At last year’s F8, Facebook announced that in a year apps would not longer be able to access data from friends. That change will be effective tomorrow, April 30th when all developers are required to upgrade to API v2.0. So apps that rely on a friend’s location, relationship, status or work history will be out of luck. One casualty, JobFusion, is shutting the Facebook doors for finding employment through friends as the new API v2 simply won’t allow it.
According to TechCrunch, there is a new slogan floating around internally at Facebook: “People First”. While there is some interesting applications to friend data, the ability for an app to gather information wasn’t well known. The new change will allow users to control their own privacy without unknowingly sharing data through a friend.
In addition to the friend change, developers will now be required to use a new version of Facebook Login in v2.0. This will give more control to users who download the app by allowing them to provide optional data to an app as they won’t have to supply all info that an app requests. With the new login the friend list will now show up as an added permission so users see what info they provide an app. Lastly, Facebook will begin a review process for apps that ask for more than just the public profile.
Overall, this will make for a much safer experience for users, but may present a challenge for marketers. Without friend data and the addition of a more stringent process marketers won’t be able to gather as much intelligence on their users as they used to.
For more information see the changelog for the new API v2.0 or TechCrunch.
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