Bait and Switch for Facebook Apps

I recently became aware of a bait and switch happening in Facebook-land. Last year I added the 'My Starbucks' application to my Facebook profile, allowing me to declare my public preference for the "Grande Non-fat Caramel Macchiatto". The app was pretty simple; just some drop downs to select your favourite beverage and mods and then it displays a picture of the drink on your profile. This was back when everyone was still killing Zombies and other random wastes of time on FB. I didn't participate, but I did like the Starbucks idea. I'm pretty sure (based on what has recently happened) that Starbucks the company had no hand in protecting their trademark in this realm, but at least they didn't pull a Scrabulous and make a big stink about it. Perhaps now they wish they had?

Next week, My Starbucks's name and functionality will be changed to SpeedDate. Data entered into the original app won't be used anymore. Soon you'll be able to try SpeedDate, the fastest way to meet new people, so stay tuned! P.S. If you want to opt-out of this app, click here. on Thursday

Starting next week, the app that is installed on who knows how many million profiles will change its name and functionality... wait for it... into a dating application. Coffee and dating seem pretty similar, right? Imagine if you painted your house purple, then one day the paint company sent you a notice that all purple paint that had been installed was about to switch over to Plaid Wallpaper?!? No, that seems totally fine.

Obviously Facebook's developer guidelines require them to post a status update with the above warning, but how many million people will not heed or care about the warning until it's too late. I guess they only get one shot at it though, because people simply aren't installing silly apps like they used to...