January 26 2008

Facebook Apps On Any Website: Clever Move

Duncan Riley

109 comments »

Facebook announced Friday a new JavaScript client library that will allow Facebook apps to be displayed on any website.

The client library allows users to make Facebook API calls from any web site and create Ajax Facebook applications on that website.

Wei Zhu from Facebook explains the benefits:

Since the library does not require any server-side code on your server, you can now create a Facebook application that can be hosted on any web site that serves static HTML. An application that uses this client library should be registered as an iframe type. This applies to either iframe Facebook apps that users access through the Facebook web site or apps that users access directly on the app’s own web sites. Almost all Facebook APIs are supported.

Nick O’Neill at All Facebook writes:

Want to build your own social gaming platform that resides on your own website but leverages the power of users’ Facebook relationships? Now you can! There had previously been applications that could leverage the Facebook API prior to the launch of the platform but there are some significant differences now versus before. The first significant difference is the broader access to Facebook’s core features that the platform provides.

I’m not sure anyone saw this move coming, but Facebook may have just changed the game again by essentially becoming an application host. It’s a clever move by Facebook in a year its competitors will get more serious about offering platforms themselves.

Sphere It

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Alex

January 26th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

clever? Perhaps.
Neil

January 27th, 2008 at 12:01 am

This announcement is in stark contrast to the profile clean-up tool. If people don’t like apps cluttering their Facebook profiles, will they really want them spreading across the wider Web?
Soap

January 27th, 2008 at 12:04 am

isn’t what whan an API is for?

i mean. that’s what people do with google maps api, twitter api, flickr api… they develop apps that live in their websites, using data from the ‘host’…

hot mashups coming up baby…
TheChris

January 27th, 2008 at 12:48 am

Not clever. Fairly obvious. Is there a creativity vacuum in the valley?

While it’s an improvement, they still don’t get it. Yes, I think I have a better solution…and yes, my ego wants me to tell everybody. Luckily, I can control the ego.
Silicon Valley

January 27th, 2008 at 12:49 am

The first link is not a working hyperlink

What is confusing is - it is described as an AJAX app - but later on it states it implies that it will be accessible by an IFrame
jonathan t

January 27th, 2008 at 1:02 am

i am really not sure how to take this. it is a really intersting move, but rather confusing. how will people interact with this, if there are so concerend with privacy. this is the weirdest walled garden i’ve seen.

do they want to make developers stop building their own sites and focus on the facebook apps, since they can now display them anywhere?

how about some data portability…that would make a revolutionary announcement….unlike vampire hunting everywhere, and not just facebook!
Shakir Razak

January 27th, 2008 at 1:24 am

Hi,

hmmm, When is the “web2.0″ blogging crowd going to get it.

All they seem to be doing is what microsoft was trying to do in the earlier stages of the 90’s Internet, thinking people might transition from the closed bulletin-boards, via windows/explorer/msn to a world it would control and profit from at every interaction -OK, so we’ve ended up with google doing some of that, But facebook is trying to do that more subtley, more widely, to the less tech-savvy crowd that doesn’t listen to the early “free” internet defenders, and bring everyone onto its playground; while everyone, as they did with google until it was intrenched and too late, fawns over it and hypes it further.

Once they have the user-base, and the tipping-point that ebay accumalated, what’s to stop them increasing charges, taking share of revenue, et al.

Wake up if you want any control (or just give in to convenience -then do the same with your taxes, travel, love, family, etc).

Kind regards,

Shakir Razak
RevisandoMg

January 27th, 2008 at 1:29 am

Interesante noticia, si. Me ha gustado la pagina.

Bae ^^
Shakir Razak

January 27th, 2008 at 1:29 am

Oh, and Duncan with respect, it’s in NO WAY orignal, unique, unexpected, etc.

It’s called Super-distribution, It’s been around “a while”, it is inevitable with the internet, and there was even a company that tried doing the same for classified advertising called Edgeio -You may have heard of it! :p

Kind regards,

shakir razak
Shanti Braford

January 27th, 2008 at 1:37 am

This could be huge.
Luke Noel-Storr

January 27th, 2008 at 1:53 am

I’m really puzzled why this is being reported everywhere as such a big deal.

All it means is you can now access the API via JavaScript without exposing your secret key.

Developers have always been able to make use of the API on external websites, just very few do. I’m really not sure how being able to do so with client side only code is such a big deal.

Would anyone really develop a “social gaming platform” on a site that didn’t support server side coding?

I guess maybe the only thing is that all this reporting may make developers realise they been able to use the API outside of Facebook since the start.
Duncan Riley

January 27th, 2008 at 2:30 am

Shakir
In terms of a social networking site such as Facebook it is fairly unique, at least at this level I’d think

TheChris
it is clever: it extends functionality for the Facebook Platform in a year there’s going to be increased competition. Another value add for Facebook platform developers. Logic might be a better description though. As Soap notes in the comments: hot mashups coming
113.com

January 27th, 2008 at 2:34 am

Good move (and expected move)… we (all) need more cross-platform tools from facebook (and opensocial)…
Andy

January 27th, 2008 at 2:52 am

Mike, why not use your TechCrunch Jet?
http://flickr.com/photos/micha.....248980453/
Rajeev

January 27th, 2008 at 3:06 am

Really Beneficial for all users.

http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
NicolasV

January 27th, 2008 at 3:37 am

re: #6 jonathan t “do they want to make developers stop building their own sites and focus on the facebook apps, since they can now display them anywhere?”

It’s the other way around: this will *not* display facebook apps anywhere; it will enable apps outside of facebook to *import and use* the facebook social network.

Many websites want to add social networking features. Now they have a choice: recreate these features and force users to re-input their friends, or just use the features and data from facebook. The right choice is pretty obvious.

At iterating.com, we had considered writing a facebook app to leverage the facebook networks, but it was an annoyance to duplicate our service outside our site. We no longer have to, it’s fantastic!

For facebook it’s a bit of a risk, for that very reason: people are less likely to run an app inside facebook, and more likely to run it on their own site. But facebook already has 14,750 applications. So the next challenge is outside: become the ubiquitous, de facto social network provider.

This will give some much power the my facebook ID (because it brings my network of friends everywhere I use it) that facebook may also become the standard for IDs, just when Yahoo announced its support for openID…
Jack

January 27th, 2008 at 3:45 am

Clever move, for sure. Another short-term game changer, although, there will perhaps come a point where the original concept of Facebook will become too diluted.

Facebook seems determined to take many of the best sites and services of the internet and offer them through Facebook as a sort of ‘mini internet’. At some point though, the ‘Facebook’ part might become irrelevant with users thinking “You know what, I’ll just use the ‘regular’ internet and not the cut down version that Facebook offers.” It could be AOL syndrome again.

Presumably the same thing’ll happen for app developers. There will come a point where Facebook becomes so diluted and cumbersome that the developers would be better just creating a regular website and not a FB app.

Everything comes full circle in the end.
Larry

January 27th, 2008 at 4:15 am

It’s only clever if you use or care about facebook. I, for one, am off the myfacenamzbook.com grid and never happier. What is it about facebook that people seem to be so excited about anyway? Why is it that tmobile decided my wife and MUST have a facebook app on our blackberries with out asking us first?

When will this long national social nightmare end?
Jeff

January 27th, 2008 at 5:22 am

will be interesting where people would also like to have their sites viewed

For a bit a fun check out http://www.yupnup.com
MobileKick

January 27th, 2008 at 5:42 am

Smart, clever, whatever… facebook isn’t that tight, and I agree w/ larry iunno what all you lametards are on. When I am at a bar the college kids here say myspace, only fags are like “wee facebook.”

Uhh also facebook is worthless… They can’t churn out decent revenue w/ these stupid business models.

Why would anyone advertise on facebook? It’s not targeted, and it’s garbage traffic.

Why would I build apps for facebook? Why not build apps for a web browser?

It is a cool way to keep in touch w/ friends… THAT’S IT, stop hyping the shit out of this wack ass bs… figures Duncan wrote this crap.
Creditwrench

January 27th, 2008 at 6:09 am

While some apps do have functionality I’m not interested in plastering everybody else’s junk all over my web sites, blogs, wikis, message boards wherever. I want my content on everybody else’s web sites, blogs, wikis, message boards and garden walls.

I see places such as Facebook and all the rest of the social apps talking about how many millions of visitors they get while I have to be content with a few thousand visiting my web sites. They got there by getting people talking about their great web sites and cool aps and putting their API and widgets all over the net. Why should I help them out? It gains me nothing at all.

Content is king. If you write articles about some topic such as how to beat up on debt collectors who abuse people who are in mortgage foreclosure or have huge credit card debt they can’t pay for whatever reason and you know what you are talking about then you have content that is valuable to an ever increasing number of people.

If you can’t write about anything more interesting than which political hack is going to win the election or XXX rated stuff then you have no useful content worth porting to anywhere but some garbage dump like facebook, twitter, ditter or slitter.
NOTanAOLperson

January 27th, 2008 at 6:49 am

AOL has had something (very?) similar (at least the authentication aspect), for dogs years. For example stand-alone Miranda IM chat client lets you log on using your AOL username/password.

“The AOL Open Authentication API (OpenAuth) empowers third-party web sites and applications to authenticate AOL and AIM users through their Web Sites/Applications. An AIM or AOL-registered user can now log into a third-party Web Site/Application and seamlessly access AOL services or new services built on top of AOL services. “
Erick

January 27th, 2008 at 6:56 am

I made one on facebook. If you have Arrington, Scoble, Fake Steve Jobs on your friends list, you can rightfully submit them as a douchebag….

http://apps.facebook.com/topdouchebag

Now I need to make a widget….
Jon

January 27th, 2008 at 7:04 am

At least for us this is really important. We will try it out asap. If there is any relevant feedback we will share it back here..
Fabian Schonholz

January 27th, 2008 at 7:24 am

I am not sure if anybody see it coming but it is brilliant. Facebook is becoming not just a platform but an online operating system. Now somebody needs to develop one of these apps that is actually worthwhile and not a toy. And Facebook needs to start making $$$$$$$$$$$ not just $$$
Emile Petrone

January 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am

Great move!
Larry

January 27th, 2008 at 7:35 am

The notion that other websites would want to help the flavor of the month is crazy.

I still don’t understand the value of all of this. What’s wrong with me just having my address book on my local machine where big brother can’t exploit it? Why do I need facebook or myspace or anything else to stay in touch with my friends why I have an address book? If I lost touch with someone, I can find them through another of my friends.

I get that people want to have there place on the web. If that place is facebook or myspace - fine, so be it! but let’s not make them into more than they are - business trying to find ways to stay alive and stay relevant.
bob cobb

January 27th, 2008 at 7:38 am

when is myspace going to get their platform going?? I think everyone with a facebook app is anxiously waiting for that to happen since there are still more users on myspace
John C

January 27th, 2008 at 7:44 am

This just made my job a hell of a lot easier.

I think the majority of the people that write these comments don’t have shit for vision as far as technology is concerned and are just pissed off people venting anger at their low-level tech jobs at work.

Granted it’s Sunday, but come on people. There’s a million different things you can do with the Internet and you’re just too old to realize the possibilities.
Larry

January 27th, 2008 at 8:08 am

John - I’m guessing you are directing your reply at me so I will reply in kind.

I did not put down all technology I put down facebook. If you believe facebook is a shining example of innovation then you really don’t understand history or technology.

Facebook might have the attention right now but, IMHO, social networking is a loser service. That is what I was commenting on.

Since neither one of us knows what the other does for a living we should probably refrain from comments on each other’s jobs don’t you think?
Ramon

January 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am

Clever? Game changing? Brilliant? You’re all on crack. Woo hoo, now thousands of retarded useless apps are available to mashups via the facebook proxy, big whoopty doo, they’re all still useless crap. There is nothing about Facebook that is game changing. Email was game changing, chat was game changing, the web was game changing, google search was game changing. Facebook is just a website people, it could drop off the internet right now and *MOST* of the internet would barely notice. You Facebook fanboys need to get a clue. If you think Facebook is game changing, you don’t know what the game is.
PookieBadMuffin

January 27th, 2008 at 8:36 am

Perhaps it’s clever in Australia. Or Britain, Australia’s ally in the Global War on Creative Thinking.

If you had all the users of these social services in a room together, they’d spend the day talking about themselves to no one in particular instead of to each other. There’s nothing social about narcissism.

Like the plague, I can only hope this will run its course. But I’m secretly hoping, in the end, it takes a lot of dead wood with it.
Amit

January 27th, 2008 at 8:37 am

Hmmm….this can actually be a breakthrough…. I am wondering is PHP required? or just the javascript…??

bookmarked @ http://livbit.com
Steel

January 27th, 2008 at 9:18 am

I’m sorry, but once Facebook got away from it’s core operation, and started to throw sh*t on the wall hoping it sticks; the real ” writing” is on the wall. Give it a couple of years and it will be another has been. This idea of , ” if more people won’t come to the mountain, we will take the mountain to them, is self dooming. Where do they get off thinking they are the end all for the web?Zuck needs to lay off the weed.
ZOMGPWN!

January 27th, 2008 at 9:27 am

Facebook does what it does well, but FB has never ever ‘changed the game’. That term is used WAY too loosely, and it’s really just fanboyism.

This is a good business move for FB, but since there are a lot of different apps and services you can already use cross platform it’s really just FB FOLLOWING the game to keep up with a quickly changing landscape. They should surely be given credit for just that.

The only new thing they really bring here is the open gate into the FB usership which I have to say for me PERSONALLY is a negative and why I probably won’t be sniffing their APIs. Again, I’m not saying this isn’t great for the a big slice of the socialz pie chart, but the gaggle of writers queuing up to sew their tongues into the back of FB’s Y-fronts is getting just a tad nauseating.

I smell Cooper Lawrence.
John McCrea

January 27th, 2008 at 9:49 am

This is a smart move. A major theme that will play out in 2008 is flipping the model that turbocharged 2007. Instead of bringing apps to the social graph, we’ll see various ways to bring the social to applications, sites, and devices.
Jeremiah Owyang

January 27th, 2008 at 9:57 am

If you’re a business person, who runs a corporate website or works at an interactive agency, I’ve translated what this means to you, and also list out some opportunities

http://www.web-strategist.com/.....trategist/
Remy Blaettler

January 27th, 2008 at 10:13 am

Maybe someone can build up a competitor to Ning based on this. Your own social network, but with all the friends and features from FB already built in.
Boosted

January 27th, 2008 at 10:19 am

It is getting quite diluted, and relying on developers outside of the company to launch new tools/games etc seems like they built a huge platform and don’t know what for.
BigTone

January 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am

Dope Wars!!!
Eric Wood

January 27th, 2008 at 10:42 am

The strategy with our FB app was to include it as an enhancement for users of both TravelMuse and FB. This essentially does all the work for us, so I’m pleased.
http://apps.facebook.com/travelmuse/
Jesse Stay

January 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am

It appears TechCrunch, TechMeme, and others have all drunken the Kool-Aid - this announcement is *not* that significant guys! This functionality has *alway* been in Facebook - the ability to access the Facebook API from any website. The significance of this move is the fact that you can now do it on any static HTML page, no server side code required, improving the chances of limited hosting environments being able to write apps for the Facebook API. An app is still required to be created in Facebook, I cannot create apps specifically for my own website. Nothing different here folks!

http://www.jessestay.com/artic.....ast-night/
Hate Facebook

January 27th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

Facebook is for losers
Bokon Too Koonet

January 27th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Yahoo must be loving this
Bokon Too Koonet

January 27th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

So can you call any application? Whats to stop people from wrapping another application with ads and just distributing other people’s apps?
Ramon

January 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Same thing that stops you from wrapping other people’s websites with ads I imagine, nothing. You can reverse proxy Google if you like and replace their ads with you own. Technology can’t prevent these kinds of things, legal threats do.
Mark

January 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Very clever!
Andy Gongea

January 27th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

I am giving bebo 3 months maximum to copy / paste.

Anyway I think that the people at Facebook are really trying to make something powerful and I respect that.
Herbal Nourish

January 27th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

I agree with ZOMGPWN!

This is a good business move for FB, but since there are a lot of different apps and services you can already use cross platform it’s really just FB FOLLOWING the game to keep up with a quickly changing landscape. They should surely be given credit for just that. And anouther thing webmasters dont need these thing´s if they have good products to offer ro their visitors

Warmly

Thordur
Glen

January 27th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

I think this is s grest move for plateform plays like Facebook, broadbandmechanics and in2apps.com. Making sure that the API’s used by these plateforms allow the development community to have as much distribution as possible is key.
ZOMGPWN!

January 27th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

ty, Thor. can you pls smite Zuckerberg with your mighty hammer when you have a moment?

if possible while he’s doing an interview.
Emre Sokullu

January 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

Wonderful! This makes them even more open than OpenSocial - OpenSocial is confusing, this is crystal clear and easy to implement. Good move Facebook.
Planet Malaysia

January 27th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

This is too late? Not really. At least they move it now.
Don Wilson

January 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Wow, time to seriously looking into developing facebook apps now.
1 Million in 365 Day

January 27th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

I was wondering when those Facebook targeted apps will be available anywhere else. I’m not sure if that’s necessary a good thing. But hey, Facebook is expanding, who is surprised by that?
VelvetRaven

January 27th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

I’m well impressed with this Frontpage thing. I can make web sites with it and everything.

Facebook? What’s that..?
lion

January 27th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

The nightmare is growing…
VelvetRaven

January 27th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

PS. I’m going to have to look a little more closely at this jscript library thing. I’m not quite sure how FB can hope to maintain security if they require the app_key to be embedded in client side code.

Actually, I can’t see how they can hope to maintain any kind of data security with a purely client side library unless it’s a severly hobbled read only client (which it doesn’t appear to be).

I’ll reserve judgement till I’ve picked over the code but my initial reaction is WTF!? I’m already sick to death of “You’ve got a new super f***ing wall message, click here to see a pic of a cuddly puppy”*..

*ok, so they don’t tell ya it’s another stupid cuddly puppy pic until you’ve actually gone through the whole rigmarole of logging in but…
Gebadia Smith

January 27th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

People always want to jump on the giants and say it is a fad or short lived. The reason facebook will stay relevent is because the interent is the place we are looking to for human connection. We live in a time when people are lsoing the ability to feel safe trusting people in a physical situation. In social sites we are able to make safer connections or at least in someways it is perceived as safer becuase a friend of a friend is a friend idea.

The problem with most apps is they are neat but not very useful. The key for facebook to long term market capture like google is to provide more useful apps. Things that really enhance people’s lives and saves them time.

You will start to see much more useful applications for facebook in the coming months.

And if you can’t figure out how to advertise in a specific market in facebook then you need help. The advatage of facebook is you can reach a very specifc market. You just have to do it right.
Gebadia Smith

January 27th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

People always want to jump on the giants and say it is a fad or short lived. The reason facebook will stay relevent is because the interent is the place we are looking to for human connection. We live in a time when people are lsoing the ability to feel safe trusting people in a physical situation. In social sites we are able to make safer connections or at least in someways it is perceived as safer becuase a friend of a friend is a friend idea.

The problem with most apps is they are neat but not very useful. The key for facebook to long term market capture like google is to provide more useful apps. Things that really enhance people’s lives and saves them time.

You will start to see much more useful applications for facebook in the coming months.

And if you can’t figure out how to advertise in a specific market in facebook then you need help. The advatage of facebook is you can reach a very specifc market. You just have to do it right.
EH

January 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

Proof positive that the intertubes are capable of vomiting.
Larry

January 27th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

LOL VelvetRaven
Nima Negahban

January 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

This is the Precursor to the global ad-Sense competitor… duh.

1. Parse the dom send back names and words, if there is also an fb app on the page leverage any demographic data it can provide.

2. feed the monster ad engine.

3. spit out ads on any page on the net.
vanguardsf.net

January 27th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

very very clever..lets see if it works…

john, owner
vanguardsf.net
Steel

January 27th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

@Gebadia

Are you kidding me? Most friends of a friend of a friend you meet thru FB or the web in general, you wouldn’t give em piss to take a pill with. THAT”S FRIENDS?

what a yo yo
Jason

January 27th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

I was at Safeway this morning and saw a picture of the OpenSocial logo on a milk carton. Anyone else see that?
Mar

January 27th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

SPOT ON, AGAIN! This is exactly what I’ve been harping about on my blog. And truly ironicly just posted about the co-relation to the adoption of the PC pre internet was becuase of games, and now you mention Nick say “Want to build your own social gaming platform”.

Hell yes I say. Sure there will be business apps and the like…get real folks, it’s all about games, games, games. Facebook is creating a social gaming framwork and will dominiate just as the Nintendo with the Wii has made console gaming a social gaming experience in the living.

True, no reason to lie or promote my site or anything since it doesnt serve any adds but I write my post and then read this two minutes later lol.
smartphone-freeware.net

January 28th, 2008 at 2:34 am

Mar - you are absolutely right.
EH

January 28th, 2008 at 3:27 am

Nima: So you’re saying that their targeting is going to rely on there being FB content on the page? That doesn’t seem nearly as viable as Mar’s idea, which is still pretty narrow.
Top Webhosting

January 28th, 2008 at 4:08 am

Google must ponder deeper on this latest move of Facebook. Yes, Facebook is coming to town, perhaps to trample Google one day. Hope Google still wins.
Nima Negahban

January 28th, 2008 at 4:18 am

@EH

No , I’m saying it will rely on a whole bunch of other things as well but I think if there is an app on a page , they will mine that for information as well.
Bryan Christmas

January 28th, 2008 at 7:08 am

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this mean developers will now be able to monetize Facebook apps using Adsense? That’s a pretty big deal- but that’s not even the half of it!

Theoretically, an entire website could be built as a Facebook app served up at it’s own address. So Facebook could become what Zuckerberg has always said it would be: the center of everything on the web, a huge identity repository that provides universal logins, proprietary programming languages, and most importantly, a home for all your personal, relationship, and behavorial data. In this scenario, Facebook wouldn’t launch a new ad network, they’d already be able to serve up ads all over the web. They would basically just be starting a rev share system. With all of that user data, Facebook’s payouts would be higher, banners would be better integrated into the layout, and they would be the obvious choice over separate networks.
I Agree Facebook Is Crap!

January 28th, 2008 at 7:53 am

I thought Facebook was crap when I first heard about but I joined anyway. After being a member I still think it’s crap. The whole apps feature is cool for kids or people who don’t have anything to do but as a grown man I don’t have time to sit around and rate my top movies, share my favorite mp3s with my friends, send online drinks and cocktails, or give hugs and kisses.

I thought Facebook was going to be more professional than that. I thought it was going to be a place where professional who didn’t want that cluttered up myspace thing-a-ma-giggy!

I use to hate myspace as well but at least I get good business leads and contacts off of it.

Facebook is another example of people buying into to hype and hysteria. Is email, myspace, IM,and RSS not enough for you people? Do you really want to be in contact and online that much?

If you want to be social try getting off the computer once in a while. Whatever happened to that idea?

By the way I am a developer by trade and I could greatly benefit from all this but I just hate how consumers will eat Microsoft’s corn out of their sh@#! I’d put the media in ther as well.
Marguerite Jasmin

January 28th, 2008 at 8:14 am

I believe that the applications are what makes Facebook so strong and popular. So I think this is both a smart move that probably send more people their way.
Terry Sanford

January 28th, 2008 at 8:43 am

Anyone know a good facebook apps developer?
SEO Consultant

January 28th, 2008 at 9:25 am

1) This is great for people that want to bring the FB community to your own site. No need to develop it on FB anymore. 2) FB takes the lead over Google’s Open Social and others on this area. Basically, this should cause similar developments from other FB “competitors”.
mrkris

January 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am

As a developer I love creating web applications that others can integrate into using an API. As a traffic generator, I love how easy it is to drive traffic from sites such as MySpace and FaceBook. As an end user, I HATE how FaceBook is abusing it’s user base, starting off as a clean alternative to MySpace for college users to keep in touch, and moving to be just an advanced myspace.

Eventually it will catch up to them, and when another alternative comes around, people will leave FaceBook in flocks just like they did MySpace.
Gr00vy

January 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am

Sakir,
Everybody is not equal to nobody. The question is enough. What has changed between now and before is three-fold. The experience is dramatically better than it used to be. Often as good or approaching as good as a standalone experience. Second ease of development, idea generation. You no longer have to create server side tools, or understand what is happening on the server to create your application. Third is that it is dramatically easier to monetize most ideas today, you simply have to create eyeballs and google sends you a check.

The question now is can you get enough eyeballs to make the venture worthwhile. Who knows for sure? So you try, and see how it goes. But this is not the same as it failed before it will fail again. Rather, the world has changed, and I think we can make it work. I don’t need 50, I need 3. I don’t need a server room, I need some clever API’s. I don’t need a marketing department or create friction with my users, I sell their attention to others. I think this will work.
bobbydassler

January 28th, 2008 at 10:12 am

How about being able to make your facebook profile an app and take anywhere?
ahah!

checkout my partywith me app and link to calendar and show the alphgeeks where you be a partying on the weekend etc etc - Stay cool all!

http://apps.facebook.com/partywithme/
dan

January 28th, 2008 at 10:25 am

Anyone know a good facebook app blocking extension for firefox?
Dougle

January 28th, 2008 at 10:30 am

Please God no. What have i done wrong!!!!!!!
scrabfan

January 28th, 2008 at 10:38 am

This is perfect for Scrabulous users, and a good bit of leveraging for the Scrabulous makers against Hasbro. Exactly why Hasbro should hire those guys instead of putting them (and Scrabulous) out of business.
ross

January 28th, 2008 at 10:40 am

A really smart move…
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2330673
Chris

January 28th, 2008 at 10:58 am

This is a bit distorting. This is just a JavaScript/HTML version of the existing API. You can already do all this with PHP, they’re just releasing a library for JS.
Andrea

January 28th, 2008 at 11:05 am

Interesting.. I wonder if the intent was to cut out widget distribution platforms like widgetbox or clearspring, that provide you with the code to put your widget on facebook.
Michael

January 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am

Great. So Facebook widgets are going to be the new animated gifs….
zacwax

January 28th, 2008 at 11:10 am

http://www.bestfacebookapplications.com
Colin

January 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am

Enough already facebook!

You need to fix your existing platform first BEFORE you start expanding it across the web. As a developer, it makes me mad that every week they keep adding new calls and features and breaking the existing apps. Just look at the list of bugs on bugzilla.

P.S. FIX YOUR FB:BOARD TAG ALREADY!
devolute

January 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am

oh, brilliant. The rest of the web was were I went to get rid of stupid crappy facebook apps.
Pam McBride - in2apps.com

January 28th, 2008 at 11:42 am

Facebook could not relish in the destination site social network success forever, their growth was being stymied by their own walled garden. So the next logical expansion - become a platform and start by opening it up in a controlled manner. This announcement, as Jeremiah Owyang confirms on his blog, is not new but rather an announcement targeted, in developer lingo, directly to developers - great strategy to keep FB constantly on the radar, but also provides an opportunity for other companies to let the world know what they are doing in this arena. The concept of a distributed network for content is just being realized by FB, but has been the foundation from the start of in2apps. More than distributed content, in2apps has a distributed web strategy for community and commerce as well. The in2apps SaaS platform enables any online publisher to deploy revenue-producing products like social network, classified, and advertising services and by default distributes the relevant profile and classified content across all publishers using an in2apps solution. The intent - to distribute and share affinity-based content, community, and commerce instantly. In addition, the in2apps three-level API will allow for unlimited distribution and rapid adoption by developers everywhere. Going beyond the FB approach of opening web services to access data from within the walled garden, in2apps is an entire development framework for building on-demand web applications that are delivered via a GRID computing environment - now that’s developmental freedom!
Daniel Travolto

January 28th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

facebook is dead.
Ads are worthless and there is no business not even entertainment on there.
so that little feature of exporting apps via JS is useless.
I have yet to see a useful facebook app that has enough users
Joseph

January 28th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

This is definitely something that could be big. One thing to again realize is that Facebook is still trying to find a way to really make money off this thing they have going. Im sure it is a very good step. Lets all remember how Google became Google with Adsense.
Naveed Ihsanullah

January 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

The value of one’s Facebook User ID definitely goes up with this announcement. If the web as a whole begins to tailor content to unique users using this technique Facebook is in a very enviable position. They have positioned themselves to be both the operating system and directory of the social Internet.
It is true that before the Facebook JavaScript announcement it was still possible to show the contents and interact with a Facebook application without having to go to facebook.com. In the past this could have been accomplished by writing code on the server that was somehow tied to the application. For example, CNN could have had code on their website that forced a Facebook login and told you who your Top Friends are and what Free Gifts you have.
This new JavaScript platform makes the process much easier. No server side code is required at all. The press release is also an indication that Facebook wants developers to create applications that function from outside facebook.com. Note: You must still login in to both Facebook and the application in order for this to function. Facebook is still in control of their data.
This JavaScript library also makes it possible now for any number of website to use a Facebook application as a widget on their site without the application creator’s permission. If you see the Free Gift widget on display at CNN.com it doesn’t take much work to ‘borrow‘ the JavaScript and put it on your own website. This can, obviously, be controlled but will require consideration by the application designer.
The restriction of “IFrame only” will likely require that applications are redesigned to take advantage of this new feature of the Facebook platform. Many popular applications are not built as “IFrame” apps. It is my opinion, though, that any application that wishes to be portable across the Facebook platform and OpenSocial will have to go IFrame eventually.
I will put together a more interactive example of this new Facebook Platform feature today. I will let you know what I find at http://www.thoughtlabs.com.
RickR

January 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Pretty cool game, check it out.
Build a city and then get it populated

http://grechita.myminicity.com/
jive

January 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

Now you can make a Geocities page and load up your entire facebook on it for everyone to see without logging in. :p
John Piercy

January 29th, 2008 at 7:01 am

Block Facebook Apps

Auto-Block Facebook Apps 1.1
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12393