Since throwing open its doors to software developers, Facebook has transformed into a hub for applications makers eager to tap into the fast-growing social network. But prodigious growth is not without its pains.

To that end, Facebook has tightened up its policies over the past two weeks. It has now removed the ability for developers to display content that the user is not aware of. In other words, no more hiding “Add this app!” boxes that are hidden from the user while shown to friends.

Facebook now also forbids the sending of misleading notifications, and will be removing e-mail notifications entirely to cut down on spam messages. “Deceptive and misleading notifications will continue to be a focus for us, and we will continue to block applications which behave badly and we will continue to iterate on our automated spam detection tools,” Facebook’s Dave Morin writes on Facebook Developers blog.

More from Morin:
Over the last few weeks we have noticed several developers misleading our users into clicking on links, adding applications and taking actions. While the majority of developers are doing the right thing and playing by the rules, a few arent and are creating spam as a result. Going forward, if you are deceptively notifying users or tricking them into taking actions that they wouldnt have otherwise taken, we will start blocking these notifications.

Fostering a healthy developers environment — while protecting its users from shady tactics — is a work in progress. But we’re already starting to hear grumblings from the developers community over the policy changes.
(Facebook)
(TechCrunch)

Keep an eye on:

• Recently revamped Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter.com buys mom-focused social network Maya’s Mom. Maya’s Mom, backed by Flickr-co-founder Caterina Fake, Yahoo’s Jeff Ralston and others, sees itself as cross between Yahoo Answers and Facebook. (Paidcontent.org)
• NBC Universal lands deal to buy Sparrowhawk Media for an estimated $350 million. (Reuters)
• MySpace launches fashion community in time for New York’s fashion week. (BusinessWeek)
• Internet companies brace for subprime fallout. From the FT: A lot of the subprime [advertising] has gone away, said David Jakubowski, general manager of Microsofts MSN service. (Financial Times)
• FCC Commissioner Michael Copps speaks with PBS’s Bill Moyers, discussing media consolidation, license renewal and the notion of what’s in the “public interest.” (Orbitcast)

(Corrects name of Sparrowhawk Media from an earlier version of the post)