks like:

Nice, now Zhao Mao has a Chinese dumplings picture as his Facebook background! On the right side, there are options to change the layout or to remove the layout. Great! It kind of reminds me of when I was in high school. Like other teenagers back then, I frequently changed my Friendster/MySpace's profile according to my mood at the moment. Oh good old times!

However, as we all may know, Facebook does not support customized profile! So basically, Zhao Mao customized profile can only be seen by himself! So I am just wondering, why 270,000 users want their Facebook profiles to be customized if only themselves can see it? Is it for self-pleasure? Or are they teenagers who want to channel their teenage-roller-coaster-emotions through the customized layouts? Can anyone give me the best reason why?

However, no matter what the reason are, we know this Facebook app is “kind of successful”!