Applications on Facebook

With Facebook’s launch of f8 platform, developers are able to develop their own applications that integrate tightly with Facebook. This has opened up many doors of opportunities to software developers. If you are a software developer, this will be a great time to put monetize your skills. Many companies are starting to tap onto this opportunites and they will require your expertise to build an application that can help promote their business on Facebook.

Till date, there are already over 10,000 applications added to Facebook and this number will keep growing. Most of the applications are for fun and entertainment. But I would expect more commercial applications to be seen in the near future.

You can find a list of applications on their application directory. This directory shows the newest and most popular applications, along with a counter of how many people are using them. You can add or remove these applications anytime. Once you've found the one you like, you can simply add it to your profile. Likewise, if you find one of your friends using an application, you can click the link to its name to find out more about it. After adding the application, you can invite your friends to add the application on their profile too.

Communicating with Friends

Once you have set up your profile, set your security and added your friends to Facebook, how do you start saying hello to your friends?

You can send your friend a message. Your sent message will be stored in your inbox. The replies from your friend will also be stored in the inbox. You can view your message under the “Inbox” tag.

You can also click on your friend to see their profile and write a note on their wall. The wall is a place to leave a note on everyone's profile page. You will be able to leave attachments on people's Walls, including photos, videos, and all sorts of rich media items that have been integrated with Facebook.

Alternatively, you can poke him! The poke is a subtle, wordless way of saying hello to someone you know. Your poke will show up in their notifications box when they log back in, and they'll have the option to poke you back, or ignore it. Poking is ultimately useless, although many would agree it's one of the small charms and reminders that differentiates Facebook from other social networks.

You can add more applications to your Facebook and invite your friends to add the applications to their profile too. I will talk more about application on my next post.

Newbie’s guide to Facebook

Getting started on Facebook is easy. Facebook, like other social networks, is all about getting in touch with others. Once you have registered your account, you can start by filling out your own profile. You can also choose to upload your personal photo. You are not required to include anything about yourself, so don't feel too inclined to fill out information you don't want others to see; which brings us to the topic of privacy. I will explain more on privacy in my next post.

Next, you can start to add your friends to your Facebook. You can find your friends on Facebook by using their search feature or their built-in friend finder.

To get started adding friends to Facebook (many of who may already be on the system), use your most active Web mail account (Hotmail, as one example), and your AIM buddy list, which in some cases could pull up nearly everyone you know. Since everyone needs an e-mail address to sign up with Facebook, giving Facebook permission to use your existing address books should make it possible to track down everyone with whom you communicate.

If your friend is not on Facebook yet, you can also send their an invitation from Facebook to invite them to join you. You can also choose to join any networks that you think might be interesting to you.

While adding your friends, you can also choose to add details on how you get to know your friend and once your friends had receive the request and confirm that the details are correct, you will be able to see your friend under “Friends” in your profile.