Given the number of Facebook apps in existence, allowing for reviews of them seemed like a good way of tracking which ones worked. Fake reviews have become an issue, though, and Facebook’s attempts to address the problem haven’t been too effective.
In a post published yesterday on both the Facebook Developers Blog and the Facebook Developers Forum, Paul C. Jeffries reiterated a formal policy, writing, “[a]pplication developers cannot trade positive reviews or collude with others to post, incentivize, or otherwise ‘game’ the posting of negative or positive reviews. Applications should stand on their own merits based on user feedback, not insider quid pro quos.”
Facebook Reviews
Jeffries asked developers to report problems as they occur, and promised to delete fake accounts. Yet at least a few developers seem unimpressed, and are pushing for the company to go further.
On the Facebook Developers Forum, Chris Claydon brought up a number of issues. “We get dozens of factually inaccurate NEGATIVE reviews which may be from other competing developers or from mistaken users who confuse our app with another similar one,” he began. “How can we get these deleted? I have reported them many times without any action being taken.”
Also, “You are even letting people who have never used our apps write reviews for them, which is crazy!”
It seems that both honest developers and average users would benefit from stricter standards; false statements and crappy apps reflect poorly on Facebook as a whole. Still, at least Facebook is looking at the issue again; this may be a first step to additional action.
