Today Facebook launched a new Application directory and introduced a certification called “Verified Applications”. A Verified Application is one that has been subjected to some additional scrutiny by Facebook. I wrote that we needed this back in 2007, and although today is a step in a good direction, we’ve a long way to go.
Link to Facebook video about Apps modifications.
Today’s “Verified Application” sets a soft stage for more defined standards that remain eminent. There are many outstanding perspectives to this problem:
- Maintain a low barrier to entry for creative innovators who makeup the soul of Facebook applications.
- Create some level of quality expectations for users when installing apps.
- Establish a process for Facebook platform upgrades with a maximum degree of forgivability to existing applications.
1. and 2. are self evident. However, 3. is much more complex because:
When Facebook updates its platform, it may cause many reliable Facebook applications to fail. This causes the developers to modify or rewrite the applications to conform to a new environment. The affect is that Facebook’s more cherished assets become liabilities overnight until the developers can get around to fixing modifying them. Where a company has hired a developing firm to create an app., the costs and timing are impossible to budget for.
You can easily argue for a Beta period allowing both users and developers to adapt to a platform change. However, there has only been one beta release of a Facebook platform wherein users could choose between “current” and “new” versions.
As the potential “utility” AND value of Facebook grow, the greater the consequences of this problem become.
The new Facebook Application page is found at http://www.Facebook.com/apps .
Do you hesitate to use Facebook Applications based on their reliability?
Wed, May 20, 2009
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