Facebook has released a developer “roadmap,” which it says will simplify communication for users and developers, improve app discovery and engagement, and provide developers with more comprehensive tools for building or expanding their business with Facebook.
“Through these new APIs and tools, we are giving all developers building with Facebook and those in our largest application category — gaming — new ways to attract and engage users,” says Facebook’s Ethan Beard.
Facebook is giving developers access to user email addresses, and it is focusing Facebook communication on the stream and the inbox. “This consolidates developer and user communication into the two most powerful channels — stream and Inbox — and provides new features to help users stay engaged with applications,” says Beard. “User-to-user communications commonly in the notifications and requests channels will be moved to the Inbox.”
Some Facebook app developers aren’t thrilled with Facebook’s upcoming platform changes. “The so-called social games on the site are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly revenue and the market is expanding rapidly,”
explains Lucian Parfeni at Softpedia. “But one of the reasons for the expansion is the amount of spammy messages and notifications they have come to rely on and Facebook is now looking to put an end to that.”
“The notification and request channels will now be integrated in the Inbox and will lose their dedicated spots on the homepage. This is one of the most disruptive changes for apps as many relied on notifications to drive traffic up. ” adds Parfeni.
Some Facebook app developers have found their businesses disrupted by the changes not only to the Facebook platform, but by the recent redesign of Facebook’s home page, which separates the news feed and the live feed. Before, when it was one, everybody saw all of the instances of their friends using apps. Now, they don’t see them as much, and developers are finding that their apps are not getting as many new users.
But Facebook says it is also working on ways to improve application discovery and engagement. Facebook doesn’t want apps to suffer. Improvements will come in the form of simplified navigation, prominent new dashboards, and a new Counter channel.
“To make it easier for users to quickly find and engage with applications, their favorite apps will be featured on their home page with bookmarks and new dashboards,” explains Beard. “Applications will also be represented on canvas pages with a format that increases brand association with users. In addition, users will be able to better represent applications on their profile following short-term changes that include focusing profile integration on application tabs, as well as removing profile boxes, the info section of boxes, and the Boxes tab.”
The counter channel will allow app developers to prompt users when they need to perform an action within an application.
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