Apparently Facebook has been cracking down on fake accounts lately, sometimes at the expense of legitimate users.

This may be Facebook’s attempt to prevent more spam and phishing outbreaks in the future, as fake accounts are more than likely the source of these problems. Get the full story from MSN.

Read the full post here

Take a look at the effect in action:

Here’s how to pull this off: First, click on the FB background (the white part) and then press:

UP,UP,DOWN,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT,LEFT,RIGHT,B, A,ENTER,

Then click somewhere on the page and watch the magic happen… it’s pretty cool, try it!

First of all, application About Pages have now been completely redesigned and now share the same look of Facebook Pages. In addition to sharing the same look as Pages, application owners can now use their app’s About Pages to send out Feeds to all of the Fans of the application. This added option will prove to be invaluable to developers who want to communicate with their app’s Fans.

Instead of relying on sending Updates which nobody reads, or taking the time to code or send daily notifications to let users know what’s going on, developers can simply send out a Feed as the application, say, everytime new missions is added to a game, or when new gifts are added to a gift application. Aside from the fact that these Feeds are much easier to send on a whim and are more effective then the other means of updating fans, sending a Feed will also create a viral effect that will draw more traffic to applications.

As was mentioned above, the Verified Application program was also unveiled on Wednesday. So far the benefits of having your apps verified sound good in theory, but it’s still unclear as to whether or not getting verified will be worth the required $300 fee. It seems as if this latest push is Facebook’s first attempt to really start cleaning up the application directory. The purpose of the Verified App program is obvious, but the implications of app owners using the new Feed feature could have the same results, to an extent. You can be sure we’ll be watching and reporting as it pans out.

Since this is the first application to be accepted into the program, there probably won’t be much of a benefit as most Facebook users are not yet aware of the “verified application” icon. The program states that “users will see more information from verified applications as we increase their allocations for communication channels such as requests and notifications, and increase visibility of their stories in News Feed.”

While news feed presence was once a significant benefit for developers, it is no longer as difficult to optimize for since all applications can be granted access. Ironically the application has been verified even though it to try to trick users into inviting their friends. On multiple instances users are instructed to classify friends as “classmates” by inviting them to the application, the first time being when they load the application.

There are some interesting features of the Coursefeed application too. Users can sync their current courses via their Blackboard accounts. Additionally, users can access free course content offered through the open courseware program. Many Facebook developers have already registered to have their applications verified and this appears the first to have been approved so far.