Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Ends Platform Policy Banning Apps That Copy Its Features (techcrunch.com)
Facebook will now freely allow developers to build competitors to its features upon its own platform. Today Facebook announced it will drop Platform Policy section 4.1, which stipulates "Add something unique to the community. Don't replicate core functionality that Facebook already provides." TechCrunch reports: Facebook had previously enforced that policy selectively to hurt competitors that had used its Find Friends or viral distribution features. Apps like Vine, Voxer, MessageMe, Phhhoto and more had been cut off from Facebook's platform for too closely replicating its video, messaging or GIF creation tools. The move will significantly reduce the risk of building on the Facebook platform. It could also cast it in a better light in the eyes of regulators. Anyone seeking ways Facebook abuses its dominance will lose a talking point. And by creating a more fair and open platform where developers can build without fear of straying too close to Facebook's history or road map, it could reinvigorate its developer ecosystem. In a statement to TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson said: "We built our developer platform years ago to pave the way for innovation in social apps and services. At that time we made the decision to restrict apps built on top of our platform that replicated our core functionality. These kind of restrictions are common across the tech industry with different platforms having their own variant including YouTube, Twitter, Snap and Apple. We regularly review our policies to ensure they are both protecting people's data and enabling useful services to be built on our platform for the benefit of the Facebook community. As part of our ongoing review we have decided that we will remove this out of date policy so that our platform remains as open as possible. We think this is the right thing to do as platforms and technology develop and grow."
This is exactly the reason i dont have a facebook account. I suddenly care.
Shut up and take my browsing history!
In other words: We're out of ideas on how to improve some aspects of our site, so we're going to let other people develop for us and then copy whatever turns out to be the most popular ideas.
And: Better to develop on our platform than risk them trying to create their own platform.
*Don't blame me for being negative, history taught me to think this way.
Trying to be kept trendy, aren't you? Do you miss those users that haven't logged in for years? You know, those that use those apps you banned in the past.
My! What nice code you have!
Easier to track you with, my dear...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
... the collection and distribution of personal data, I would say that this new development does not bode well for privacy and security.
If only it had been worded as, "Add something unique to the community. Don't replicate core functionality that already exists." How many features have they added that were already provided by some other app, only to then block the other app for violating this policy ex post facto?
Reached hive of scum and villainy.. *Ptooey!*
search internet for "facebook copies snapshat"
hypocrisy
Why should I invest any time or money developing based on Facebook's whim today when they can just reinstate the same policy again in six months?
Kick the ball, Charlie Brown!
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
That explains today's funeral.
Anyone seeking ways Facebook abuses its dominance will lose a talking point.
No... The fact is they already had that policy and used it as a way to extend and abuse their dominance for a long time. Furthermore, they can reintroduce such policy at any time it suits them, or use a Different clause of the terms or policy such as Facebook's discretion (or another guise)
to remove any competitor that comes to their notice as a potential threat to FB's dominance or a service/functionality FB wants to provide themself.
This will keep the already pissed off development community from potentially leaving the site behind to Go It Alone.
It will also very likely lessen the impact of the inevitable court case over said restrictions and whitelists of companies allowed full access to user data.
The site was losing users very quickly to others. They already bought Instagram because of that.
They tried to curb some losses to dedicated messaging apps via Messenger (which has went tits up, if anything).
If they can keep the developers on site, this will slow down those losses over time since they will be more inclined to stick with the already large userbase.
If they did this with Instagram, they might even keep considerably more on there.
Allow devs to make filters, addons and other stuff. Just keep it unobtrusive.
But what they really need to do is go ALL OUT in stating they will NOT reinstate this stupid policy. :^)
They fucked over SO MANY developers in the past with horrible restrictions.
Remember all those Facebook games?
Hell, let's go further back, remember that page you had on your profile that you could add widgets to? Gone. Can't even add widgets to your profile at all now.
If they added something like that back, they might keep more people on the site.
Do it in a way that is NOT spammy to your friends.
Allow people to customize their profiles, but keep the same general feel of the site.
Facebook has always been so sterile. But it was at least customizable to an extent.
Unless they guarantee they won't fuck developers over again, FB development would be low-priority for me.
Viral marketing can easily advertise your new hot site on Facebook. Hell, you can even buy ads to spam it on peoples feeds now