Facebook shuts stalking application

New York, Feb 24: It seems the idea of 'stalking' their crush on Facebook had appealed to millions but the company has shut down the application.

The social networking giant pulled the plug on the application that allowed users to select "friends" whose relationship status they wished to closely monitor - or stalk, depending on your definition.

The app, which amassed over three million users, worked by sending users an email whenever a "friend" altered their relationship status. However, the application was shut down.

"Hey everyone, Facebook e-mailed saying that they've disabled us... We are working for a fix, but ask at facebook to put is back online!" the New York Daily News quoted the the app's official Twitter account as saying on Wednesday afternoon.

App creator Dan Loewenherz revealed that Facebook had sent him an email explaining the reasoning behind the shutdown.

"To ensure positive user experiences on Platform, we run routine automated screens that take user feedback, machine learning and various algorithms into account and remove spammy applications," a representative from Facebook wrote to Loewenherz in an email he released to TechCrunch.

"For example, if an application is making an inordinate number of stream.publish calls and receiving a large number of user reports, it may be removed by our automated systems to protect the user experience and the Platform ecosystem."

"I just really hope people use it for good, not evil," Loewenherz, a Yale graduate, said.

"It's really a practical thing. If you're going to refresh someone's page 20 times a day, why not have an alert on it?"

ANI