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Inside Facebook

Inside Facebook

Platform News: Facebook Lets Developers Create Test Users Through the Developer App GUI

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 01:09 PM PDT

Facebook now allows developers to create and manage test users for their applications via the Developer app‘s graphical user interface. Previously, test users could only be created and controlled programattically through the Graph API, which may have made using them difficult for developers not fluent in the API or those looking to faithfully recreate the typical user experience. Some developers will gain access to the test user feature today, and the roll out will reach all developers by next week.

In other Platform news, Facebook recently added support for uploading photos to the graph API via a URL and attaching an existing photo from one of a user’s albums into a new post. It also released a new dark color theme option for its Facepile social plugin.

Facebook introduced the test user system so developers could test their apps without creating fake user profiles that violate Facebook’s terms of service, or polluting their own profiles with test posts. Test users can interact normally with apps and each other, but are invisible to and can’t interact with normal users. Note that test users are different than “testers”, which are humans that a developer has given the ability to test their app in sandbox mode, but not granted access to their app’s settings or Insights.

Now when developers visit the Roles section for one of their apps within the Developer app, they’ll see the option to add test users. Multiple test users can be created at once, and developers have the option to instantly authorize an app for them or opt to have them go through the permissions dialog later.

Once test users have been created, developers can switch to use Facebook as them, edit their names, view their access tokens, make them friends with each other, assign them to additional apps, or remove them from the currently viewed app. When switched to be logged in as a test user, developers can edit their profile to add content necessary to test an app.

The feature should make development on the Facebook Platform more accessible. By lowering the barrier to creating and testing apps, Facebook can court the long-tail of independent developers that have yet to grow accustomed to the social network’s proprietary APIs.

Platform Update

Previously, developers had to use a MIME-encoded form field to upload photos via the Graph API. Now developers can just point to an image’s URL to upload it, which will simplify the use of photos for developers using cloud hosting services such as Amazon S3 or “platforms that don’t have good support for multipart file uploads”. Those looking to populate an app with a large batch of photos will find it much easier thanks to this feature.

Developers can also now pull a user’s existing photos into new posts their apps publish on the user’s behalf. This relieves users from having the upload a new photo, increasing the likelihood they’ll go through with posting via the app. Images have been shown to increase news feed engagement, so this change could also help apps achieve more virality.

Lastly, Facebook has released a dark background version of the Facepile social plugin, which displays thumbnail profile pics of friends that have Liked a website or used an application. This will make the plugin a beter aesthetic fit for darker websites, and spread the Facepile’s implicit social recommendations further across the internet.

New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: Context Optional, Lolapps, Ngmoco :), PopCap Games and More

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 12:06 PM PDT

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week's highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at Context Optional, lolapps, ngmoco :) , PopCap Games, GREE International, Inc., MegaZebra, Tagged, Pontiflex, Electronic Arts and Kabam.

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

Facebook Users Can Now List in Their Profile That They are Expecting a Child

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 11:49 AM PDT

Facebook users may now display that they have an “Expected: Child” within the family section of their profile beneath their profile picture. The option is available in the Friends & Family section of the profile editor, and users may also set a due date and name for their unborn child, though no actual profile or Page is created for the child.

However, in what appears to be a glitch, users are able to set an existing Facebook friend as their expected child. This doesn’t make any sense because Facebook’s terms of service dictate that all users must be at least 13 years of age.

Aside from the glitch, which will likely be corrected, the ability to list an expected child should help users more accurately express their identity, and it may reduce the frequency of parents breaking the rules to create profiles for their unborn children.

Facebook added the ability for users to prominently list their family members in their profile as part of the December 2010 profile redesign. These relationships, as well as featured friend lists, appear in a column beneath a user’s profile picture. The option can help users show their friends who is important in their life. This freedom of self-expression makes allows Facebook to offer a more accurate representation of themselves, encouraging users to invest time building their network and manicuring their profile.

With similar intentions, in February Facebook began allowing users to list their relationship status as “in a civil union” or “in a domestic partnership”. This was helpful for those in less common forms of partnerships as well as gay couples who live in places that don’t permit gay marriage, and could be interpreted as a victory for civil rights.

How to Add an Expected Child

Now, alongside the option to list a Facebook friend as one’s brother, cousin, or other family member, users can add list an expected child. To do so, users visit their profile, click “Edit Profile”, enter the Family & Friends tab, and under Family select to “Add another family member”. They can then select “Expected: Child” from the drop down, and then choose to enter a due date and name.

A blank profile picture labeled “Expected: Child” along with the name and due date if applicable are then shown in the Family section of the user’s profile. Unlike other listed family members, clicking the expected child’s panel just reload’s the parent’s profile. Listing an expected child also generates an activity feed story on the parent’s wall and the news feed of their friends.


Previously, parents on Facebook often used profile pictures of ultrasound scans, as well as status updates to announce they were expecting a child, but there wasn’t a good way to persistently display this information without making it the focus of one’s profile. In some cases, parents would create a profile for their unborn child, which violates Facebook’s terms of service, or alternatively create an official Page for them. This new option lets users to prominently display the momentous news of having a baby on the way without creating a separate presence for the child.

Users can subvert the expected child option, though. If users set a friend as another type of family member, then save, and then go back and edit their family relationship type to “Expected: Child”, that friend’s name, but not their picture, will be displayed in the user’s profile as their expected child. The friend will receive a family relationship request, which if accepted will cause a link to their profile and their picture to appear in the family section of the profile of their “parent”.

Users may take advantage of this glitch for a little practical joking, but Facebook will likely disable the option to list friends as expected children soon, leaving only the intended use case.

“Facebook for Business” Resource Center Eases Onboarding for Marketers and Advertisers

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 08:59 AM PDT

Yesterday, Facebook launched its “Facebook for Business” resource center, which collects instructions and guides for using Pages, ads, Sponsored Stories, and Platform applications. It walks business owners, marketers, and advertisers through the purpose and functionality of Facebook’s core products in simple, straightforward language, and links to .PDFs where they can learn more.

With Google preparing to allow businesses onto Google+, this seems like an opportune time for Facebook to showcase the depth of its existing business offering and make it easier to start marketing to its 750 million users.

Previously, the resources found on Facebook for Business were scattered across several other official Pages and introduction sites, including Facebook Marketing Solutions, Guide to Facebook Ads, and Facebook Platform. Now businesses can find all this information in one place, and with a more intuitive flow for those unfamiliar with Facebook.

The section on Pages gives step-by-step instructions for creating a Page, executing a strategy, gaining fans, and using Page Insights. One new recommendation it includes is that Page admins should create a “conversation calendar” to organize what kind of posts their Page will publish each day of the week.

For ads, Facebook outlines how to create and target ads, manage a budget, and optimize performance by analyzing metrics. It links to a Facebook Ads Optimization Guide (.PDF), which recommends a strategy of testing ad variants for two to three days.

The Sponsored Stories section is the first dedicated site for learning about the social ad unit. It does a good job of clearly explaining a complex subject. Lack of understanding of how Sponsored Stories work has likely been a deterrent to adoption. These instructions, combined with recent reports of the high efficiency of the ad unit, should lead more advertisers to integrate Sponsored Stories into their mix.

Canvas Apps, Page tab apps social plugins, mobile single-sign on, and Facebook Credits are all addressed on in the Platform section. This part of Facebook for Business is the least fleshed out, often just directing users to the developer documentation, which may be too advanced for those new to the Platform.

Google+ has run into a few snags in its program for businesses. Many brands created personal profiles only to have them deleted. While it first said that official brand pages would be available within weeks of the launch of the new social network, Google has revised that time table to say businesses may have to wait months before they can set up a presence on Google+.

Facebook may be purposefully taking advantage of the the current discontent with its new competitor by launching Facebook for Business this week. It may be able to gain extra ground on Google if it can remind both existing Facebook-integrated businesses and those new to the site of all the marketing channels it already offers.

PicBadges, Mobile, Horoscopes, Cupid and More on This Week’s Top 20 Facebook Apps by DAU

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 08:27 AM PDT

Yahoo topped the list of growing applications by daily active users this week, although PicBadges — which alters your profile photo with a badge — was right behind. A series of Facebook profile quizzes and apps were also popular, as was Cupid, Windows Messenger and a Page tab app. The apps on our list below grew from between 48,200 and 850,900 DAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

Top Gainers This Week

Name DAU Gain Gain,%
1.  Yahoo! 10,433,887 +850,884 +9%
2.  Zoo World 943,523 +409,825 +77%
3.  PicBadges 373,026 +323,238 +649%
4.  Facebook for Every Phone 1,405,087 +317,534 +29%
5.  WhoIsNear? 445,248 +224,368 +102%
6.  Niik 174,009 +159,706 +1,117%
7.  Oroscopo del Giorno v2.0 196,013 +143,214 +271%
8.  Astrology 3,133,905 +138,765 +5%
9.  Mynet Çanak Okey 582,600 +102,100 +21%
10.  Daily Horoscope 6,078,303 +97,793 +2%
11.  RewardVille 896,786 +97,100 +12%
12.  Profile Banner 396,735 +87,159 +28%
13.  Cupid 468,504 +84,097 +22%
14.  Windows Live Messenger 17,346,083 +82,982 +0.48%
15.  Slotomania – Slot Machines 1,002,317 +71,152 +8%
16.  Collapse! Blast 91,869 +67,446 +276%
17.  The Pokerist club — Texas Poker 156,294 +60,606 +63%
18.  Static HTML: iframe tabs 2,174,320 +56,326 +3%
19.  Gardens of Time 3,787,097 +53,596 +1%
20.  Video Alemi 180,387 +48,156 +36%

Yahoo! grew by 850,900 DAU. PicBadges, which grew mostly in the Philippines by 323,200 DAU is an interesting Connect app that adds a badge to your profile photo, then asks you to make that image your profile photo. In the process the app publishes two feed stories and asks you to invite friends to use the app, too.

Snaptu's Facebook for Every Phone grew by 317,500 DAU. WhoIsNear?, which is like a location app based on the Facebook platform, grew by 224,400 DAU. Niik grew by 174,000 DAU; the app is a friend quiz app that publishes a feed story every time you answer a question about your friend. Finally, another Profile Banner app grew by 87,200 DAU.

Three horoscope apps on the list were popular, each asks users to post daily Wall horoscopes to their profile. Oroscopo del Giorno v2.0 grew by 143,200 DAU, Astrology by 138,800 DAU and Daily Horoscope by 97,800 DAU. Rounding out the list were dating app Cupid grew by 84,100 DAU, Windows Live Messenger grew by about 83,000 DAU, Page tab app Static HTML: iframe tabs grew by 56,300 DAU and video app Video Alemi grew by 48,200 DAU.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

torsdag den 28. juli 2011 at 07.10