

Ask YC: Critique my Facebook app - tmm1

Check it out, let me know what you think: <a href="http://apps.facebook.com/spreadarumor/" rel="nofollow">http://apps.facebook.com/spreadarumor/</a><p>Every Facebook app I've used so far does 1-2 redirects when you first access it and lands you on a generic add application page with a bunch of checkboxes, expecting you to grant it access to all sorts of information without any hint of what the app is or why in the world you would want it- I find this incredibly annoying as a user.<p>I tried to make the user experience in my application as pleasant as possible. The app does not redirect you, instead it shows screenshots and explains what the app is and why you might be interested in using it.<p>There's a link to login that pops up a login dialog (again instead of redirecting to the login/add page) so that the transition from reading about the app to using the app requires a minimal number of clicks and page loads.<p>Also, URLs are very descriptive so when you send them to others they know exactly what is being linked, for example: <a href="http://apps.facebook.com/spreadarumor/about/Sumeet_Malakar-528133932" rel="nofollow">http://apps.facebook.com/spreadarumor/about/Sumeet_Malakar-5...</a><p>
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jgrahamc
Seems like the sort of thing that could take off on Facebook. My Wildfire app
is 'similar' in that it uses the social graph to spread news

<http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2399397752>

John.

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utnick
looks pretty solid, clean, and well put together

Personally I'm pretty much burned out on typical facebook apps like this (
vampires, zombies, egg hatching, and so forth ), but I could see a lot of my
friends using your app

what did you write it in out of curiousity?

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tmm1
Written in ruby, with the help of the following great technologies (most are
ruby gems):

    
    
     - ramaze, the simple, modular web-framework (ramaze.net)
     - sequel as the database ORM layer (http://code.google.com/p/ruby-sequel/wiki/CheatSheet)
     - mongrel as the webserver (monkey patched with swiftiply to use eventmachine: http://swiftiply.swiftcore.org/mongrel.html)
     - facebooker for facebook api calls (http://chadfowler.com/2007/9/5/writing-apis-to-wrap-apis)
     - haml for html templating (http://haml.hamptoncatlin.com/)
     - sass for css templating (http://haml.hamptoncatlin.com/docs/sass)
     - analogger for logging (http://analogger.swiftcore.org/)
     - postgres for db backend (and sqlite for dev)
    

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jaed
Do we really need an app that helps spread gossip? I admit I haven't installed
it and only took a tertiary glance at it...but if it does what it looks like,
I think you should use your talents for Good and not for Evil :-)

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tmm1
Perhaps not, but I don't really expect the app to take off anyway. Just needed
a simple idea to implement and get familiar with the facebook api and fbml.

That said, it seems the only apps that do take off on facebook are uninspired
concepts such as Vampires, Zombies and KissMe.

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yters
Does anything not mediocre ever take off on large social sites?

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tmm1
The better question is why?

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natrius
That's a good question. I think we'll eventually see useful apps take off on
social sites. The viral features of the Facebook API, namely integrating with
the News Feed, have only been available since around March.

I think the ratio of useful to frivolous users of the Facebook API was much
better before the new features came out. Before, the only useful thing you
could do was pull down people's friend relationships from Facebook. This alone
was extremely useful if you were already building something that had some
substance to it.

Now, most of the apps you see are from people who are trying to capitalize on
the viral featues of the API to sell ads. Instead of apps being valued for
their utility, they're valued for their ability to convince users to invite
all of their friends.

Eventually, the hype will die down, and some of the useful applications of the
Facebook API will begin to become more prominent. Even now, I only get
invitations to sill apps like Vampires and Zombies from one or two of my
friends. As Facebook users begin to show more ability to discriminate based on
quality, we'll see more people take advantage of the freely accessible social
graph to actually do cool things.

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socmoth
yey secrets.

looking good ;)

paul, socialmoth

