So a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Facebook has released many more guidelines and a whole new layout. August 11th is the deadline for all the rules to take effect.
Instead of stressing about it in another post, I thought I’d pass along two ebooks I found on how to find a mate through Facebook. Cheesy, I know, but entertaining nonetheless. Note the discussion on profile optimization.
We want to see how far you can go, so we’re issuing a Dollar-For-Dollar challenge to all applications on MySpace. For every dollar your MySpace application earns, we’ll automatically give your application $1 of promotion on MySpace. It’s that simple.
Also check out our OpenSocial Meetup, OpenThread.
Contrary to some eye catching titles, Scrabulous isn’t dead. The game has simply been turned off in the US and Canada, where the legal trouble has been aimed. Likely this has been done to avoid legal entanglements that jeopardizes their relationship with Facebook.
The game has been in hot water since it topped the charts of Facebook’s app directory, although Hasbro was slow to start legal action. It was only after EA launched their own Scrabble game for Facebook that the board gaming company decided to file a DMCA complaint with Facebook.
Here is the official statement from the brothers behind the game:
“Facebook has informed us that they have received a legal notice from Hasbro in reference to the Scrabulous application. In deference to Facebook’s concerns and without prejudice to our legal rights, we have had to restrict our fans in USA and Canada from accessing the Scrabulous application on Facebook until further notice. This is an unfortunate event and not something that we are very pleased about, especially as Mattel has been pursuing the matter in Indian courts for the past few months. We will sincerely hope to bring to our fans brighter news in the days to come.”
Between these legal troubles and F8’s tiering announcements and focus on principles, the platform is certainly becoming serious business.
If you wish to be updated about the status of the application, sign up here.
Update: EA’s Scrabble experienced a malicious attack and was taken down today.
“EA’s Scrabble Facebook game experienced a malicious attack this morning, resulting in the disabling of Scrabble on Facebook. We’re working with our partners to resolve this issue and have Scrabble back online and ready to play as soon as possible.”
Update: The Argarwalla brothers have brought back Scrabulous as Wordscraper.
Some of the great representatives from Google’s OpenSocial team have agreed to open the event with an introduction and brief history of the platform. You’ll see our announcement on the OpenSocial blog.
We’ll have a few more announcements around the event as it draws closer. Stay tuned.
Spots are going fast, so sign up soon here.
Not only Facebook is taking the platform more seriously. Hasbro has taken further legal action in their case against Scrabulous, the incredibly addicting Facebook version of Hasbro’s classic, Scrabble.
They’ve filed a legal petition against the game’s founders, Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, in a New York court. Hasbro has also filed a DMCA request with Facebook to take down the game. Scrabulous is by no means the only game potentially infringing on existing intellectual property. It’s just that until now, brands and Facebook took a lighter hand with enforcement.
I take it as a sign of how seriously companies are starting to take Facebook’s “toy” apps.
“Hasbro, the Rhode Island company that owns the trademark to the 60-year-old board game, Scrabble, on which Scrabulous is closely based, has also asked Facebook to remove the game under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying that it infringes the company’s intellectual property. Facebook has not yet responded to or commented on the request. (more….)”
F8 is happening today. Facebook will be live broadcasting the keynote live at 1:30 Pacific time (GMT -8). If you want to see the cast, log in here.
SocialMedia will be at the event at our booth. Don’t forget our day after party.
I’ll embed the stream if possible when the show goes live.
Zuckerberg - ensure that apps that provide greatest value succeed..
So, it’s the big day, F8. For many developers, it’s been a time of doubt as the platform undergoes the most radical retooling since launch. FB tabs, boxes, and new placements for FB’s own ad units have shaken up the natural order devs have become accustomed to on Facebook. After today’s event, developers will finally know where the chips lie.
Early this morning TechCrunch is reporting some new insights into F8. First, they expect a payment system to launch in some form. Second, Facebook connect will launch. Finally, and more importantly, they expect a three tiered app system. As has been speculated by Kara Swisher, Facebook will carve up app inventory into three tiers divided by quality. No word on what the yard stick will be, just that iLike and Causes are the first apps to make it into the top tier.
Depending on the details, Facebook’s new policies could potentially nuke virality for the applications of a lot of smaller developers.
One of the most profound changes in the new Facebook design is the width. I think it’s a net positive, and gives applications a greater control of user experience. However, developers that don’t adjust to the new width are going to miss out.
Facebook has placed new ads in the margin on the right hand side that are harder to ignore than the old placement under the application menu. This means that developers will be faced with the usual problem of having a user leave their app through an ad, but not get paid for it. Instead Facebook’s ads will get the traffic.
I suggest that developers widen their applications to take advantage of the new real estate with our leaderboard and upcoming skyscraper inventory.
Update: Simply checking “Use full canvas width” with push FB’s ads further away from your app while keeping the app the same in the old Facebook setup. The ads also show up sporadically.
Some Facebook users logged in this morning to find the new Facebook redesign as their default. The most notable change is that the site is much wider, but some others in the blogosphere have some more insights.
Facebook adds new ad units - Facebook double dipped their own ad units in the redesign. Canvas pages now have 2 Facebook ads and the sponsored feed item now sits alone on the right hand side of the home page. (InsideFacebook) I don’t know what this means for Microsoft, considering I’m only seeing their ads on search result pages.
Navigation rethought - The page is leaner. There’s no more application navigation bar. Instead app nav duty has been split between the menu bar and the variety of boxes and tabs announced earlier. (InsideFacebook)
Even more focus on feeds - Facebook is looking a lot more like FriendFeed after adding comments and carving out more space for updates (TechCrunch). This goes hand in hand with the platform permissions upgrade, which will let users have finer control over what happens with their actions on applications (InsideFacebook). Nick O’Neil highlights all the new techniques Facebook is using to get users to contribute content through their new app bar for Facebook’s own applications (photos, video, notes, etc.).
The new profile will offer some new advertising opportunities for app developers. Developers will find our leaderboard ad units to be more useful and also have the extra room to squeeze in a television unit. Skyscrapers will also be unlocked.
So, we’re continuing to put the “social” in SocialMedia by holding another open bar in our Pier 38 San Francisco office. It’s a post F8 networking event. We’re handing out invites at F8, but feel free to sign up here.
Who: F8 attendees
Where: Pier 38, San Francisco
When: 7-9pm
Our office:
