Mashups
The release of Facebook API has unleashed a torrent of efforts to build applications which leverage it's social resources. "Since the launch of Facebook Platform in May, more than 2,000 applications have been made available on Facebook."
"Facebook is now a social operating system," says Salil Deshpande, a partner at Bay Partners, which is funding Facebook application developers through its AppFactory program. "There are going to be applications on top of [this and other] social platforms that we can't imagine yet," he says. Although so far many of the applications developed are simple, developers can use their access to the Facebook network to make heavily personalized applications that draw information from the activities of a given user's friends.
Of course, part of the reason for the explosive growth in the creation of these applications is that their target audience is, by its nature, viral and active. Facebook is made up of 30 million users who have frequent and meaningful contact with each other. When a user likes an application, she invites her friends, and these friends invite their friends in turn. The result is that an application can grow exponentially in popularity.
Yep, it ain't the 20th century any more.
6 Comments:
Though I was among the first members of facebook while teaching in Cambridge, MA, it was my students in Qatar and the UAE that really got me into using facebook on a daily basis. It is a much more interesting and efficient way to keep up with what they are doing and are interested in.
As for the applications themselves, it seems that not a day passes where one of my current or former students doesn't invite me to use a new one. Some are (seemingly) inane, others have considerable untapped potential.
As for the "frequent and meaningful contact" among facebook users... I discovered something interesting when looking through the list of friends of one of my former students: Gorgeous George Galloway has a facebook page, and he has lots and lots of friends.
http://tinyurl.com/395yso
I love face book A thousand times better than myspace and part of the reason is the Applications. I spent a god chink of today using the books applicatin taking a look at what I've been reading lately. That reminds me I need to get back to my latest book 'Digitizing the News' by Pablo L. Bockzkowski.
I don't get it. At first I thought we were talking job applications--what the world needs now is another Resume site.
I have a hard enough time keeping up with the Belmont Club let alone an exponentially growing circle of friends.
I saw a bit about friendly robots with pleasant faces on "Nova Science Now" last night. When I get my friendly robot maybe he could do Facebook while I'm at work or watching DVD's (assuming he doesn't want to watch with me). My cat can't type only feigns interest in the computer and in any case would not see the point no matter how many times I explained it--after having it explained to me, of course.
I have just signed up with facebook to chat with internet marketing guys.
Gorgeous George Galloway has a facebook page, and he has lots and lots of friends.
http://tinyurl.com/395yso
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for some reason this peaked my curiosity so I went to look at George's friends.
The first couple pages are almost entirely middle easterners. George has a few British friends but not many.
Not everyone gets excited about the Facebook-apps. One of my FB buddies put this on his profile page...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL6vlnz4ZlM
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