To the best of our knowledge Datepad has become the first Dating Application on Facebook to receive Verified status. What does this mean? The folks over at Facebook have a list of requirements, some of them we now know and some of them we’re still not too clear about!. Depending on how your application works this process can be a tad arduous; for Datepad it wasn’t too bad.

Facebook is  trying to make the application network a better place. One of their major concerns is spam; they don’t want apps sending more notices and friend requests than need be. Many apps that have been successful on the network simply won’t qualify. Sadly these spammy practices are the main reasons many applications have done so well.

During the verification process Facebook was also concerned about the look and feel of the application; they don’t want users to think the apps are created by Facebook. Many developers have made their applications practically mimic the exact look and feel of a Facebook page. For the average none tech savvy user this could come across as misleading so I understand why Facebook is doing this.

The big question is was it worth it? It’s too early to tell and this might be tough to measure regardless. Facebook has added special areas within the application directory to highlight Verified apps, so in theory this should drive more traffic. Truth be told most applications growth is through the news feed and through friend requests. What I do know as a user is that if I were faced with two similar applications, one being verified and the other not,  I would be inclined to go the verified route. Building credibility in any market is tough and in the online world, whether it is a social network or a dating site, one could argue it is even tougher.

Facebook has made some changes over the past couple of months and I thought I would take some time to let you know how Datepad has changed with them. The first change  was the launch of Facebook “Pages”, which basically revamped the old “groups”. Pages are very similar to user profiles expect they are public. The brand, in this case Datepad, has a much better way to communicate with our fans as well as giving us the ability to add more features than were  previously available. Today we are posting some of our articles on the “pages” which gives another way for us to share and be a part of the users experience with Datepad.

Another more recent change was to the application directory and the application profile pages. The directory has moved its focus towards the verified applications. These applications have been verified by Facebook. What does this mean exactly?  Aside from a developer paying $375 USD, we’re not totally sure. Datepad has been told by Facebook that we’re in the queue and hopefully that means we’ll receive our verified application status shortly!  The profile pages are now more similar to the public profile pages mentioned above and again this gives Datepad the ability to better communicate with our users. If you have any questions about the application or just want to make a comment, this is the place to do it.

We are always looking at new ways to get the word out about Datepad; more members are always our focus. Providing Facebook pages and applications that have value added features and content will continue to be our goal going forward.

In the coming weeks we have some big news, so stay tuned!

All the best,

The Datepad Team!