Sunday, April 6, 2008
New Facebook Apps
What are people building by way of Facebook apps? Recent postings about new apps and questions about programming them support the view in the book that many apps are small and focused. An app to help clients of a health club keep track of their fitness regimen. Low-gas-prices in a given metro area.
This is not to deny that there aren't still many Facebook blockbuster apps out there waiting to be written, but the focus of the social graph on small-scale projects remains a compelling argument for building Facebook apps.
On another front, a friend reported a new wrinkle in the ongoing conversation about whether social networking sites and the Internet in general are decreasing our social skills and interactions. So many Facebook apps really don't show their best features unless you have friends using the same app. The friend (nameless by request) said that getting the most out of Facebook apps means keeping up with friends. Not the pig-in-a-poke "friends" you sometimes encounter, but those friends from school or old neighborhoods or whatever that you've lost track of. I know this is the party line, but it does seem to tip the balance towards keeping up with friends.
Of course, now, I have to face the fact that a disturbing number of people on Facebook remember H.M.S. Pinafore from Gunston Junior High School. I wonder if playing SIr Joseph influenced me in later life? (And no, please do not respond to this rhetorical question.)
This is not to deny that there aren't still many Facebook blockbuster apps out there waiting to be written, but the focus of the social graph on small-scale projects remains a compelling argument for building Facebook apps.
On another front, a friend reported a new wrinkle in the ongoing conversation about whether social networking sites and the Internet in general are decreasing our social skills and interactions. So many Facebook apps really don't show their best features unless you have friends using the same app. The friend (nameless by request) said that getting the most out of Facebook apps means keeping up with friends. Not the pig-in-a-poke "friends" you sometimes encounter, but those friends from school or old neighborhoods or whatever that you've lost track of. I know this is the party line, but it does seem to tip the balance towards keeping up with friends.
Of course, now, I have to face the fact that a disturbing number of people on Facebook remember H.M.S. Pinafore from Gunston Junior High School. I wonder if playing SIr Joseph influenced me in later life? (And no, please do not respond to this rhetorical question.)
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