Comments on: Facebook Developers Demand to Spam What’s Wrong with This Picture?

By: Steve Smith

Steve Smith — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:35:01 +0000

Its easy to knock the developers who dont have a right to anything, without any apps where would Facebook be now?.

By: GigaOM Facebook’s Viral Hit Game: The Brains Behind the Brain Eaters «

GigaOM Facebook’s Viral Hit Game: The Brains Behind the Brain Eaters « — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 06:44:23 +0000

[...] game’s only business angle has been indirect marketing: the game is hosted by RockYou, a huge (if sometimes controversial) Facebook widget developer founded by Jia Shen, another friend of Commagere’s. Though [...]

By: Blogspotting

Blogspotting — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:22:20 +0000

RockYou's Plan: Step 1 Get Big on Facebook, Step 2 Use that Promote Other Cos.

I met Lance Tokuda, the co-founder of the popular widget maker last night and he explained his three-step strategy for using Facebook to create a widget network.

Step one: Win the initial landgrab. Step two: Cross promote to increase penetration of R...

By: ryan

ryan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:05:50 +0000

With everyone now opening up their platforms, to bad there isn’t a way to make it like openid where everyone can create one thing and use it on all platforms

By: LonelyBloggers

LonelyBloggers — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:50:59 +0000

I think this is a good move to block the mass invite functionality because it's a haven for abuse and spam. Even as a business owner looking at Facebook right now, I hate spam as much as anyone else - this is 100% a good call.

The user always comes first no matter at what cost, business owner or not. Spam sucks.

By: james

james — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:11:09 +0000

even now there are still shady ways that applications are spamming me. i keep getting invites from users. for example, someone sent me a gift using the application ‘free gifts’ which is not made by facebook and it keeps asking me to sign up. i’ve had enough! i don’t need to be bothered. i’m there to focus on other more important aspects such as the main reason why social networks exist!

By: Facebook News - Week of 6/29/2007 | NathenGrass.com

Facebook News - Week of 6/29/2007 | NathenGrass.com — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:47:09 +0000

[...] Facebook Developers Demand to Spam What’s Wrong with This Picture: Some developers don’t like some of the recent changes that Facebook made that prevents a user from inviting all of his friends to an application at once. [...]

By: Liz Gannes

Liz Gannes — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:22:34 +0000

John, you're absolutely right to say facebook should have figured out that they should have limited spammy app invites from the beginning. And it's true that they have been spammy themselves, playing the game on their own video app.

The top apps do have ties to facebook but I think their success is not only due to them being some of the first and most spammily promoted, but also because they serve functions like top friends that facebook users wanted but weren't getting.

By: John Galt

John Galt — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:58:16 +0000

The developer on valleywag wasnt complaining that he couldnt spam users. What he was complaining about is how the early apps released on facebook were allowed the advantage of mass user invites and the newer apps are not. Is it a coincidence that a few of these early apps also share the same investors as facebook? Once the apps the facebook investors invested in got traction, they changed the rules of the game. There is a hustle going here. Just not sure what it is yet.

By: Greg Isaacs

Greg Isaacs — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:28:52 +0000

I agree, Liz. Developers can be a very powerful asset to any platform. However, developers are often scrappy entrepreneurs and their interests may not always align with the overall interests of the ecosystem. At the end of the day, it is Facebook’s responsibility to manage this ecosystem of users and developers to enable long term balance.

By: Deep Jive Interests » Boo-Freak'in Hoo. API Development 101, Guys: "You Don't Make The Rules" (Even in Facebook)

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:16:06 +0000

[...] interviews with another Facebook developer, and she shares the same sentiments: Facebook developers don’t have the “right” to do anything, least of all spam [...]

By: Erich Bratton

Erich Bratton — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:17:00 +0000

Once again, nice guys lose.

Obligatory link over to Tim Bray’s entry: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2007/06/16/X-Me-is-a-Facebook-Virus#c1182111382.1767

By: Jay (living in First Life)

Jay (living in First Life) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:56:28 +0000

No discussion here of the fact that RockYou and Slide add 0 value to the world. It’s great to know that brilliant people like Max L. at Slide are dedicating themselves to such high minded pursuits like solving our need for the nth widget on Facebook. What would we do without him stealing away top engineers to solve such core problems that we face?