While in theory I think that the facebook application platform is moving in the right direction, some of their new rules raise the bar even further for creating engaging applications (this is not a bad thing). I tend to agree with the new rules by and large.

I will say that allowing users feedback on what determines if a message is spammy could have been executed better. A better way to handle this would be to limit a users ability to send invites. A daily invite limit would force users to be a little more cautious when sending invite. Here is where they have it all wrong: “block applications that are bothering you”. It is typically not the application that is too blame; rather the users behavior of engaging in sending invites without any thought that could be largely to blame.

Facebook could also do a better job in communicating with developers what these allocation buckets mean and what the sliding scale is. I feel once again like facebook is making app developers drive blindfolded without clearer definition of what level percentages impact the ability to send communications and what the scale is.

According to Facebook here is what’s new for apps:

* When you get a request from an application, you now have the ability to “Block Application” directly from the request. If you block an application, it will not be able to send you any more requests.

* A few weeks ago, we added the ability to “Clear All” requests from your requests page when you have a lot of requests and invitations that you haven’t responded to yet.

* Your feedback now determines how many communications an application can send. When invitations and notifications are ignored, blocked, or marked as spam, Facebook reduces that application’s ability to send more. Applications forcing their users to send spammy invitations can wind up with no invitations at all. The power is in your hands; block applications that are bothering you, and report spammy or abusive communications, and we’ll restrict the application.

* We’ve explicitly told developers they cannot dead-end you in an “Invite your Friends” loop. If you are trapped by an application, look for a link to report that “This application is forcing me to invite friends”. Your reports will help us stop this behavior.

* We’ve added an option to the Edit Applications page that allows you to opt-out of emails sent from applications you’ve already added. When you add a new application, you can uncheck this option right away.

* Applications must now give you advanced warning if you’ll need to invite friends to get information or access content. So you should always know ahead of time if that quiz you’re taking will require you to invite friends to see your results. If you see applications withholding content without warning, go to that application’s About page to report it.

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