Intellectual Property Law

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As Facebook (and the rest of us) quickly found out, the whole applications system combined with the infamous Facebook feeds quickly became very spam-like in application publishers? efforts to get more users on board. The result has been a steady release of regulations being piled onto the application developers, which has had a bit of a push-pull effect in that some application creators will still seek out craft ways in which to circumvent the regulations that Facebook has laid out. This, of course, just means more regulations for Facebook to roll out.

We already heard of the ?clear all? option that Facebook added last week, so you can get rid of all your invites and notifications at once. What Facebook is announcing today is a set of new options for users and regulations for app developers, most of which seem to focus on the feedback system that was installed for news feeds a few months back.

For instance, users will be able to block an application directly from the request, meaning no additional requests can be sent, and Facebook will also determine how many communications an application can send, based on the feedback system it?s been tweaking for some time now. Even if you merely ignore an invitation or a notification, Facebook makes note of it and limits the application?s ability to send you more notifications.

Facebook has also removed the ability for app developers to ?dead-end? you in an invite loop, which I actually appreciate to a large extent. There?s nothing more frustrating than having no other option than to leave the application or invite your friends (in which case I only invite one friend that doesn?t care about the spam one way or another)!

Lastly, Facebook is also requiring applications to give you advanced warning on those applications for which you?ll need other friends in order to fully participate. In all, Facebook does seem to be getting more succinct with its rules and regulations for application behavior, and as always, the life lessons learned on Facebook will only improve application platforms across the board.

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Full post as published by IP Law Daily on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).