Facebook Launches One-Way Mailbox API. | Hacker News Reader

Facebook Launches One-Way Mailbox API.

techcrunch.com

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.

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

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.

Could you create some kind of macro that pages through, then selects all unread, then marks as read? Maybe with something like this:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3863

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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.

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