Thursday, March 20, 2008
Facebook Updates
Facebook is in the process of improving privacy settings and options and, more significantly, redesigning Profile pages for users.
From the app developer's point of view, these settings add more features and options without breaking anything. As soon as the new Profile pages are released, there will be an update here (and on the book's Facebook Page) summarizing all of the changes.
Also, now that PHP4 is officially gone, the example code is going to be ported to PHP5. It looks as if there are no significant changes, but we're testing everything just to be certain. Using the Facebook objects instead of the API tends to insulate you from changes.
From the app developer's point of view, these settings add more features and options without breaking anything. As soon as the new Profile pages are released, there will be an update here (and on the book's Facebook Page) summarizing all of the changes.
Also, now that PHP4 is officially gone, the example code is going to be ported to PHP5. It looks as if there are no significant changes, but we're testing everything just to be certain. Using the Facebook objects instead of the API tends to insulate you from changes.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Dupre's Facebook and MySpace Pages
CNN has a good roundup here of the fallout in the social networking world of one of the participants.
Is there a way to manage sudden attention so that you embrace the positive and control the negative? Not in the social networking world (and, most of the time, not in the real world). Publicity is, and always has been, a Faustian bargain.
Is there a way to manage sudden attention so that you embrace the positive and control the negative? Not in the social networking world (and, most of the time, not in the real world). Publicity is, and always has been, a Faustian bargain.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Future of Facebook Apps?
In "Facebook Is Extending Its Network to Blood Donations" from the New York Times, Peter S. Goodman writes about the Facebook-based Takes All Types that notifies potential blood donors when their blood type is needed in their area.
Two points stand out. First, this is one of an emerging breed of Facebook apps that combines the enormous global user base of Facebook with local information. From those millions and millions, you often wind up with significant small numbers in a constrained area. (See the book's example ChamplainArts as well as the extra download Plattsburgh Picks.)
The second point is a quote from Ben Bergman, one of the founders of Takes All Types: "“The whole thing was done in about three months, for about $500."
Facebook apps are often low-cost ways to promote a product or cause or even to solve a problem (blood shortages). This has a lot of ramifications for developers--such as the fact that big bucks aren't necessarily part and parcel of Facebook development. What it means is that developing Facebook apps is just one more tool in the arsenal of Web developers and marketers. (Dare I mention that this is one of the ideas behind How to Do Everything: Facebook Apps? Get in, analyze what you can do, do it, and get out.)
Two points stand out. First, this is one of an emerging breed of Facebook apps that combines the enormous global user base of Facebook with local information. From those millions and millions, you often wind up with significant small numbers in a constrained area. (See the book's example ChamplainArts as well as the extra download Plattsburgh Picks.)
The second point is a quote from Ben Bergman, one of the founders of Takes All Types: "“The whole thing was done in about three months, for about $500."
Facebook apps are often low-cost ways to promote a product or cause or even to solve a problem (blood shortages). This has a lot of ramifications for developers--such as the fact that big bucks aren't necessarily part and parcel of Facebook development. What it means is that developing Facebook apps is just one more tool in the arsenal of Web developers and marketers. (Dare I mention that this is one of the ideas behind How to Do Everything: Facebook Apps? Get in, analyze what you can do, do it, and get out.)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
WP Article: Making Your Life an Open Facebook
Wonderful article by Lori Aratani of the Washington Post about what happens when kids get friend requests...from their parents.
If you think about it, there's another little bump in the road coming up ahead. Some of the first Facebook users who were in college in 2004 surely are starting families. How will they feel when their offspring start using Facebook? There's a minimum age limit of 13, so they have a few years to think about it. Will it be a rite of passage with Mom and Dad teaching the little tyke how to log on to Facebook? Or will it come as a surprise when the friend request from the tyke arrives in the parental inbox with no prior warning?
If you think about it, there's another little bump in the road coming up ahead. Some of the first Facebook users who were in college in 2004 surely are starting families. How will they feel when their offspring start using Facebook? There's a minimum age limit of 13, so they have a few years to think about it. Will it be a rite of passage with Mom and Dad teaching the little tyke how to log on to Facebook? Or will it come as a surprise when the friend request from the tyke arrives in the parental inbox with no prior warning?
Labels: facebook
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