5 ms·

Show HN: Using Facebook Statuses as a CDN

42 points by CarterP 14y ago

jre 14y ago
The page says I have to login using a facebook account without any information on what it's supposed to do. Either this is spam, either you'll have to put a page explaining what it does.
- CarterP 14y ago
  It uses facebook graph api calls to retrieve statuses and dynamically load the content from those statuses into the page. I didn't put a whole lot on the original page because my goal was to show how much of a site could be held in Facebook statuses. If you want to see what statuses will be loaded you can check them out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/SocialCDN/263306957124999 https://www.facebook.com/pages/SocialCDN/263306957124999
  - jre 14y ago
    Ok, this looks like a nice hack :) Here is a screenshot after you've logged in for the ones who wonder what it does : http://i.imgur.com/3ZvNa.png http://i.imgur.com/3ZvNa.png
chrisfarms 14y ago
I'd be much more interested in an explanation of the method rather than a demo of the concept. It sounds interesting, but I don't really see what I'd gain by logging in.
- fastball 14y ago
  The demo is the explanation. I think it's clever.
jpadilla_ 14y ago
Pretty cool! You should think about show the explanation and what it actually does and have a demo section where the user optionally logs in with FB.
- CarterP 14y ago
  I changed the site a little to attempt to explain the method before login is required.
tspike 14y ago
Cool idea. Is it allowed by Facebook's Terms of Service?
- slajax 14y ago
  Why wouldn't it be? Maybe OP is a base64 junkie. I'm sure it'll get a chuckle from the graph team. It's not a if its gonna spark a revolution of sites hosted off fb. It has obvious limitations in spite of it's creativeness.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
csmatt 14y ago
Clever. Does it still get cached?
mion 14y ago
That's an awesome hack! Have you considered using other platforms to do it? like WordPress or something
crucialfelix 14y ago
its down. probably shouldn't have posted it to HN if you want it to live more than a few hours ;)
- CarterP 14y ago
  It's still up for me.
tmchow 14y ago
Super interesting hack! I wonder if its be more flexible to try integration into something like Wordpress instead with Cloudflare running on top. This would get the flexibility of Wordpress for the data storage and utilizing Cloudflare for their CDN.
aba_sababa 14y ago
Excellent hack!
px1999 14y ago
The author has this page hosted from a micro EC2 instance, but they could just as easily serve it from S3, avoiding needing to run any servers / pay for anything except for the bandwidth fees (12c/gb). Either way, it's a really neat hack.
- CarterP 14y ago
  Yeah I'm pretty new to the AWS stuff and am still running on my free usage tier. Originally I was running some php on the page, hence the server. Now it's all javascript based so the micro instance isn't needed but I just left it up as it's still free.
0x0 14y ago
I had a similar idea about storing data in slashdot comments as a "free S3" service (probably inspired by seeing other comments with random-looking garbage) but never got around to implement it. (Partly inspired by an idea about using SMTP bounce mails as a temporary storage system, which I first saw in the book Silence On The Wire)
- maligree 14y ago
  And a link to that particular SotW chapter, for the curious: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/juggling_with_packets.txt http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/juggling_with_packets.txt
zem 14y ago
it's a cute hack, but there is something uncomfortably parasitic about this whole class of "exploit" (building a fuse-based filesystem atop gmail was probably the most prominent example). like or hate these services, they have assumed the status of commons where lots of people are living, and abusing their resources merely raises the spectre of degrading everyone's service if it catches on. (i agree that this particular hack is more cute and creative than actively damaging to facebook; i just dislike the general culture of appreciation for what is little more than overusing a free, shared resource just because you can)
- malandrew 14y ago
  Facebook is not a free shared resource. We pay for the service with our privacy. It's not money, but it is a tradable good.
  - zem 14y ago
    that's just sophistry. as far as the people using facebook to socially network with their friends are concerned, it's a free resource that benefits everyone. trying to layer a cdn atop it benefits no one except the defectors getting free hosting[0], and hurts everyone else by degrading their qos[0]. [0] again, this is all in theory; as far as this particular hack goes i agree it's fairly harmless insofar as no one is really going to try hosting a website off fb updates.

42 points by CarterP 14y ago

jre 14y ago

The page says I have to login using a facebook account without any information on what it's supposed to do. Either this is spam, either you'll have to put a page explaining what it does.

CarterP 14y ago
It uses facebook graph api calls to retrieve statuses and dynamically load the content from those statuses into the page. I didn't put a whole lot on the original page because my goal was to show how much of a site could be held in Facebook statuses. If you want to see what statuses will be loaded you can check them out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/SocialCDN/263306957124999 https://www.facebook.com/pages/SocialCDN/263306957124999
- jre 14y ago
  Ok, this looks like a nice hack :) Here is a screenshot after you've logged in for the ones who wonder what it does : http://i.imgur.com/3ZvNa.png http://i.imgur.com/3ZvNa.png

chrisfarms 14y ago

I'd be much more interested in an explanation of the method rather than a demo of the concept. It sounds interesting, but I don't really see what I'd gain by logging in.

fastball 14y ago
The demo is the explanation. I think it's clever.

jpadilla_ 14y ago

Pretty cool! You should think about show the explanation and what it actually does and have a demo section where the user optionally logs in with FB.

CarterP 14y ago
I changed the site a little to attempt to explain the method before login is required.

tspike 14y ago

Cool idea. Is it allowed by Facebook's Terms of Service?

slajax 14y ago
Why wouldn't it be? Maybe OP is a base64 junkie. I'm sure it'll get a chuckle from the graph team. It's not a if its gonna spark a revolution of sites hosted off fb. It has obvious limitations in spite of it's creativeness.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

csmatt 14y ago

Clever. Does it still get cached?

mion 14y ago

That's an awesome hack! Have you considered using other platforms to do it? like WordPress or something

crucialfelix 14y ago

its down. probably shouldn't have posted it to HN if you want it to live more than a few hours ;)

CarterP 14y ago
It's still up for me.

tmchow 14y ago

Super interesting hack! I wonder if its be more flexible to try integration into something like Wordpress instead with Cloudflare running on top. This would get the flexibility of Wordpress for the data storage and utilizing Cloudflare for their CDN.

aba_sababa 14y ago

Excellent hack!

px1999 14y ago

The author has this page hosted from a micro EC2 instance, but they could just as easily serve it from S3, avoiding needing to run any servers / pay for anything except for the bandwidth fees (12c/gb). Either way, it's a really neat hack.

CarterP 14y ago
Yeah I'm pretty new to the AWS stuff and am still running on my free usage tier. Originally I was running some php on the page, hence the server. Now it's all javascript based so the micro instance isn't needed but I just left it up as it's still free.

0x0 14y ago

I had a similar idea about storing data in slashdot comments as a "free S3" service (probably inspired by seeing other comments with random-looking garbage) but never got around to implement it. (Partly inspired by an idea about using SMTP bounce mails as a temporary storage system, which I first saw in the book Silence On The Wire)

maligree 14y ago
And a link to that particular SotW chapter, for the curious: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/juggling_with_packets.txt http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/juggling_with_packets.txt

zem 14y ago

it's a cute hack, but there is something uncomfortably parasitic about this whole class of "exploit" (building a fuse-based filesystem atop gmail was probably the most prominent example). like or hate these services, they have assumed the status of commons where lots of people are living, and abusing their resources merely raises the spectre of degrading everyone's service if it catches on. (i agree that this particular hack is more cute and creative than actively damaging to facebook; i just dislike the general culture of appreciation for what is little more than overusing a free, shared resource just because you can)

malandrew 14y ago
Facebook is not a free shared resource. We pay for the service with our privacy. It's not money, but it is a tradable good.
- zem 14y ago
  that's just sophistry. as far as the people using facebook to socially network with their friends are concerned, it's a free resource that benefits everyone. trying to layer a cdn atop it benefits no one except the defectors getting free hosting[0], and hurts everyone else by degrading their qos[0]. [0] again, this is all in theory; as far as this particular hack goes i agree it's fairly harmless insofar as no one is really going to try hosting a website off fb updates.