A new application hit Facebook called the Friend Network Optimizer sponsored by SAP. It has grown in popularity even though it is such a brand new application. The tool works by telling users how active they are on their Facebook compared to a portion of a social graph. While it may not seem like much at first, this tool is quite interesting to use. It has spread so quickly because it immediately posts feed stories when a user installs the application, therefore generating more users to sign up.

The fact that this Facebook app has done so well is due to the way that it has worked around the Facebook permission tools. Users now need to accept all or none of the app’s usage at the time of installation. Could this be good for developers? Yes, it most certainly is. This allows for a way to grow application demand without spending a small fortune on ad buys.

Friend Network Optimizer is interesting itself because it does provide some data including status updates and photo upload data that can help users to determine where they rank. It is also interesting to check out active other users are, too.

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According the the Facebook Developers blog, Facebook is now granting developers on Platform the ability to request (or require) users to hand over their email addresses. By doing so, developers can begin sending periodic messages directly to users.

This actually doesn’t come as a surprise: Facebook initially talked about e-mail requirements last October and has kept developers updated on the timing in its Developer Roadmap. All of that said, this is a big deal!

Up until now, Facebook applications have used the notifications window (that slide up panel in the bottom right hand side of the screen) to engage users on an ongoing basis. Facebook is removing that functionality in the next thirty days. Moving forward, Facebook will no longer be the gatekeeper for communications between developers and users.

In order to collect Email addresses, Facebook developers will prompt users through an extended permission box. For those concerned with potential spam, they can elect to only share a proxied Email address – similar to the ones you can get when posting items on Craigslist.

Below is an example of what a developer e-mail can look like:

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