Quick Hit: Facebook and Google this… Facebook and Google that…

December 12, 2007 at 11:33 pm · Filed under Peer-to-Peer, Social Media, Quick Hits, Web Applications, Privacy, Programming, Online Marketing, Social Networking

Googling Facebook

Facebook previously announced the availability of limited profile data to search engines. I’ve checked here and there and hadn’t seen any evidence, but Facebook profile data is now definitely being returned (by Google at least). A search for “Scott McAndrew” (yeah, that’s vain, I know) shows the Google result to be a standard search result listing.

When not logged-in to Facebook, a click-through to the Facebook site displays the limited profile data as shown in the screen-capture below. Although not logged in, and likely not an acquaintance of mine, you are still taunted with the offer to Poke me (please don’t).

More eyesight into the walled garden

Part of the excitement about Facebook Applications, lies in the ability to reach Facebook’s every growing, engaged user-base. That’s nice, but if you’re looking to launch on Facebook, you likely have grandiose visions for your application. A week or go or so the lack of visibility outside Facebook’s gates was addressed by Justin Mitchell in a Facebook blog posting entitled “Public Canvas Pages”.

In broad strokes: Facebook’s firewall quietly invited Googlebot to take a closer look at Facebook applications earlier this month. Depending on new settings controlled by the application developer Facebook applications can be fully functional to the casual browser (not require logging in to Facebook whatsoever), require login to be in any way functional, or (the most likely) fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Developers can find more information in Facebook’s Developer Wiki.

Per an October blog entry, applications that are in the Facebook Application directory are also automatically showing up in Google search results regardless of their stance on non-Facebook user functionality. If you search on “Apple Student Gallery” you’ll find a Terralever-built application’s directory listing in Google’s search results.

Did you say Open? How’s this for Open:

In the (relatively calm) wake of last month’s MySpace/Google Open Social announcement, Facebook quietly blogged their counter-punch today: Facebook’s platform is that open, too. If you want to leverage Facebook’s innards to push out your own social networking site, have at it. As Open Social has yet to launch, the question has to be one of relevance (or lack thereof) at this point. An excerpt from the aforementioned blog entry by Facebook’s Ami Vora (emphasis and footnoting mine):

[…]we also want to share the benefits of our work by enabling other social sites to use our platform architecture as a model. In fact, we’ll even license the Facebook Platform methods and tags to other platforms. Of course, Facebook Platform will continue to evolve, but by enabling other social sites to use what we’ve learned, everyone wins* — users get a better experience around the web, developers get access to new audiences, and social sites get more applications.

This is just another step toward the vision of easy, open sharing of information. We look forward to supporting other social sites as they release their own platforms, and look forward most of all to the added benefit for developers and users.

* I’m relatively certain that Google, MySpace, and the rest of the Open Social club don’t include themselves as a part of the ‘everyone’ cited in the Facebook blog entry.

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How to get feedback on your Facebook App

October 25, 2007 at 2:59 pm · Filed under Web Applications, Events, Online Marketing, Programming

Do you have a Facebook application you are working on?  Do you have something compelling to say about Facebook development? Want some feedback? There is a soap box waiting for you.

I briefly blogged about the Facebook Developer Garage Phoenix a ways back (it’s coming up on November 14th). One of the traditions of the Facebook Developer Garage is to open up the mic for anyone who is developing or conceptualizing a Facebook App who would like to get some feedback from the collection of Facebook minds at the Garage.

It’s a unique opportunity—it’s not often that you get have the ear of a group of Facebook App developers and marketers (including the likes of Dave Morin, an incredible mind from Facebook).

That mic is also open for those who would like to speak about Facebook applications from a marketing perspective, what’s happening with social networking, etc.

If you’re interested in speaking, let me know-I’ll put you in the right hands.

And, of course, if this sounds like something you’d like to experience come to the event!

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Microsoft Popfly goes beta

October 18, 2007 at 10:02 am · Filed under RIA, Web Applications, Programming

Microsoft has moved Popfly from Alpha to Beta. What’s Popfly? It is a web-based, Silverlight environment which allows coders and non-coders alike to create and share web mash-ups (think along the lines of Yahoo Pipes), gadgets, applications and web pages.

From Microsoft’s press release:

Popfly goes public. Microsoft today announced the public beta release of Popfly, a tool built on Microsoft Silverlight, which provides a fun and easy way for anyone to build and share “mashups,” gadgets, Web pages and applications. Popfly provides anyone — even those with no programming experience — with a simple way to make creations without code and share them on social networks such as Windows Live Spaces and Facebook. Popfly enables users to do the following:

• Add some pizazz to their Facebook profile, blog or personal Web page by adding games, slide shows, “Halo® 3” stats or eBay auctions.
• Build a Web page for a club or organization, such as a soccer team page that would include a schedule, photos and videos from past games, directions to upcoming matches, and more.
• Leverage blocks from Popfly partners, such as Twitter, Facebook and Dapper, to drive site awareness and traffic.

Initially saw this mentioned in Erick Schonfield’s post on TechCrunch.

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Facebook Developer’s Garage Phoenix

October 16, 2007 at 5:35 pm · Filed under Web Applications, Events, Programming

Terralever will be hosting the Phoenix Facebook Developer’s Garage Event on the 14th of November. Direct from the Facebook Developer Garage Wiki:

Attending or hosting a Facebook Developer Garage is an opportunity for a deep dive into Facebook Platform: it is a forum to share ideas with local developers, look for partners on your latest project, see and participate in Facebook App demonstrations, seek technical support, or just network and socialize with other developers interested in the Facebook Platform.

Are you a marketing professional looking to learn more about Facebook applications? You are also more than welcome at this event. While most of what you’ll read online about Facebook Developer Garage seems narrow-cast to developers, marketing professionals have become a fixture at these events. It just makes sense—there’s nowhere better to get a feel for what can be done on the Facebook platform (or find a developer for that matter).

Facebook Developer’s Garage - Phoenix

Location: Tempe Center for the Arts
Date/time: November 14th, 2007 - 6 to 9 pm
Guest Speakers: Dave Morin (Facebook), Nate Warner (Red Bull)

To learn more and RSVP for the event visit the Facebook Developer’s Garage Phoenix event and Group on Facebook.

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Social networking platform deja vu

October 9, 2007 at 10:13 pm · Filed under Web Applications, Web 2.0, Events, Programming, Social Networking

There is about to be a major announcement in the social networking space. Developers will have access to the once closed data of a major social networking player.

Highlights:

• The platform will consist of a set of APIs and a markup language to create applications
• Applications will have the ability to use Flash and iFrame content
• Deep integration will be possible - access to members of the social networks’:
  • Profile information
  • Friend list
  • Activity
  • History
• Monetization - Developers will be able to monetize their applications by way of advertising and keep 100% of the revenue.
• The announcement will be made in tech savvy San Francisco

No, I’m not late to the party. Following rumors which first surfaced this June, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch is reporting the launch of the MySpace Platform will take place next week at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

UPDATE: 10 Oct 2007: Meghan McCarthy says it’s not so over at Valleywag. Her sources are saying that MySpace will have an announcement at the Web 2.0 Conference, but it won’t be in relation to their platform launch.

UPDATE: 17 Oct 2007: Looks like Arrington was dialed in on this one. During a Q&A session with John Battelle at the Web 2.0 conference Rupert Murdoch and Chris DeWolfe devulged details of the MySpace Platform.

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