Essential Facebook Development Build Successful Applications for the Facebook Platform: Build Successful Applications for the Facebook Platform

by Maver, John J.; Popp, Cappy

• ISBN13: 9780321637987
• ISBN10: 0321637984
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-11-12
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

With more than 250,000,000 active users, Facebook is the worldrs"s #1 social networking platform. But developing successful Facebook applications presents unique challenges, both technical and nontechnical. Now, two of the worldrs"s most experienced Facebook developers show you exactly how to meet those challenges.Essential Facebook Developmentoffers insider guidance and up-to-the-minute best practices for the entire application lifecycle: design, coding, testing, distribution, post-launch monitoring, and metricseven application marketing. Using extensive real-world examples, John Maver and Cappy Popp reveal why some Facebook applications succeed brilliantly while others fail. Next, they walk through using every major component of the Facebook platform to build a complete application that has already proven successful in the marketplace. Maver and Popp thoroughly cover Facebookrs"s most important new features, including Profile and Facebook Connect. They also provide extensive information available in no other bookfrom advanced application tuning guidance to adapting Facebook apps for the hot new Bebo platform. Whether yours"re developing your first social networking application or yours"ve been doing it for years,Essential Facebook Developmentwill help you get better resultsevery step of the way. Coverage includes Thorough, up-to-the-minute introductions to Facebookrs"s current architecture, integration points, and development technologies Successful Facebook applicationsand what makes them successful What every developer must know about Facebookrs"s Terms of Use Creating effective Facebook application infrastructure, one step at a time Adding support for profiles, canvas pages, and messaging Incorporating JavaScript in your Facebook applications with FBJS Integrating Facebook into external sites with Facebook Connect and Facebook JavaScript Library Efficiently debugging Facebook applications Spreading, monitoring, and tuning applications after theyrs"re in production

Author Biography

John Maver has been involved with the Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace platforms from the time they were released, and he has written several successful applications. He has been a speaker at conferences and webinars about Facebook development and was the Featured Developer for the Bebo platform in the spring of 2008. As cofounder and Principal of Thought Labs, John has worked with small businesses and Fortune 100 companies to find the right goals, strategies, and implementations for their social media campaigns. Prior to specializing in social media, John spent ten years leading software-development teams and building award-winning software-debugging products. 

 

Cappy Popp frequently speaks about Facebook and other topics at conferences such as GSP East, MITX, Social Media Business School, and others. He has been developing popular applications for Facebook and other social networking platforms since they launched. Cappy also cofounded Thought Labs, where he’s implemented many thriving social media solutions for clients of all sizes, from small businesses to some of the world’s largest companies. In addition to “budding author,” Cappy has enjoyed many careers, including executive chef, principal software engineer of award-winning debugging tools, and flourishing entrepreneur. Alright, he’s still working on that last one…. In his comically fleeting spare time, he is a die-hard foodie with a passion for ethnic cuisine.

 

Table of Contents

Preface     xvi

Part I: Introduction to Facebook Applications

Chapter 1: Facebook Applications: The Basics     3

Chapter 2: Making Great Applications     21

Chapter 3: Platform Architecture Overview     31

Chapter 4: Platform Developer Tools     49

Chapter 5: Facebook Terms of Service and Application Programs     69

Part II: Developing Applications

Chapter 6: The Basics of Creating Applications     83

Chapter 7: Building the Canvas     107

Chapter 8: Updating the Profile     133

Chapter 9: Feed Stories, Feed Forms, and Templates     155

Chapter 10: Publisher, Notifications, and Requests     193

Chapter 11: FBJS, Mock AJAX, and Flash     243

Part III: Integrating Facebook into an External Website

Chapter 12: Facebook JavaScript Client Library     315

Chapter 13: Facebook Connect     343

Part IV: Post Launch

Chapter 14: Measuring Application Success     369

Chapter 15: Spreading and Monetizing Applications     385

Chapter 16: Improving Application Performance and Workflow     399

Part V: Appendices

Appendix A: Resources     421

Appendix B: Beta Features     423

Index     427