webdu: Dont be anti-social! Developing RIAs for the Facebook and Google OpenSocial

Dont be anti-social! Developing RIAs for the Facebook and Google OpenSocial

In this presentation I will highlight the intricacies of planning, building, and deploying rich internet/interactive applications on 2 popular social networks: Facebook and Google's OpenSocial. I will introduce a simple paradigm for getting your private data on to Facebook in a secure, personalized manner, and introduce an open source ActionScript 3 OpenSocial API which abstracts and simplifies code-based interactions with Google’s new OpenSocial platform. I will also dissect an active Facebook application that has already been successfully deployed, while placing an emphasis on explaining the additional steps that need to be taken when developing Facebook applications in Flash. I will also discuss an application architecture for a partially connected Adobe AIR application that serves a compliment to an application that is deployed on Facebook.

  • Difficulty: Fundamental
  • Prerequisites: Urge to get friendly with mash-ups.
  • Session Track: Mash Ups,Flash,AIR,Flex,RIA

Session Detail

In addition, we will review the findings of a Stanford course about using metrics to create engaging Facebook apps.

These finding include:

  • Why over 4 million Facebook users installed the Stanford student's apps in six weeks
  • Why over 1 million people engage with the app each day
  • How some apps targeted user engagement while others were designed for wide distribution
  • Why many first attempts at creating viral apps failed
  • How metrics can be applied to product development and marketing
  • Why Facebook is #1 persuasive technology of 2007
  • How these finding and insights apply to many web experiences for consumers

Guests who attend this session will walk away with a complete understanding of how to build and deploy apps for Facebook, as well as open source code that will allow them to interact with Google's new OpenSocial API in ActionScript 3. They will also have familiarity with the results of an empirical study on Facebook, performed by Stanford University, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.

Speakers

Caleb Adam Haye (Berkeley, USA)

Caleb Adam Haye has been developing web applications since 1997. He now works full time as a Flash Architect for Metaliq, an agency in San Francisco. Recently, Caleb became the founder of Fire, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in rich internet application (RIA) development. Lastly, Caleb also teaches at the Academy of Art University’s MFA program. More...