Saturday, May 31, 2008
Require-Login/Require-Add
Facebook is changing the recommended and default behaviors for require_login and require_add.
In part, this is because so many people are flummoxed when they try a new app for the first time and have to decide whether or not to add it before they have a chance to find out what it is.
In the book's example, we use require_login by default at the beginning (which is now the Facebook policy). This allows users to browse events and see their friends' events. We then use require_add to bottleneck the requests to update our database.
This will change with the new structure. Because we have used require_login wherever possible to improve our user experience, we only will need to adjust the require_add calls which we have already used sparingly. Specific features that require_add now will be moved as follows (remember, this is not final):
In general, these simplify the user experience and close some areas that allowed over-enthusiastic app developers to annoy users with excess email and the like. In a related area, forced invites are now a violation of the TOS unless they are required for functionality (an app requires a user to have a friend using the app so that they can interact) or the reason for the forced invite is made clear.
In part, this is because so many people are flummoxed when they try a new app for the first time and have to decide whether or not to add it before they have a chance to find out what it is.
In the book's example, we use require_login by default at the beginning (which is now the Facebook policy). This allows users to browse events and see their friends' events. We then use require_add to bottleneck the requests to update our database.
This will change with the new structure. Because we have used require_login wherever possible to improve our user experience, we only will need to adjust the require_add calls which we have already used sparingly. Specific features that require_add now will be moved as follows (remember, this is not final):
. Put a box in my profile: now an FBML button so the process is one step (you want a box? click here--not add the app or change the settings....THEN click here)
. Put a link in left nav. Left nav is gone, replaced by the Applications menu. When you're in an app's canvas page, you'll have a new bookmark feature which will add it to the Applications menu. You can rearrange the Applications menu from Edit My Applications.
. Publish stories in my News Feed. Enabled by default; disable in Edit My Applications. Stories of more than one line require user approval to send.
. Email notifications to users. Disabled by default. To enable it, users will need to click an interface element on your canvas page. This is not controlled by Edit My Applications.
. Add profile actions links. Deprecated: there are none in the new interface.
In general, these simplify the user experience and close some areas that allowed over-enthusiastic app developers to annoy users with excess email and the like. In a related area, forced invites are now a violation of the TOS unless they are required for functionality (an app requires a user to have a friend using the app so that they can interact) or the reason for the forced invite is made clear.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
News on the New Facebook Feed
Here is the new info on the Feed. We'll be updating one of the examples to use it this week. More news as it happens...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Facebook Beta
Facebook is now planning to update the beta site each Monday. Developers (i.e., anyone who has added the Facebook Developer app) can access it to check out their code. We're checking the book examples to make certain that nothing breaks.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Sandbox for New Facebook Pages, Revised Chapter 15 App
Facebook has launched a sandbox for developers to test out the new profile pages. You need to be a Facebook developer to use it (see Chapter 12, page 192, "Get Started As a Facebook Developer).
There are more changes to come in the next few days, but we're getting ready. The code for Chapter 15 (the final version of the book's app) has been on the downloads page since the book was published. A revised version was posted six weeks ago: it uses the PHP5 libraries (rather than PHP4). In addition, on the back end, we've switched to MySQL 5. There are no changes to the code except for pointing to different libraries (and those pointers change depending on which environment you're in and where your files are located).
The first step of the change to the new profile pages is another app you can play with. You can find it at apps.facebook.com/developmentqa. At the moment, it is EXACTLY the source code of the PHP 5 version of Chapter 15, and it works without changes on the beta version of the new profile pages in the sandbox.
As the new profile page APIs are incorporated into the sandbox, I'll be adding their functionality to the app and will make the source code available for downloading in addition to the regular download files. The timing of this is totally dependent on the Facebook timing. My guess is that we'll wind up with updates no more than once a week for the Chapter 15 example. Details of the updates and the source code will be on http://www.jesses-social-networking-site.com/. If you subscribe to the Atom feed at the bottom of the page, you'll get the updates in your news reader, browser, or email program as soon as they're posted. Postings from that blog also show up as notes on the book's Facebook page.
If you want to follow along with the example, my suggestion is to download the Chapter 15 (revised) files from the downloads page. Then you can just add in the changes as they come along.
There are more changes to come in the next few days, but we're getting ready. The code for Chapter 15 (the final version of the book's app) has been on the downloads page since the book was published. A revised version was posted six weeks ago: it uses the PHP5 libraries (rather than PHP4). In addition, on the back end, we've switched to MySQL 5. There are no changes to the code except for pointing to different libraries (and those pointers change depending on which environment you're in and where your files are located).
The first step of the change to the new profile pages is another app you can play with. You can find it at apps.facebook.com/developmentqa. At the moment, it is EXACTLY the source code of the PHP 5 version of Chapter 15, and it works without changes on the beta version of the new profile pages in the sandbox.
As the new profile page APIs are incorporated into the sandbox, I'll be adding their functionality to the app and will make the source code available for downloading in addition to the regular download files. The timing of this is totally dependent on the Facebook timing. My guess is that we'll wind up with updates no more than once a week for the Chapter 15 example. Details of the updates and the source code will be on http://www.jesses-social-networking-site.com/. If you subscribe to the Atom feed at the bottom of the page, you'll get the updates in your news reader, browser, or email program as soon as they're posted. Postings from that blog also show up as notes on the book's Facebook page.
If you want to follow along with the example, my suggestion is to download the Chapter 15 (revised) files from the downloads page. Then you can just add in the changes as they come along.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Washington Post: Fledgling Rebellion on Facebook Is Struck Down by Force in Egypt
When I started writing about Facebook, I had to convince people that it wasn't just something kids used. I don't have to do much convincing any more.
Although there are many people who bemoan the changes in Facebook (PARENTS are joining!), we're seeing it and other social networks being used in new ways--not always successfully as the Washington Post article about Egypt shows.
So many substantive groups and apps on Facebook are emerging that I'm not certain we can even see where it will end. Are the days of "what vegetable are you?" over? And maybe that's a good thing. However, the socializing and, yes, just plain fun on Facebook are still there.
And on a personal note (this is a blog, after all), it's just two weeks we think until the Great Day in the North Country (that would be the Adirondacks and Vermont). Unicel, the GSM service owned by Verizon is due to swap customers here with some CDMA customers in Oklahoma. Workers in the local Unicel store confirm that as of June 2 they will be an AT&T store. And we know what that means...iPhone. Those of us with iPhones don't use them much in this region because we dread spending too much time off network and losing our accounts (the stories aren't pleasant). With AT&T, that fear will presumably disappear, and people like me can ditch our two-cell-phone lives. (Anyone want to buy a used Sprint Treo 650?)
Which matters for Facebook because the mobile interface on my account is turned off due to the Sprint pricing structure. Assuming the June 2 date is valid, the mobile interface will be turned on.
Now, I only have to worry about iPhone roaming when traveling to one foreign country, not two. (Although we hear iPhone comes to Canada this summer. And, yes, I know that technically Vermont is not a foreign country, but...)
Although there are many people who bemoan the changes in Facebook (PARENTS are joining!), we're seeing it and other social networks being used in new ways--not always successfully as the Washington Post article about Egypt shows.
So many substantive groups and apps on Facebook are emerging that I'm not certain we can even see where it will end. Are the days of "what vegetable are you?" over? And maybe that's a good thing. However, the socializing and, yes, just plain fun on Facebook are still there.
And on a personal note (this is a blog, after all), it's just two weeks we think until the Great Day in the North Country (that would be the Adirondacks and Vermont). Unicel, the GSM service owned by Verizon is due to swap customers here with some CDMA customers in Oklahoma. Workers in the local Unicel store confirm that as of June 2 they will be an AT&T store. And we know what that means...iPhone. Those of us with iPhones don't use them much in this region because we dread spending too much time off network and losing our accounts (the stories aren't pleasant). With AT&T, that fear will presumably disappear, and people like me can ditch our two-cell-phone lives. (Anyone want to buy a used Sprint Treo 650?)
Which matters for Facebook because the mobile interface on my account is turned off due to the Sprint pricing structure. Assuming the June 2 date is valid, the mobile interface will be turned on.
Now, I only have to worry about iPhone roaming when traveling to one foreign country, not two. (Although we hear iPhone comes to Canada this summer. And, yes, I know that technically Vermont is not a foreign country, but...)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
CNET: Facebook Developer "Hype Machine" Slowing Down
The headline may perhaps be a bit too..."headliney." The mad rush to create the next great mass-market Facebook app seems over. Apps of substance are chugging along quite nicely, thank you. I haven't been asked what vegetable I am for quite some time now, but friends old and new are doing interesting things on Facebook. (I'm sure glad the book focused on apps of substance, if you'll forgive the plug.)
With the long-anticipated disappearance of Facebook networks (in favor of groups), and the new openings for social networking by Facebook, Google, and MySpace, we're moving forward. By keeping itself somewhat separate but allowing increasing incoming and outgoing access, Facebook exercises a degree of control over its look-and-feel that is reminiscent of...well, Apple. It's a difficult task to pull off, but when done right, it creates very strong customer bonds.
We'll see what the next chapter brings....
With the long-anticipated disappearance of Facebook networks (in favor of groups), and the new openings for social networking by Facebook, Google, and MySpace, we're moving forward. By keeping itself somewhat separate but allowing increasing incoming and outgoing access, Facebook exercises a degree of control over its look-and-feel that is reminiscent of...well, Apple. It's a difficult task to pull off, but when done right, it creates very strong customer bonds.
We'll see what the next chapter brings....
Thursday, May 8, 2008
New Facebook Profile Pages
Facebook is releasing more info about the new Profile pages. (See Integration Guide to the New Facebook Profile.)
They're opening a beta site "later this month" [May]. Our plan is as soon as that's up to post parallel versions as necessary of the book's code (as well as the extra goodies).
Stay tuned (and if you haven't signed up for the Downloads Updates mailing list, you can do so here.
We'll continue with brief notices to fans of the book's page as well as this blog, but the bulk of the code details will be in the Downloads Updates mailing list.
Jesse
They're opening a beta site "later this month" [May]. Our plan is as soon as that's up to post parallel versions as necessary of the book's code (as well as the extra goodies).
Stay tuned (and if you haven't signed up for the Downloads Updates mailing list, you can do so here.
We'll continue with brief notices to fans of the book's page as well as this blog, but the bulk of the code details will be in the Downloads Updates mailing list.
Jesse
Friday, May 2, 2008
Status: Looking for Work on Facebook (NY Times)
Yesterday it was the AdWeek article about using Facebook for independent adoptions. Today it's The New York Times weighing in with an article about using Facebook and other social networking sites for business networking.
It's a totally unrepresentative sample, but in the last month I've gotten a number of emails from people interested in a variety of Facebook projects that are like those mentioned in The Times and in AdWeek. Someone wanted to use the main example in the book as a model for communicating with international students at a university; there was another email from someone interested in doing a contractor recommendation app.
I realize that one of the gaps in Facebook is a way of describing these project. "Not games" is descriptive in a negative way. One suggestion is "substance-based apps" but that sounds a bit too scientific to me (and also lends itself to sarcastic remarks). Any suggestions are more than welcome.
It's a totally unrepresentative sample, but in the last month I've gotten a number of emails from people interested in a variety of Facebook projects that are like those mentioned in The Times and in AdWeek. Someone wanted to use the main example in the book as a model for communicating with international students at a university; there was another email from someone interested in doing a contractor recommendation app.
I realize that one of the gaps in Facebook is a way of describing these project. "Not games" is descriptive in a negative way. One suggestion is "substance-based apps" but that sounds a bit too scientific to me (and also lends itself to sarcastic remarks). Any suggestions are more than welcome.
Labels: facebook
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Adoption and Facebook: from the Adweek Blog
A few weeks ago, I received an email that started this way: "Wanted to tell you about our experiences with adoption and Facebook. I was reading your book and got to the chapter about advertising on facebook. I decided that this could be an excellent medium to reach a specific community of users with an add for adoption, so I gave it try."
Now there's a follow-up in the form of an article on the AdWeek Blog.
Now there's a follow-up in the form of an article on the AdWeek Blog.
Labels: facebook
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