Facebook Developers

snacktime wrote:

I do think Facebook should be aggressive in their enforcement, but it needs to be a fair process where a developer can be reasonably sure that their content is not violating the Facebook guidelines.  Until Facebook can define their guidelines better and put in place a more concrete system for verifying if an ad is in compliance, they need to take their finger off the trigger.

Facebook is already doing this during verification process (for apps to be verified) since at least August this year.
Ad units and offer networks are verified to be in compliance.

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/10/soci … -shutdown/

If you look at a lot of these comments on this article, you can see how pissed some of the users are that have had their favorite games suspended.

This article looks like it has quite a few comments compared their other articles, which means it's touched a nerve with even the app users. 

Any thoughts on one person creating some kind of Facebook group and having all of these applications prompt their users to join the same group and make a statement to Facebook?

Just this note here on EggBreaker has over 293 comments:  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_i … amp;ref=mf

Thought I would echo this comment from Sharon on allfacebook's post

Sharon - October 3rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm

"Ok- I’ve seen thouse IQ adds EVERYWHERE! on aps that are still running - And including mini ones on just straight fb pages. There are plenty of other ads that are similar. In fact, this is why I finally broke down and got adblocker.

I only joined FB for farmtown - which I’ve seen thouse IQ adds on… but Farmtown is still running.

I joined other aps too and it’s disappointing to me that some aps would be taken down and others not.

Not saying all should be taken down… But I THOUGHT the ads were controlled by FB not the apps! If not then then SHOULD BE. Let FB screen the adds that appear as a banner on the top and the adds that run down the sides!"


And for all those fortunate enough not to receive a takedown at 8:45pm eastern time friday, heres the email I got:

"To the developer of [application name]

We're contacting you to inform you of restrictions on your application's canvas page due to policy issues. When you create an application on Facebook Platform, you agree to adhere to our terms and policies, so our expectation is that you meet these terms and policies without us needing to reach out to you about issues.

Our terms and policies are in place to ensure that Facebook Platform serves users well, allows applications to thrive, and provides a great experience for all involved. We want you to be successful in your endeavors on Facebook Platform, but please bear in mind that violations ultimately hurt users' experiences with your application and your application's long-term success.

Please resolve the following as soon as possible:

IQ ads are misleading and ads uses FB friend icon and blue button. (See, http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?sr … elines.php).

You can find our policies in more detail here:
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/ind … Guidelines

Please resolve the above (as well as any other policy issues) no later than Tuesday, October 6th. To officially confirm with us that you've resolved the problem, please reply to this email letting us know.

If you do not notify us that the issues have been resolved by the above deadline, please be aware that you risk your application being subject to restrictions.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Platform Developer Relations & Policy"

Hello,

On July 28th we announced new advertising policies and said "[w]e'd like to remind you that you are responsible for all content within your application, and will be held accountable for any policy violations in ads appearing in your application, regardless of whether you have served them or they come from a third-party ad network.  Facebook will enforce against developers and applications that include policy-violating ads -- such as by imposing a temporary restriction on functionality or permanently disabling the application -- as we do for other instances of policy violation."

Since then we have been taking action when necessary.  In addition to prior enforcements, recently some applications were temporarily suspended for running a high percentage of violating ads.  These poor ads -- even from a small number of applications -- can diminish user confidence in all advertising, adversely impacting the entire Platform ecosystem. However, these apps were not permanently disabled, and assuming there are no other policy violations, will be restored in several days at the end of the scheduled suspensions.  We do want to note that in some cases apps may be permanently disabled for ad violations.

As we've mentioned, if you run ads from third-party networks, we encourage you to monitor those ads, and work with your providers to ensure compliance and high quality.  Don’t run ads from networks you don’t trust or you catch violating the guidelines.  You may wish to ask your network to explain how they protect you and users, whether they have a process for receiving ad complaints, whether they offer you transparency into the variety of ads they run in different locations, and whatever other assurances you as a publisher would like to demand in exchange for allowing access to space you are accountable for.

We’re excited about all the value you create for users and your dedication to building on Platform, and want to encourage monetization and your success.  We’ll keep looking for ways to help.  But remember that you are clients of the ad networks;  they should be serving your needs.  For the percentage of developers that are outsourcing your monetization and user experience to them, are they doing what you require for them to earn your trust and access to your users?

Paul C. Jeffries
Platform Policy Team

With all do respect Mr. Paul C. Jeffries,

what you are doing is trying to create a war between Developers and Ad Networks. You are giving the task to the developers to monitor and keep the advertisers in check. And penalizing the developers severely if they do not.

Basically facebook, its just shifting the responsibility onto the developers. I honestly think this is cowardly.

As an application developer myself I will tell you this. This in theory might be cool for Facebook, but in practice this simply does not work.

Developing an application on Facebook is a full time job. And running ads of any kind still does not pay enough to put food on the table.
What you are asking us to do is to decrease our revenue and require more of our time to police the ad networks.
Its a formula for disaster. We really do not need this.
Please let the developers concentrate on developing and please police the ad networks yourself.

Please talk to the ad networks yourselves, and then provide the developers with a list of approved advertisers.

What you do is say, you can't put this ad, you cant put that ad. Ok sir, we are happy to comply. But please point us in the direction of an ad network we can use!

At this point, I have no idea what ad network I can use.

Thank you,
From a frustrated developer since June 2007 trying to earn a living.

Davy Campano wrote:

My thoughts exactly!  The BS about this whole thing is that the ad networks which are the source of the problem will maybe see a few percent decline in revenues for these few days, but the applications that were suspended lose ALL of their revenue for the few days.  You ask us to ask the ad networks what they are going to do for us.  I would like to ask Facebook, "What are you going to do for us to help us choose an ad network that is trustworthy?"

Also, I get a couple emails a week from sales people at Facebook asking me to spend my advertising dollars on Facebook ads.  And, we have spent money on them.  But what confidence do you give us in spending money to grow our apps when you can just pull the rug out from under us for something that is impossible for us to monitor.

Yes Davy, I couldn't have been able to put it better myself.

Facebook:

What are you going to do for us to help us choose an ad network that is trustworthy?

only other thing i can think of is start directly charging for premium content (virtual currency)

As much as I'd like to continue working on the Facebook platform -- it really is a cool place to get your ideas in front of lots of users -- I'm going to start developing on other, more trustworthy and friendly platforms. Twitter and Google will get my next apps. Once Facebook shows that they're interested in partnering with developers and creating a safe environment for building a business, please let me know.

I rewrote the top post. FYI

Yeldarb wrote:

hg++ wrote:

Yao wrote:

2. We can't sit around and watch every single ad and their corresponding landing pages 24/7 for all parts of the world

well then how is it exactly that fb is "catching" these bad ads?...user complaints?

Facebook just has to "catch" one bad ad.  In what Paul is proposing, every developer has to catch every bad ad every time before Facebook sees it.

i dont think so.
part of the reason why they chop an app is probly cuz its been doin it for awhile...theres a pattern of user complaints. Paul did mention having some kind of add-complaint button for users

if its a pattern, it shoulb be detectable with relatively infrequent probes...which of course would be our responsibilty. When was the last time you actually sat down and probed your adds (not counting until very recently of course). If i were honest, not very much at all - i just trust what i read (until very recently)

i dont have the answers, im just brainstorming solutions.

david wrote:

anatolyl wrote:

Facebook is already doing this during verification process (for apps to be verified) since at least August this year.
Ad units and offer networks are verified to be in compliance.

Many verified apps have been shut down for ad violations.  Facebook isn't communicating with developers or advertisers.  Can you name one ad network that wasn't shutdown?

Could you name me a few?  I can't seem to find any.  Even out of all the apps that have nearly died because of this, none of them are verified.

Paul -

I'm glad you're excited, but apparently, we are not as excited as you about this.

Even facebook has problems policing their own site, and they have hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of employees.

see - http://www.pcworld.com/article/173072/s … guard.html

Again, i am happy to turn of an ad within 1 hour of notice. No shut down is necessary.