This week, the newest Facebook news is the accusation of click fraud by multiple self-serve advertisers.

Is it true?

We’re not in a position to decide that.

However, it’s important to clarify the source of the problem.

It’s an issue of scalability.

Click fraud is being perpetrated by other advertisers. That means that Facebook’s ad platform is big enough to attract them. Click fraud is a problem- but it’s a problem created by success.

If they do work, companies apparently don’t know about them yet. And knowing about their use is as important as if they are functional.

Facebook’s announcement of vanity URLs has ignited a lot of speculation.

One overlooked area?

This may be Facebook’s second attack on MySpace Music.

Afterall, Myspace’s vanity URLs have allowed bands to effectively promote their music for the past decade. Now they can give just as simple of a URL on Facebook. Naturally, big brands will be helped as well. But bands are a secret target of the vanity URL change.

Recently, Facebook announced it would remove regional networks from the site.

As expected, Facebook sites usage statistics around the settings. That may be valid. We’re guessing that most users don’t appreciate the privacy settings around networks.

Another possible reason for removal, however, strikes us as more likely. It’s not that regional networks aren’t used. It’s that regional networks aren’t useful. They don’t provide location data as accurate as IP addresses. And for the revenue hawks out there, they don’t provide useful data for targeting ads.

It’s safe to say that we’ve been thinking about Facebook payments for a while.

Now, Techcrunch reports that the first payments are online.

Our first impression? A “credits” system may be great for some reasons. But will users always want to deal with exchange rates when making a purchase? That may limit the utility for users- and developers- alike.

Of course, there’s been a lot of chatter about Facebook’s new application directory. Our thoughts? We’re not sure how it will shake out yet. Without more prominent placement, the new app directory may not even matter.

But there is big news in social media that we do feel confident reporting.

Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg still likes Green Day.

Some of the most exciting recent news for applications arrived this week.

Applications will soon be part of the stream.

What does it mean?

While the details have yet to be worked out, we can make some general conclusions.

First, it means that old applications can become vibrant- and viral- again through stream based messaging. That’s something for anyone to look forward too, especially if their app has been dormant.

Second, it means that apps are finally gaining parity with pages. That’s good for developers, and makes apps a little more relevant again.

Of course, it’s not all roses. One question about pages and apps is how soon users will acclimate to messages in the stream from pages and apps. Will they start using the filtered newsfeed? Or will the unsubscribe completely? No one knows yet, but the new streaming of apps is bound to force a few quick conclusions.

Venturebeat’s recent article on Facebook platform revenues is a good overview of the major players in the space- or at least the developers who are designing apps for apps’ sake.

That said, we have to wonder if the numbers are a bit inflated.

Facebook’s application platform simply isn’t as viral as it used to be. We’ve received emails from our users complaining about the new design making it much harder for them to interact with our apps. All we can do is shrug. It’s harder to find, access, and read about apps on the new Facebook. We’re guessing it won’t get easier anytime soon.

When talking to clients who want to gain distribution, we always recommend the Pages product over apps. If we don’t recommend that, then we recommend Facebook Connect. It just makes more sense most of the time.

So it’s fine to be excited about apps. But we take Venturebeat’s rough 500 million number with a grain of salt.

This week, Facebook’s released details about their photo storage and distribution architecture, Haystack. Om Malik has a typically readable summary.

The most impressive thing about HayStack is that it’s done by three people.

For us, it’s an interesting lesson in the talent at Facebook. The media tends to focus on high profile business development defections and changes. But in the engineering ranks, Facebook has some of the best talent available. And that’s worth noting.

Facebook recently held its site governance vote. It was promoted using notes through the stream, spots in the “highlights” section, special site notes, and traditional media.

It flopped.

Our take home point? It’s proof that not all ideas are viral- no matter how much social media muscle you throw at them.