facebook Vs Third Parties

If you had any question as to those Facebook ad networks that developers can run on their applications, question no longer. Yesterday evening Facebook posted an update with those ad networks which are safe to run and those that aren’t, in turn singling out four ad networks: Gambit, Social Hour, SocialReach, and Tatto Media. We’ve written extensively about most of these networks, however the latest added to the group is Gambit, something we had been hearing for the past couple weeks.

Facebook now has created two wiki pages in the Facebook Developer Wiki: those companies who can help you monetize your application and those who are not permitted to. It’s a statement to ad networks: cross the line and Facebook will shut you down. Whether or not the company can monitor all the advertising running across their platform is one question, however if your company wants to play cat and mouse with the company, you’ll risk getting shut down.

What is the line that’s being drawn? Well, developers will need to follow the the newly revised platform policy. While Google’s policy is simply to “do no evil”, Facebook’s policy for developers is to “be trustworthy” and to “create a great user experience”. In the world of online advertising, I would argue that where the ethical line is drawn isn’t really that ambiguous, however a number of ad networks have continued to push the limits.

That’s why Facebook is now drawing a definitive line for those ad networks. If you continue pushing the limits and Facebook continues to find your ads in violation of the company’s terms, you risk being placed on the “Banned” lists. With an enforcement team which is increasing in size, trying to push deceptive ads through Facebook Platform applications is becoming an increasingly risky business.