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I think so too. I remember the day when it become less relevant to me as a developer - when they locked their api down.

downandout 10y ago
Facebook has locked down their API as well, but they haven't been hurt by it. Even when users give permission to access their friends list, apps can only access their list of friends that are already users of the app. Since in most cases the number of friends already using the app will be 0, the Facebook API is arguably even less useful than Twitter's.
- justinzollars 10y ago
  wow that's interesting! I haven't used the FB api in a few years now (using it was how I bought my house). That totally sucks.
  - downandout 10y ago
    Yeah, they really messed things up. I guess Facebook has decided they don't need outside developers anymore.
    - discardorama 10y ago
      It's always like that. A company that wants adoption will make things all "open" and "free", and let the developers do the hard work. Once the users are there, turn off the API (or severely restrict it) to keep the users in.
      - WalterSear 10y ago
        And replicate the most promising business models discovered. Facebook is doing it right now with messenger chatbots and Amazon is doing it with Alexa.
      - TorKlingberg 10y ago
        Developers also abused the API to fill everyone’s feeds with game spam, so I can see why Facebook locked it down.
        downandout 10y ago
        Ironically, because Facebook requires in-game payments to be processed through their payments platform (for which they take 30%), much of the feed spamming specifically for games is allowed. Take the case of Slotomania - a mobile app that just sold for $4.4 billion last week [1]. Unless you manually uncheck a box in the UI each and every time it is presented - and I'm not exaggerating here - this game will wind up publishing something to your news feed approximately once per minute while you are playing the game. They printed $4.4 billion out of thin air using nothing more than aggressive spamming techniques. News feed spam that makes Facebook money is allowed. Spam that doesn't is not. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-30/shanghai-giant-led-group-buys-caesars-playtika-for-4-4-billion http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-30/shanghai-g...
    - nicky0 10y ago
      Maybe they decided to stop selling out their users to outside developers. I can't think of any good use for friends lists apart from spamming the users' friends.
  - trahn 10y ago
    Ok, I'll bite... :) How did you use the FB api to buy your house?
    - irq11 10y ago
      He probably built a viral thing during the initial land-grab and then sold it. There were tons of people selling sheep-throwing apps and whatnot back then, and it wasn't uncommon to hear of deals in the hundred-thousand dollar range. Then FB killed the virality. Pretty much every time Facebook releases a new feature, some lucky sod gets rich. See also: Socialcam, which failed to gain any real traction, but got early access to the feed API, and leveraged that into a pump-and-dump.
      - downandout 10y ago
        Socialcam's "success" came from Facebook's actions publishing API (which is also now locked down). Every time someone watched a video, they would publish that fact on the user's news feed with a link to the video. It's hard to not go viral when you are carpet bombing users' news feeds. They were smart and sold out for $60M before Facebook outlawed the only thing that they had going for them. Unsurprisingly, they are now closed [1]. [1] https://socialcam.com https://socialcam.com
cft 10y ago
Twitter never appealed to ordinary users. It always appealed to celebrities and journalists however. Wall St mispriced its future based on the disproportionate media buzz that it received.

Facebook has locked down their API as well, but they haven't been hurt by it. Even when users give permission to access their friends list, apps can only access their list of friends that are already users of the app. Since in most cases the number of friends already using the app will be 0, the Facebook API is arguably even less useful than Twitter's.

justinzollars 10y ago
wow that's interesting! I haven't used the FB api in a few years now (using it was how I bought my house). That totally sucks.
- downandout 10y ago
  Yeah, they really messed things up. I guess Facebook has decided they don't need outside developers anymore.
  - discardorama 10y ago
    It's always like that. A company that wants adoption will make things all "open" and "free", and let the developers do the hard work. Once the users are there, turn off the API (or severely restrict it) to keep the users in.
    - WalterSear 10y ago
      And replicate the most promising business models discovered. Facebook is doing it right now with messenger chatbots and Amazon is doing it with Alexa.
    - TorKlingberg 10y ago
      Developers also abused the API to fill everyone’s feeds with game spam, so I can see why Facebook locked it down.
      - downandout 10y ago
        Ironically, because Facebook requires in-game payments to be processed through their payments platform (for which they take 30%), much of the feed spamming specifically for games is allowed. Take the case of Slotomania - a mobile app that just sold for $4.4 billion last week [1]. Unless you manually uncheck a box in the UI each and every time it is presented - and I'm not exaggerating here - this game will wind up publishing something to your news feed approximately once per minute while you are playing the game. They printed $4.4 billion out of thin air using nothing more than aggressive spamming techniques. News feed spam that makes Facebook money is allowed. Spam that doesn't is not. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-30/shanghai-giant-led-group-buys-caesars-playtika-for-4-4-billion http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-30/shanghai-g...
  - nicky0 10y ago
    Maybe they decided to stop selling out their users to outside developers. I can't think of any good use for friends lists apart from spamming the users' friends.
- trahn 10y ago
  Ok, I'll bite... :) How did you use the FB api to buy your house?
  - irq11 10y ago
    He probably built a viral thing during the initial land-grab and then sold it. There were tons of people selling sheep-throwing apps and whatnot back then, and it wasn't uncommon to hear of deals in the hundred-thousand dollar range. Then FB killed the virality. Pretty much every time Facebook releases a new feature, some lucky sod gets rich. See also: Socialcam, which failed to gain any real traction, but got early access to the feed API, and leveraged that into a pump-and-dump.
    - downandout 10y ago
      Socialcam's "success" came from Facebook's actions publishing API (which is also now locked down). Every time someone watched a video, they would publish that fact on the user's news feed with a link to the video. It's hard to not go viral when you are carpet bombing users' news feeds. They were smart and sold out for $60M before Facebook outlawed the only thing that they had going for them. Unsurprisingly, they are now closed [1]. [1] https://socialcam.com https://socialcam.com

cft 10y ago

Twitter never appealed to ordinary users. It always appealed to celebrities and journalists however. Wall St mispriced its future based on the disproportionate media buzz that it received.