** Updates below **
People keep throwing snowballs at me on Facebook. I’m pissed.
it seems that no matter how many times I block this application, it comes back with a new name. It’s up to 4 now.
The developers behind this, whomever they are, seem to be migrating people across versions with subtle trickery — do an action on one version, and it posts to another version of the app. Facebook asks for a new auth, but the names are confusingly similar – leading most people to think its the same application and jsut a bug.
Here’s a picture of my blocked applications setting right now.
(ice) Snowball Wars
id = 8476307935
(cold) Snowball Wars
id = 4902358249
(new) Snowball Wars
disappeared / id unavailable ( but it is unique in my blocks list )
(frost) Snowball Wars
disappeared / id unavailable ( but it is unique in my blocks list )
I wonder what the point of the developers are — to get around the constant blocking that purely annoying applications like this create ? Are they just trying to pump up ad sales? Or is this some method to get as many people to ‘add’ an application, so the id + subscriber base can be sold to another company for rebranding/utilzation as a new app (believe it or not, a lot of that goes on).
I don’t know who’s behind these apps, but Facebook and the Advertisers/Ad Networks should be ashamed of themselves.
It’s the responsibility of Facebook to keep people like this who abuse Social Media platforms in check. The failure to do so not only lessens the utility of their platform, but harms their own brand image and affinity.
More importantly , it’s the responsibility of Ad Networks to maintain brand integrity across channels. I’m truly sorry for all of the brands and advertisers who have placed ads with networks displaying on these applications — I can’t fathom the damage done to the advertising brands’ image.
** Updated **
After talking with friends, it appears that just by accessing the application, ‘Snowballs’ are ‘thrown’ at people in your friends list through no opt-in of your own.
I think the developers are using a mixture of cross-application-linking with non-opt-in actions to circumvent the Facebook API throttles on publishing invitations and notifications.
Based on this behavior, I would recommend that people NOT grant any access to a ‘snowball’ application out of concern for personal privacy and the ability to publish activity through a Facebook account.