On January 30, Facebook implement a feature called "Ignore all requests", which allowed users to wipe out the hundreds of spam requests that were clogging Facebook profiles. It was a good first start, but I wrote at the time that an even more useful feature would be to be able to easily block an application. I suggested something like this:
As I returned from Barcelona this weekend, I saw that this suggestion had been implemented. It doesn’t look quite the same, graphically, but it performs the function I suggested. Now, when you get a request to join an obnoxious spammy application, you can just press block, and you’ll never see another request again.
And the result? I returned from Barcelona to nearly 200 requests in my inbox. After blocking the worst of the applications — the vampires, werewolves, and so on — I have had just 3 or 4 requests per day since.
Nice work, Facebook!
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
