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Facebook To App Developers: Good Idea, Now Stop Using Our API

Posted by Soulskill on from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-ideas dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In what seems to be a recurring theme with Facebook as the social networking giant adds features, competing apps that use Facebook integration risk being cut off due to the terms of service surrounding the API. For example, 'Voxer CEO Tom Katis told AllThingsD that the company got an email on Thursday saying that Facebook wanted to hold a phone call to discuss possible violations of a section of the company’s terms of service. The section in question centers around the use of Facebook’s social graph by competing social networks.' Similarly, 'Within hours of Twitter launching its Vine video-sharing application on Thursday, Facebook has cut off access to Vine’s "find people" feature, which used to let Vine users find their Facebook friends using the Vine application.' You have to ask yourself: is it really worth developing an app that integrates with, or worse runs completely on Facebook's platform?"

8 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. What's the point? by jaymz666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why does Facebook even offer an API to developers if any time an app becomes popular they block them?

    1. Re:What's the point? by radiumsoup · · Score: 5, Funny

      aaaaand... we're done in one.

    2. Re:What's the point? by trparky · · Score: 5, Informative

      You could say the same thing about Apple. There were many features that independent app developers made that later were killed off and made a part of iOS.

    3. Re:What's the point? by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because they want an R&D division to come up with profitable new ideas for them?

    4. Re:What's the point? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 4, Funny

      What the heck is the Facebook F doing next to your name?

      Did you sign into slashdot with your facebook account?

      How can I prevent it from happening to me? Is there a vaccine, or tonic I can take?

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  2. Um, DUH? by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would you ever design a product that's completely and utterly dependent on a service provided by someone else, especially someone else who you view as a competitor or who may down the road view you as a competitor, without an iron-clad, air-tight contract guaranteeing exactly what services they'll provide you and providing scorched-earth-level penalties for their failure to provide service according to the agreed-upon terms? Anything less is pretty much a guarantee that they'll pull the rug out from under you as soon as they think it'll be to their advantage. I'm not a business type or some super startup guru, just a lowly techie, but even I can figure that one out. Gleh, what do they teach in school these days? That the Universe is all rainbows and unicorns and that everybody plays nice all the time?

    1. Re:Um, DUH? by icebike · · Score: 4, Informative

      The thing is, there was never a need for Voxer or Vine to tie into facebook in the first place. Facebook provides nothing to either app.
      I've seen this a sort of mentality a hundred times on apps in the Android Play store. Diet apps, health apps, personal finance apps, all tying into Facebook, which is arguably the last place you want apps sharing private information.

      These developers just arbitrarily toss that crap in to be part of the in-crowd.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  3. Re:Is it worth it? by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When your entire business is totally dependent on someone else's business, you have absolutely no control.