I'm sure some exec thought this would be a great idea to get more downloads, but when I'm out looking for a restaurant I'm not going to waste my time and data waiting for their 112mb (iOS) app to download. I'll just base my decision on the reviews I see or go to one of the many other review sites.
So, you don't need to download the app, but they make you suffer.
But I abhor requiring Facebook login to merely view non-FB sites. It’s antithetical to Facebook’s stated purpose, and I think they ought to make it a TOS violation.
The only reason I use Facebook is the only reason I ever bothered to use Windows - because my friends insisted on using it and can't be convinced otherwise, due to their unwillingness to learn new things. It is not a technologically suitable solution to the problem of FOAF-networking, imho. Its socially accepted, only.
> Everything we do at Facebook is focused on our mission to make the world more open and connected.
I often find that when I follow Facebook links, I get a login page, requiring me to create an account to see the content.
And not even for Facebook itself, I tried to look at images on Pinterest the other day, and if I followed more than one link, I'd get an overlay requiring me to login via Facebook. The site was almost unusable if I wasn't logged into Facebook.
The only other sites I've visited in a long time, that hide content unless I login, are newspaper sites.