The days of “becoming a Facebook fan” to win your favourite purse or a new Playstation game are over. Facebook announced earlier this week that they are making some serious changes to contest and sweepstake guidelines on their site. Companies can no longer use Facebook as a source for contestants to participate in online giveaways; they now have to use a third party website, get official permission from a Facebook representative, or use an application (like ones available to buy, for a pretty penny, on wildfireapp.com).

Now before you write letters of complaint to Mark Zuckerberg for seemingly complicating prize giveaways, consider the ways this helps the average Facebook user, like you and I. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve become a “fan” of a company or product on Facebook, only to unsubscribe days later after receiving tonnes of messages from said company trying to get me to join an online sweepstake, or to vote for something on their page.  In other words, without any regulation, these companies can legally send SPAM to your Facebook inbox, so long as you have signed up to be a “fan”. Not only is that annoying, but it can also present legal ramifications to Facebook as a company.

On the other hand, having contests on Facebook are easy for companies to create, and consumers to access. The amounts of people who submit entries on Facebook, are considerably higher than those who sign up through the company’s website. The reason is obvious; Facebook is easier. Usually a website insists you sign up before having the ability to enter the contest, whereas on Facebook you’re already a user. The more hoops a customer has to jump through, the less likely they are to participate.

Only time will tell if these new regulations will force companies to use other forms of social media to create online contests such as Twitter or Flickr, but with Facebook being undoubtedly the largest medium for social networking, this is definitely going to spark some change .

- by Becky Caissie