14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is in the process of becoming more open both towards users, who are encouraged to post more public content, but also towards develops by providing them with increasingly powerful APIs that allow them to make better use of the site's capabilities and data. After launching a new Open Stream API last week, the site is now announcing two new APIs, spurring developers to create applications and features around Facebook's messaging and notification systems.
“Today we are releasing the Inbox API so you can provide users with even more opportunities to interact with rich Facebook features within your applications. For example, a desktop application geared toward small business owners could enable users to check their company's Page stream, as well as read messages and receive notifications, all from their desktop,” Facebook's Ben Hiller wrote on the Developers Blog. “The notifications API lets your applications retrieve your users’ notifications to use within your application.”
The Inbox API opens up Facebook's messaging system to third-party developers, allowing applications, with the users' permission, to access the inbox and retrieve and display the messages. The API is read-only for now so outside apps can't send messages or interact with them in any way. This is clearly done for security purposes, as having access to users' inboxes would open the door to all sorts of spam messages though, as Facebook gradually grants more freedom, this too may change in the future.
Much more useful for users could be the new notifications API, which could potentially allow them to access their notifications from any app outside Facebook. Until now the only way to check out the notifications was on the site itself or by email. Facebook for Adobe AIR has already implemented the new API and now displays the notifications alongside the main window.
Finally, Facebook has simplified the way applications create attachments but this feature is only available for the new Inbox that is currently still in testing and will be rolled out for all users in the coming weeks. This isn't an actual upgrade as it is part of the phasing out process of the old Inbox and the old message attachment process is being deprecated as well.