Pointers to some resources for Facebook

These resources are relatively easy to find, but here they are for you anyway.

1. The Jambool activity -- this is where I've kept most of my research. You need a Jambool account (email me at vikas-jamboolinvites at jambool dot com for one).


2. Step by step guide by Facebook for developing an app


3. Anatomy of a Facebook application -- an excellent resource to understand the different components of the applications that you will write on Facebook.


4. Developer wiki -- the best resource for references on the API. The following are excellent pages to read when getting started
   
   
   
   • Application architecture
   
   
   • Getting started guide
     
   
   
5. Ruby on Rails specific:
   
   
   
   • Tutorials for building a FB canvas app: Part 1 and Part 2.
   
   
   • Notes from a developer's experience at thoughtbot
   
   
   • RFacebook -- a client library for Facebook written in Ruby on Rails. Also see the user forum.
   
   
   
   
6. People have started writing about marketing your application on Facebook. It is harder to get your app adopted now than it was 3 months ago when the platform was launched. And as it happens with every marketplace, this one is going to get saturated and getting users to adopt something new will get only harder. So as you are building your application, start thinking about how to get more users to adopt the application. We have some thoughts of our own -- and if it indeeed works out, we'll share what did we do to make the application succeed. Meanwhile, here are some good articles to read elsewhere:
   
   
   
   • "How to make a hit facebook app -- Look at #20 through #29.
   
   
   • Dave Mcclure's excellent article on marketing facebook applications.
     
   • "News Feed Optimization" at InsideFacebook -- something worth thinking about and looking into. We know we are.