Reminder: App Notifications Going Away, Invites Moving to the Inbox in 96 Hours (Updated)
February is passing quickly, so just in case it’s not already on your calendar, here’s an important reminder: as of Monday, March 1, Facebook is rolling out two major changes to the way applications integrate with Facebook’s communication channels.
1. Application notifications are going away
We’ve been talking about this for months, but now it’s finally happening. In 4 days, the only application to user communication channel will be email. Notifications from Facebook-built applications (like photos and events) will continue to appear in the Notifications inbox, however.
2. Invitations are being moved to a secondary inbox tab
Facebook hasn’t published any new mockups of this lately, but essentially, the access point for users to interact with application invites (FarmVille gifts, Bracket Challenge invitations, etc.) is being moved from the top right side of the Facebook home page to a “filter in the Inbox.”
Update: It should be noted that Facebook is separating “Invites” and “Requests,” and requests will not be moving until 30 days after the updated share dialogs are launched, which has not happened yet.
Of course, these changes will impact the way applications work, and how effectively applications are able to keep users engaged. We’ll be tracking the impact of all the changes across the Platform in the coming week. For a full list of all announced upcoming changes, check out Facebook’s Developer Roadmap.
February 25th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Please don’t make mobile access more difficult than it already is. My notifications are easily accessible where they are presently. Moving them will Add delays and multiple refreshes to an already imperfect process.
This screams of passing the buck to hotmail…
Sincerely, Ethel Jordan
February 25th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Everyone in the Facebook development community has been waiting for this change.
Unfortunately, Facebook still hasn’t released a PHP library with the new News alternative and given their previously delays in removing deprecated API calls it looks like notifications and news may be delayed.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
The timing of 1 is stated on the roadmap, however, 2 is not.
As far as I’m aware, facebook have not given a date at which Requests will be transitioned to the inbox, apart from saying it will happen 30 days after the launch of the revised share dialogs (which have not yet been launched). Can you please clarify pointing to a source?
February 25th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Hi Lee – thanks, I should have clarified this more. “Invites” are moving to the inbox in “February”, according to the Developer Roadmap, but “Requests” are moving 30 days after the launch of the revised share dialogs. I will update the story with this.
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Developer_Roadmap
February 26th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Justin: You are misinterpreting the road map. When facebook just gives a month, that is an estimate, not a fixed time for something. Invites aren’t moving to the inbox on March 1 either.
In fact this morning it looks like Facebook updated their road map. Now it gives “March 2010″ as the estimated date for the invite change.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:55 am
For all Facebook’s PR about being open and giving developers warning about changes, their Roadmap is infrequently updated and contains lots of outdated information.
Developer blog post on getting rid of notifications: http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=365
February 26th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Thanks for the update Justin.
Invites and Requests are currently essentially identical as far as i’m aware. The only difference is the word “request” is replaced with “invite”. As of today, I have not seen either of these moved from the top right of the users home page.
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