Facebook has told developers that its Marketplace Application is adding more API features. Of course, few developers use Marketplace for their own applications. Why does Facebook make the effort there, and not for Video?

The answer undoubtedly lies, to some degree, in technical difficulties. Storing, managing and distributing video is a daunting task.

However, there’s also a bigger, more fundamental issue. Video hasn’t cemented it’s “social” orientation yet.

We think of other Facebook Applications, like Photos and Events, as inherently social. But Video remains a platform for outside Media, just like Audio. If Facebook opens up Video, developers will exploit that space, encouraging massive volume and massive piracy.  Both are “off-message” for what Facebook wants Video to be. Until the site can be sure it has changed its users ideas about what Video should do, it might hold back on letting developers determine Video’s future.