facebook application development

Facebook Questions Absent in Search Engines – Facebook launched its Questions service this week but so far the results are not available in search results. Search Engine Land reported that a Facebook spokesperson tells them, “Currently, search engines cannot access questions and answers through our Questions product. That may be something we consider for the future but have no current plans to allow it.” Also, searches on Yahoo, Bing and Google yielded no results for Questions.

Facebook to Add Delete Option – Facebook has released a “delete account” option, which would allow users to streamline the deletion of their accounts from the social network. Currently, the process of doing so is cumbersome and drawn-out with several steps. Facebook is testing the option with some users, which says it will “permanently delete your account and all information you have shared.”

Bump Releases Redesign – Bump has overhauled its iPhone app by changing its look, adding new features, allowing Twitter and LinkedIn integrations, chat function, a calendar feature and also allowing unlimited photo and contact sharing.

Info From 100M Facebook Users ‘Leaked’ – Much ado has been made this week about the “leaking” of information from 100 million Facebook users’ accounts. This information was downloaded by security researcher Ron Bowes from Facebook’s user directory, or index of public profile Pages. Which is to say that the “leaked” info was already public, including names, profile pictures and a few of the users’ friends.

‘Owner’ of Facebook Busted for Shrooms – Paul Ceglia is the man alleging he’s contractually entitled to 84% of Facebook per a contract he signed with Mark Zuckerberg in 2003. He seems to have a somewhat checkered past. In 2009 Ceglia was accused of defrauding customers in the amount of $200,000 for not delivering ordered merchandise and he also apparently enjoyed the effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms in 1997 while in Texas.

WaPo Further Integrates Facebook, Web Site – The Washington Post announced an expansion this week of its Network News tool, which incorporates social media feedback such as Likes and the Recommend button. Now users may see what’s been recommended across the site, by section; also the Like button is being replaced by the Recommend button. Users may deactivate the Network News box by clicking the red X at the top of the box to manage their preferences. Similar updates were also made to the site’s Twitter integration.

LiveWorld Releases LiveConnect - LiveWorld released a new product this week aimed at helping brands better engage in conversations with fans. Facebook LiveConnect allows brands to unify moderation/administration across Pages and web sites into one system.

iGoDigital Provides Shopping Help, Facebook Integration – This week iGoDigital announced new Facebook integrations for its product recommendation platform. Essentially consumers are presented with direct and indirect product suggesitons from their network after logging in with Facebook via web or mobile, these sugestions take Likes, recommendations and interests into account. The integration also allows for Facebook users to post products on their profiles to solicit or provide advice to their network.

Appssavvy Makes Six More Hires – Appssavvy announced this week that it hired six people who are set to help the company focus on social and mobile media marketing, taking the company’s total employee count past 40. Talent includes: Human Resources Manager Holly Ettenger, Marketing Coordinator Mattan Griffel, Senior Account Executive-Midwest Meghan Kludt, Product Manager Yolanda Ladia, Senior Account Executive Magali Merat and Senior Director of Ad Operations Robin Wilson.

New Facebook Ads Promotions – Facebook has started some new promotions for Page administrators that includes free ad trials and credit promotions, following similar efforts over the years.

Nigerian President Shines on Facebook – Social Times highlighted Nigerian President Goodluck Johnson’s use of his recently set up Facebook Page, noting that the president posts at least once daily and has earnestly tried to engage Nigerians about the intricacies of government policy.

Facebook in Windows Messenger - Windows Messenger incorporated some Facebook integrations this week allowing users to see their contacts’ social network activity. In Messenger, with a new brower plugin, users can see what contacts have shared online and comment on them via Messenger Companion notifications in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.

Become a Star with Facebook Connect – An interesting Facebook Connect integration allows users and their Facebook friends to star in a movie trailer. The reason seems to be promoting Swiss television shows.

Facebook, NPR and the Media – Facebook launched a Page specifically for media properties this week and some insight as to how media properties use Facebook came from an interview with one of NPR’s social media strategists Andy Carvin. Among the insights was that NPR’s Page was created by a fan and eventually handed over to NPR, the Page now has more than 1 million Likes and provides tips, allows for surveys and pretty basic demographic insights (60% are women, for example). Facebook accounts for 7% of NPR’s traffic, just behind Google, and comments on Facebook are much more common than on NPR’s web site.

Sit on My Facebook, the Video - An interesting mix of social media metaphors roll into one in a new, mildly NSFW music video, “Sit On My Facebook“ by The Scribes. The video was produced by the Pantless Knights.

The Week in Bugs – Facebook experienced an array of relatively minor technical issues this week, that were more notable for how they were perceived. Facebook was preventing people from using the word “Palestinian” in creating Pages, apparently due to an automated filtering system. Also blocked were mentions of Power.com in status updates. However, this latter issue was attributable to the fact that, after Facebook debuted Questions and changed its publisher interface, people were having problems using the tagging option (using @ in front of a name in a status update). This has since been fixed.

Finally, there was a bit of obscenity on Facebook for users who chose the Spanish language option this week. Not only was there explicit curse words, but there were also allusions to sex acts and genitalia. There’s a Facebook Page with about 5,700 people who said they saw the same problems. Gawker attributed the problems to a Turkish web site.

Following up on years of Facebook saying that it is not planning to make an initial public offering any time soon or not commenting on rumors to that effect, a new report out… basically has that same message. “Facebook Inc. will probably put off its initial public offering until 2012, giving Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg more time to gain users and boost sales, three people familiar with the matter” tell Bloomberg.

Facebook has no reason to do an offering, as Zuckerberg owns a controlling stake in the company — the other stockholders in the company have to go along with whatever he decides. By going public, he and the company would be under more pressure to make money by public shareholders, and to handle all the expensive financial reporting that comes with being listed.

However, whether or not Facebook goes public in 2012, or sooner, or later, there have been occasional hints that indicate it is planning to go public at some point (rather than, say, never going public). In 2007, for example, it appeared to be hiring for someone familiar with public company regulatory frameworks. Last fall, it introduced a dual-class stock structure that gave existing shareholders ten times the voting power of new people.

Meanwhile, the company began turning a profit last year, growing revenue from around $700 million over that period to around $1.1 billion this year — or so we reported in March. Given how the year is going with its advertising revenue, and the roll-out of Credits, it could make more this year, with Bloomberg citing sources who think the number could reach $1.4 billion.

With fast revenue growth, no immediate plans for an IPO, and the potential to disrupt advertising and payments across the web, Facebook unsurprisingly has investors excited. Many have bought, or have tried to buy Facebook stock on private secondary markets, helping to drive stock prices high enough to imply steep valuations in the $25 billion range, according to some secondary stock sites. In fact, the company has tried to restrict secondary stock sales, as it has to file financial statements with the SEC if it has more than 500 stockholders.

And investors might soon have another way to get Facebook stock — Digital Sky Technologies, a holding company that a small percentage of Facebook, as well as other popular web companies like Zynga and Groupon.

With a background in gift card processing for over 250 top global brands, First Data Corporation is experimenting with a new real-world gifting app of its own on Facebook, eGift Social. The app is basically a way to buy your friends ice cream.

Users of the application have to register an account, and if they wish to actually purchase anything, provide a credit card as well. It is worth noting that a credit card is not part of the registration process, so users are able to check everything out before giving out any fiscal information.

Once in, eGift can connect to both the user’s Facebook and email accounts in order to add friends. It is a bit odd that it makes users type in the names rather than present a list like most other Facebook apps, but no matter. Once a few friends are added to the app’s “buddy list,” it’s time to start making people happy.

As it stands, it is possible to send gifts from only one storefront: Cold Stone Creamery. It may be the only partner involved in eGift at this time, but there are still over 1,300 locations across the United States, and… it’s ice cream!

The gifting is all simple enough too. Simply select one (or many) gifts, and send them to the friend of your choosing. The credit card attached to the account will be charged and that user will get the gift instantaneously through either Facebook or email. Then they can take it to an actual brick and mortar local for redemption.

Facebook has long required the largest application developers on its platform to agree to an additional set of terms that, while undisclosed, appear to be aimed at ensuring site performance quality. The company updated these terms this week to set a higher bar for which apps qualify for those terms.

Here’s the update to the developer policy document:

If you exceed, or plan to exceed, any of the following thresholds please contact us as you may be subject to additional terms: (>5M MAU) or (>100M API calls per day) or (>50M impressions per day).

We asked Facebook for more details on the change. The company’s response:

We recently revised our threshold policy from 5 million daily active users to 5 million monthly active users. We want to work closely with our largest developers in order to maintain a high level of performance, speed and uptime for Facbook Platform. Sudden, unexpected large increases in API usage could negatively impact both developers and users.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company executives visited Washington, D.C. this week, the latest moves to fend of possible legislation around privacy and online advertising.

National politicians have begun paying more attention to online business in the last couple of years, with Facebook getting special attention around issues like privacy policy changes.

Zuckerberg’s first official trip to Capitol Hill included private meetings with politicians, including with Utah’s Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, as well as other members of the Senate’s Republican High-Tech Task Force. Hatch came out of the meeting talking about job creation, not privacy. “It was a productive meeting that underscored technology’s importance as a key engine in fueling job creation and putting the nation on the road to economic recovery,” he said in a statement, according to Politico.

Meanwhile, other company executives testified along with other technology employees from AT&T, Apple and Google at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing about online privacy where senators said they’d be eyeing new online privacy rules by next year.

Democratic Massachusetts Senator John Kerry said during the aforementioned hearing that he was working with Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, also a Democrat, on proposed legislation for 2011. Politico reported that Kerry is likely to have “the full support of the committee’s top Democrats,” who have been involved in several privacy hearings this year. Separate online advertising regulatory bills have been drafted by some members of the House.

Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor also testified that vague legislation could ultimately harm technological innovation. AT&T’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy Dorothy Attwood and Google’s Engineering Lead for Privacy Alma Whitten had similar messages, advocating a loose regulatory framework around online businesses.

Privacy changes, security problems and other issues — along with rapid growth — have put Facebook in the political spotlight.

Facebook has been busy this year taking on the issue of online privacy, with other executives meeting with the Obama administration. Much of this prepping included hiring people to oversee global policy, D.C. legal expertise and even a California lobbyist. Of course Zuckerberg’s first trip to D.C. coinciding with Senate hearing testimony is also a part of the company’s committment to address privacy.

[Zuckerberg photo via Gabriel Bouys AFP/Getty]