Isn't it enough that the application shows up on the user's news feed?
I think the main reason that recent applications are not getting as many users is simply because there are now quite a lot of applications and users are sick of trying everything that comes along -- particularly as most of them are not very good.
There is a perfect storm right now of too many user complaints about application spam, competitors like Hi5 and numerous others circling, and a desire to go public without an ability to do it until the requisite time has past. A lot can happen in that time frame. I think we can expect Facebook to do whatever their user base asks them to do. Why? Because if those user metrics dip at all prior to the exit attempt they are screwed.
I wonder how many users will click YES when asked if they would like application info to be displayed in their news feed?
i think that's the point of the article - you can still use fb as a viral platform, it's just as viral for new apps as it is for the more established start ups.
Also, even if you disable the ability for the app to publish items in the news feed, it still publishes the add/remove notification. You have to remove that one manually.
As a user, the cluttering of the news feed is my biggest frustration with the new platform--- I don't care if all my friends add this junk, but I should be able to opt out of the messages with the news feed sliders.
On the other hand, apparently some companies had facebook api BETA access for weeks or months in advance to prepare for this.
If all companies had to race to build a product right away, I don't see why it's unfair for facebook to change the way things work after a month into it. But since some already had apps that were ready, it does seem to be very unfair.
