Update: Facebook Platform Notifications Going Away March 1st

Facebook has just posted an update to its Developer Roadmap with a new date for the end of application notifications: March 1st. On that date, both application-to-user and user-to-user notifications will be no longer.

What happens exactly at that point, in terms of application traffic, is on the forefront of the minds of app developers and Facebook Platform monetization service providers. While some top developers called the end of notifications “D-Day” after it was initially announced, attitudes have been somewhat more hopeful in recent weeks. Developers are hoping that Facebook will take a balanced approach to the Platform changes, and will make adjustments to help developers if the impact of notifications removal proves to be too severe. The vast majority of developers have been using the notifications channel very aggressively to date, leading to user complaints and decreasing conversion rates in general.

Facebook’s fundamental motivation behind the changes is to improve the fidelity of its communication channels. With the onslaught of often-spammy app notifications, engagement rates for the notifications channel have plummeted, which is a big red flag to the product team at Facebook. Facebook has created a new email sharing API to make it easier for users to share their email addresses directly with developers, encouraging app-to-user communication to happen outside of Facebook altogether.

What immediate impact will the removal of the notifications channel have on app traffic? Everyone will find out starting in 28 days.

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13 Responses to “Update: Facebook Platform Notifications Going Away March 1st”

  1. Geoff Fox says:

    I actually blogged about this problem a few days ago (http://www.geofffox.com/MT/archives/2010/01/24/facebooks_cancer.php). If Facebook is serious in removing these (often lying) app notifications it will be taking a huge step in keeping me happy. I can’t be alone in my disdain for this stuff!

  2. Khalil Muhammad says:

    It’s about time. Those notifications were awfully spammy and darn annoying.

  3. News - Facebook Notifications To Get Cut | DevWebPro says:

    [...] aren’t entirely on their own, though.  Justin Smith wrote yesterday, “Facebook has created a new email sharing API to make it easier for users to [...]

  4.   Facebook Notifications To Get Cut by Photoshop Stories says:

    [...] aren’t wholly on their own, though.  Justin Smith wrote yesterday, “Facebook has combined a brand new email pity API to have it simpler for [...]

  5. MÔђДM£Ð Ҝ£CђiCђ£ says:

    bi1

  6. Brisbane Web Design says:

    What a great news!! I’ll have to keep a closer look at this. It’s so annoying to log in to facebook and the notification box for 60 or 70 notification where 80% of all those are from the application
    Good on this!
    Thanks for the update!

  7. Alexus says:

    But now I don’t see when someone comments on a photo of mine, something I commented on or a status update, yes the spam ones were annoying but not those ones and I’m really missing them. :(

  8. Facebook and Zynga Battle Over Credits — and Bigger Platform Issues says:

    [...] making Credits mandatory, Facebook removed third party access to notifications at the beginning of March and it is planning to mostly remove requests, as soon as this [...]

  9. Google Buys Slide for $182 Million (or More) says:

    [...] But this still looks like a pretty good outcome for Slide. It gets a powerful new owner as a possible alternative to Facebook, which has sometimes acted unpredictably for developers, as with its notifications changes earlier this year. [...]

  10. Why I quit Farmville… and why I think you shouldn’t « social:vitak says:

    [...] her page” with constant updates about Mafia Wars. It should be noted that in March, Facebook changed some of its policies to halt the influx of notifications from third-party applications like Farmville–and that [...]

  11. marina says:

    ko me izbrisao sa facebook

  12. ivan maljak says:

    ko me izbrisao sa facebook

  13. željana says:

    O.K

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