Getting love from the Facebook Platform

http://apps.facebook.com/facebook_success

THE F8 STORYhttp://apps.facebook.com/treys_f8_story

The F8 Invite

• Random invite must have been an accident

• Allowing individuals to develop applications before you launch is a good idea (hint hint, impending platform launches).

The F8 Event

• Somewhat predictable, but still awesome

• From a developer’s POV, this is a great way to rapidly gain a user base

• From the user’s POV…

The F8 User “Possibilities”

• From the user’s POV…

The F8 User Possibilities

• Access to cool, unheard-of web applications from outside of Facebook

• Additions to Facebook itself that the company never implemented

The F8 Idea

• Really the first time we’ve seen such third-party integration to a major site

• Pretty successful• Other companies

attempting to emulate its success

• Individual platforms are the future?

The F8 Apps

• All alone• Coded hardcore for a

few hours• Went on family vacation• Had to work from dial-

up = tragic• Sold to SideStep• Fun summer in Silicon

Valley

The F8 Lesson

• Listen to your fellow developers. Maybe they’ve got a good idea.

• Love Facebook.

CREATING A KILLER APPhttp://apps.facebook.com/creating_a_killer_app

General tips: start now

• Get in early– App fatigue– Flooded directory– No more good URLs

• Concentrate on your idea– Make it unique– The longer you wait, the

more likely it’ll be done

General tips: start now

• Don’t spend too much time developing before launching– User feedback will guide

you (if it’s successful)– Prepare to respond to it

while your app is still somewhat small

• Make the app sticky

Facebook approach

• How to use requests• How to use notifications– Zombies initially blocked

for misuse

• Don’t take things so seriously– It’s all experimental– Monetization? Ehh…

Different types of apps• Utilities and games

– Useful inside and outside of Facebook

– Well developed because they’re feature-filled

– Facebook <3s utilities and games• New metrics• Preventing abuse• Games are gaining• FBFund

• Facebook extensions• Fads and seasonal

applications

Define “success”

• Total users?• Active users?• Niche users?• Users in a specific

demographic?• What happens next?– Sell the app– Take it out of Facebook– Try to maintain it

independently

Demographics

• Changing fast on Facebook

• Most are not students anymore

• Most are at least 25• More females• Is your app targeting all

the people it could be?• Mostly English speaking

users, for now…

Execution

• Prepare to scale– You host the most– Facebook app =

Facebook traffic– Tyler’s “Coping with

success”

• Keep up that growth– Deceleration = bad news

• Prepare for Tuesday night pushes. Seriously.

Metrics

• Think about it before you launch

• Google analytics/urchin has its own FBML tag

• You’ll be able to tell from the beginning what works and what doesn’t

• Maybe we’ll have more advanced analytics soon, but still…

Growth• #1 tip: make it social• Organic growth

– Verified by latest stats– News feed

• Use images• Call to action = cheesy• Now templatized!

– Directory• Icon, Name, Screenshot

• Abuse (aka spam)– Don’t use notifications in

the beginning• Advertising

Example App

• “The Wall, Lah”– Translates wall posts to Singlish– “omg haven’t talked to you in a while” might turn

into “alamak! long time no talk lah!”

• Who does this target?• Will it catch on? Is it sticky?• How does it spread?• Can it monetize?

Next up• I’ve talked about:– The idea– Planning– Executing

• So what’s left?– World domination– Monetization– (cue next speech)

• The best applications, the ones that drive Facebook, are supposed to come from developers, so get to work tonight