

  Facebook Launches One-Way Mailbox API. - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/11/facebook-launches-one-way-mailbox-api-woo-hoo/

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jasonlbaptiste
If someone creates an app that lets me select ALL unread messages, like every
last one, not just that paginated group and mark them as read, I will love
you. My fb mailbox is 500+ unread now and id like to have it put down to zero
so I can actually use it.

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GraffitiTim
The inbox API is read-only, so that app can't currently be built.

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jasonlbaptiste
yeah, saw that. my thought is that if you query a message and its sent, fb
would mark that read on their end? Couldn't you query all messages that are
unread, execute a basic loop statement, and call it a day. Not sure how rate
limiting would play into it.

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Cantdog
Buying FriendFeed just got a bit more interesting. Getting Paul Buchheit is a
huge score if Facebook is going to focus on building a full featured mail
system.

My uneducated guess would be that ads on gmail don't perform all that well,
but if facebook could figure out how to monetize messaging that would be huge.

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jgilliam
The fact that this API is one-way really highlights the difference between
Facebook and Twitter.

It's one-way because Facebook has to be worried about spam since anyone can
send a message to anyone else. Twitter doesn't have this issue because you
have to opt-in before you ever receive a message from someone.

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acg
Speaking from experience I really don't want more FB mail: the interface
terrible. Is anyone convinced on using FB for anything apart from looking at
your mate's holiday photos and keeping in touch?

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dmoho
I try not to send messages through FB because it seems that they never delete
anything.

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codedivine
Why not make it real email than implementing half-baked solutions?

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lyime
That's because it will most likely result in more spam. If you give write
access to the inbox then app developers will go crazy. Notifications from apps
(bottom right) are already starting to fill my stream.

