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It's about time. The FB API was a nightmare. But there's 400 million people on Facebook, so FB integration is probably good for your site, regardless of was you

by waxman 16y ago

It's about time. The FB API was a nightmare. But there's 400 million people on Facebook, so FB integration is probably good for your site, regardless of was your site does. The new Open Graph protocol actually looks pretty awesome. This could be huge.

OmarIsmail 16y ago
Agreed. The simplicity and elegance of the API is really great. A lot of sites have status updates + commenting + liking + feeds... and this essentially gives you a lot of that functionality for 'free'. You don't need to worry about the hard problems in regards to friend visibility, scaling the push model, etc etc. All the difficult data processing is handled on Facebook's end while a site becomes more of a lens/context/perspective on the data. Of course the cost of this is that Facebook gets your data. It's a bit of a Faustian contract (hope I'm using that reference properly). They'll save you engineering cycles and promote your content to your user's social graphs, you just have to give them your data. Sites really now have 3 options: 1) Ignore FB to their own risk 2) Embrace FB and give up control of their data 3) Use FB as a data mirroring and distribution mechanism - but still give them all your data. Choice 1 is a difficult decision to make... if FB becomes THE standard and you're not providing your users the experience they expect, maybe they'll go somewhere else. Of course this could be like Beacon where users hate it. Or it could be like Facebook Connect where it's cool and some sites leverage it really well, but hasn't change the landscape of the web THAT much. If you choose Option 3 you're still giving your data to Facebook. So now you're left with, is it worth the engineering cycles to ensure you don't get locked out of your own data. I think most people on here will say yes, but a surprising number might not. Now after thinking about it for a while, this will cause an uptick in Facebook Connect usage and integration, but I don't think it's going to fundamentally change the way sites are designed. Maybe in a year or two if Facebook continues its growth current trajectory.
- Nervetattoo 16y ago
  I doubt I would design a site differently, but I sure as hell would make sure I connected to the "open graph". Its simply to big a win, it can't be ignored unless your a big enough player. And may i restate: The API is slick and sexy and feels damn open. The only downside here is that its a company like facebook that ends up as the biggest winner. But should you as a minor site really give a damn? I mean, its unlikely that facebook is in competition with you anyway so its not like you actually lose anything by giving them data. And isn't this really a step in the direction the entire web have been crying out for a long time? No more data duplication, "let me put my info one place and then pluck it from there". I consider todays f8 to be quite major for web developers like myself and obviously for facebook as this means they are actually heading towards their goal from some time ago; Becoming a platform.
snprbob86 16y ago
I was just complaining yesterday about how bad their API docs were. This simplicity and the clean documentation is a welcome change. However, one thing stands out to me: the new APIs don't expose networks or network affiliations. It seems like Facebook has been phasing these out for a while, but they could be very useful to me. Does anyone know the story here?

by waxman 16y ago

OmarIsmail 16y ago

Agreed. The simplicity and elegance of the API is really great. A lot of sites have status updates + commenting + liking + feeds... and this essentially gives you a lot of that functionality for 'free'. You don't need to worry about the hard problems in regards to friend visibility, scaling the push model, etc etc. All the difficult data processing is handled on Facebook's end while a site becomes more of a lens/context/perspective on the data. Of course the cost of this is that Facebook gets your data. It's a bit of a Faustian contract (hope I'm using that reference properly). They'll save you engineering cycles and promote your content to your user's social graphs, you just have to give them your data. Sites really now have 3 options: 1) Ignore FB to their own risk 2) Embrace FB and give up control of their data 3) Use FB as a data mirroring and distribution mechanism - but still give them all your data. Choice 1 is a difficult decision to make... if FB becomes THE standard and you're not providing your users the experience they expect, maybe they'll go somewhere else. Of course this could be like Beacon where users hate it. Or it could be like Facebook Connect where it's cool and some sites leverage it really well, but hasn't change the landscape of the web THAT much. If you choose Option 3 you're still giving your data to Facebook. So now you're left with, is it worth the engineering cycles to ensure you don't get locked out of your own data. I think most people on here will say yes, but a surprising number might not. Now after thinking about it for a while, this will cause an uptick in Facebook Connect usage and integration, but I don't think it's going to fundamentally change the way sites are designed. Maybe in a year or two if Facebook continues its growth current trajectory.

Nervetattoo 16y ago
I doubt I would design a site differently, but I sure as hell would make sure I connected to the "open graph". Its simply to big a win, it can't be ignored unless your a big enough player. And may i restate: The API is slick and sexy and feels damn open. The only downside here is that its a company like facebook that ends up as the biggest winner. But should you as a minor site really give a damn? I mean, its unlikely that facebook is in competition with you anyway so its not like you actually lose anything by giving them data. And isn't this really a step in the direction the entire web have been crying out for a long time? No more data duplication, "let me put my info one place and then pluck it from there". I consider todays f8 to be quite major for web developers like myself and obviously for facebook as this means they are actually heading towards their goal from some time ago; Becoming a platform.

snprbob86 16y ago

I was just complaining yesterday about how bad their API docs were. This simplicity and the clean documentation is a welcome change. However, one thing stands out to me: the new APIs don't expose networks or network affiliations. It seems like Facebook has been phasing these out for a while, but they could be very useful to me. Does anyone know the story here?