Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook Locks the Top Navigation Bar in Place as Users Scroll
- Facebook Partners With Heroku to Offer Developers Free Sample Application Hosting
- Facebook Careers Postings: Mobile Apps Analyst, Legal, Tokyo, Recruiting and More
- Facebook Hires and Departures: Analysts, Engineers, Communications, Client Partners and More
| Facebook Locks the Top Navigation Bar in Place as Users Scroll Posted: 15 Sep 2011 06:52 PM PDT Many Facebook users are seeing the site’s top navigation bar locked to the top of the browser window no matter where they scroll. This floating navigation bar gives users access to their notifications, friend requests, messages, and links to the home page, profile, and account settings at all times. Previously, if users scrolled down the news feed, a profile, or other page on the site the top navigation bar would scroll with it and become hidden from view.
By giving users access to navigation functions even when they’re scrolled down a page, Facebook may be able to reduce the likelihood that they’ll leave the site when they finish viewing something. Instead, they’ll be tempted to visit another part of the site, especially if they have pending notifications, requests, or messages. Users may recognize the floating navigation bar as it’s used on both Twitter and Google+. Some might say this is one more way Facebook has followed the lead of its competitors when its comes to design.
Users may also notice that while playing certain social games such as CityVille, their right sidebar that contains the games ticker and ads stays fixed when they scroll. This is not the case on all games and apps or at all window widths, though. We believe the fixed sidebar for games depends on how third-party developers utilize the fluid canvas option released last month, and is not related to Facebook’s cross-site implementation of the floating navigation bar.
The rollout of persistently visible navigation options, along with several recent product releases and site changes, could be groundwork for a more significant redesign to be launched at f8 next week. Rather than shock users by changing many things about the site at once, Facebook may be opting to push changes one at a time. Facebook tested a design of the news feed a few months ago that removed the Most Recent feed and locked both the top navigation bar as well as the left navigation bar of bookmarks. If our theory holds true, Facebook might be trying to get users accustomed to the fixed navigation bar before it alters the news feed at f8. It’s safe to assume that removing the second tab of the news feed would significantly alter user behavior and cause some backlash. Minimizing additional confusion by keeping other design elements stable, even if just for a week, could increase the chances of a successful reception. We’re seeing the locked navigation bar across our accounts, so it may have been rolled out to a majority or all of the user base. If you’re not seeing it yet, or have feedback on the new design, let us know in the comments. [Thanks to Dan Birdwhistell for the tip] |
| Facebook Partners With Heroku to Offer Developers Free Sample Application Hosting Posted: 15 Sep 2011 12:08 PM PDT Facebook has just announced a partnership with cloud application platform Heroku. It will allow app developers to instantly create sample applications in their choice of language environment for free, rather than having to set up and pay for their own hosting right from the beginning. They’ll then be able to test common app functionalities and edit code to create a full-fledged custom Facebook app. Developers only need to pay if their app grows to a “large amount of traffic or users” By lowering the barrier to entry for app development, Facebook may be hoping to hook more developers on the Platform and increase the breadth of experiences it can offer users.
Meanwhile, Heroku will have the opportunity to convert free sample app developers into customers. Facebook says “we are starting to partner with some of the top cloud service providers”, and there is a Choose Provider step in the flow, currently the only integrated provider is Heroku. Previously, developers had to arrange local, virtual private server, or cloud hosting before they could begin testing out the capabilities of the Facebook Platform. This may have prevented some developers from getting started. Providing a wide range of canvas, mobile, and website apps that engage users is in Facebook’s interest, so it arranged this partnership to get more developers to choose Facebook over competing social platforms and mobile operating systems. Now when a new app is created through the Facebook Developer application, a Cloud Services section appears on the basic settings page. Developers can then choose between building in PHP, Ruby, Node.js, or Python and then follow a flow to launch a sample app.
Devs may then explore functionality such as authentication, feed and send dialogs, and using the Graph API. They can edit the sample app’s code to customize features, and configure settings to make their app public. If necessary, they can then opt to pay Heroku for storage, web dynos, worker dynos, databases, and add-ons.
As competition for developers heats up between the major platforms, Facebook needs ways to lure innovative new third-party talent. If the Heroku partnership makes testing out the Facebook Platform easier than iOS, Android, Google+ and other platforms, it can maintain an influx of new apps that drive up time-on-site and the social network’s presence on mobile and across the web. |
| Facebook Careers Postings: Mobile Apps Analyst, Legal, Tokyo, Recruiting and More Posted: 15 Sep 2011 09:15 AM PDT
It is notably looking for a mobile apps analyst, which could be for covering the company’s own mobile apps, or could have something to do with an upcoming mobile app platform launch. Posts added this week on Facebook's Careers Page:
Jobs posted by Facebook on LinkedIn:Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry. |
| Facebook Hires and Departures: Analysts, Engineers, Communications, Client Partners and More Posted: 15 Sep 2011 08:43 AM PDT
New hires per LinkedIn and Other Sources:
Prior listings now removed from the Facebook Careers Page:
Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry. |
Facebook added openings for several mobile-related jobs, a few counsel or attorney positions, an engineering spot in Tokyo, data center jobs, recruiting positions, as well as sales and account management openings this week. This is all according to the company’s | You are subscribed to email updates from Inside Facebook To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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