Just Another Pre-Wordpress Weblog

Feed URL changing this weekend

Adam — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:02:00 +0000

If you subscribe to my blog using RSS or ATOM, please check adamloving.com for a new Feed URL next week. I'm moving servers and moving to Wordpress.

You'll need the new URL to get the latest posts.

If you don't know what any of this means, just come back to adamloving.com next week :).

MySpace Platform App Development - Getting Apps Accepted to Directory

Adam — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:47:00 +0000

UPDATE: As of 18:05PST, both apps are approved. Now the long haul of promoting and iterative improvement. This will be fun!

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I'm at the MySpace dev jam this morning working through the the tech details of launching apps. I want to make sure I comply with the strict acceptance policies. The app rejection process has been incredibly frustrating due to the responses provided by the team rejecting the apps. We need more detailed responses if we are going to be able to make our apps comply. Also, apps getting stuck in "Suspended" mode makes it extremely difficult to dev and test.

Here are some of my sample rejections from the last two days. Obviously it has been a frustrating process of submit, wait, scratch head, submit, wait... We aren't allowed to reply to the emails for clarification.

Thanks to the MySpace team for hearing my concerns.

Sat 3/15/08 8:48 AM

Application Name: Stickers

URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354061799

Reasons:

1. Images need to be used from Myspace Server, images from other sources are not allowed.

Adam: Didn't see this in the guidelines, and certainly accepted apps use images from all over the place. Hope to resolve today.

Sat 3/15/08 12:19 AM

Application Name: Stickers

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354532631

Reasons: Application is fine. But references to external server JavaScript and CSS are not allowed. Only Inline JavaScript and CSS are allowed.

Adam: Think guidelines only disallow external javascript and css on profile and home page (but allowed on canvas). Removed it anyway.

Fri 3/14/08 11:18 PM

Application Name: Secret Admirer

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354556476

Reasons: Application is like hello world. It does nothing.

Adam: App is simple, but functional with database back end via my extrernal web site. Funcitionality very similar to Honest Box (Approved application)

Fri 3/14/08 12:09 AM

Application Name: Secret Admirer

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354556476

Reasons: Application is not working.

Adam: Need more details - I've tested with two users in IE + Firefox on Mac + Windows.

Fri 3/14/08 12:03 AM

Application Name: Stickers

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354532631

Reasons: This application works fine but have links that redirects the window outside of MySpace domain

Adam: Only link outside myspace was an advertisement on canvas page. Thought that was legal. Tried making it target="_clear" instead of "_top"

Thu 3/13/08 11:09 PM

Application Name: Secret Admirer

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354297987

Reasons: Application logo violates copy rights issue. This logo is belong to google talk.

Adam: Umm, the image was not only completely different, it was a simple caption balloon. Licensed a different image from iStockPhoto just in case.

Thu 3/13/08 9:05 PM

Application Name: True Secrets

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354303420

Reasons: Application functionality is not complete as per description provided.

Adam: Description said app allowed sending anonymous messages between friends. Tweaked the wording, but not sure what they though was incomplete.

Thu 3/13/08 8:39 PM

Application Name: Stickers

Reasons: This application works fine but have links that redirects the window outside of MySpace domain

Application URL: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=354061799

Adam: Not sure what link they are referring too. Have an advertisement... but think that's legal. Removed links to canvas page from profile.

Thursday, 2:28 PM

your current application does not meet our criteria for approval for the following reason:

JavaScript Error, No functionality

Adam: Need more detail. I'm testing with two users on Mac + PC (IE, Firefox, Safari)

What's up with OpenSocial?

Adam — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:49:00 +0000

A good page was added to the OpenSocial google group today explaining where they are with some important issues (security, naming, roll-out). The good news is, there is more time to get ready (or keep cranking out the Facebook apps).

What's up with OpenSocial? - OpenSocial | Google Groups: "Do I have to work double time through the holidays to be ready for the OpenSocial launch? At this point it looks like we'll make a couple more revisions to the API before it's baked enough for 'launch'. This puts us into January before the API is ready to be implemented by containers, so expect some early adopters to have a public launch early 2008."

OpenSocial Data Flow / Logical Architecture

Adam — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:20:00 +0000

One more diagram from last night. This attempts to how an OpenSocial gadget relates to the host Web site.

Comparison of Facebook Platform and OpenSocial

Adam — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:52:00 +0000

Facebook’s platform can’t be directly compared to OpenSocial. Facebook is a closed set of technologies and formats defined by one company. Google’s OpenSocial is a standard defined by Google in collaboration with many companies. In general though, it is useful to understand what subset of functionality is covered by the OpenSocial standard.

Here is a quick chart that I created for a presentation at StartPad last night.

The main message last night was that OpenSocial is not ready for prime time, and probably won't be until early next year.

Facebook Ads

Adam — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:28:00 +0000

You are targeting women between 18 and 65 years old in the United States who like naruto, pokemon, or smurfs.

Facebook ad targeting is cool.

OpenSocial Development

Adam — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:17:00 +0000

I will be posting more on OpenSocial in the next week or so. I spent all last weekend working with it. It was a bit frustrating because a couple of the APIs weren't working for me on Orkut. However, I feel like I got my head around it.

In the meantime this wiki is a good resource. Specifically, I'm keeping an eye on the "List of OpenSocial Containers" section at the bottom of the page.

Main Page - OpenSocial Directory: "List of OpenSocial Containers"

Tips for Developing Viral Facebook Apps

Adam — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:26:00 +0000

I just got back from the Community Next “Platform” conference. I chose to go to this one rather than the “Graphing Social Patterns” conference (can’t these guys come up with better names for these things?) because Community Next looked like it had more of the real players - developers and investors who had actual built apps.

There were no magic technical tips from the guys that had apps with millions of users. Actually, it was funny how random and contradictory they sometimes were. For example, some apps rely heavily on invitations, others on notifications. Often it is important to get multiple apps working together, yet different people like “Zombies” from those that like “Vampires.” As you would guess, the success of these huge apps is mostly a result of being simple, fun, viral, interesting, appealing to a large audience and most of all fast. Frustratingly, launching within the first week the platform was commonly mentioned as a big part of their success.

It was great to hear the back stories behind the guy’s apps. The most interesting common thread was that often times the apps were invented or heavily influence by a girlfriend (Honesty Box, Fluff Friends) - or group of friends. The guys all had a good sense of what would work socially, or just wrote a feature that their friends wanted (Free Gifts).

RockYou has app analysis down to a science. I will follow their lead and be more methodical in instrumenting my apps. Before starting to code, analyze all the referral points in your app. What will the messaging be,? Will it spread easily between friends? What will the artwork look like? Will it be irresistible to users.? You have to convince yourself (mathematically if possible) that each user that joins will bring at least one other user with them.

Instrument your code to track all the links into and out of your app. Do A/B testing on text and graphics. Start with a rollout of a couple thousand users (buy advertising or promote the new app from an existing app) and watch your metrics to choose the best wording and images.

The conference included a 24 hour contest to build an app and launch it to the most people possible (without doing any advertising or cross promotion). The organizers added the criteria that the apps had to be both international and educational. The prize ($5,000) was sponsored by a company called Sometrics who launched a new App tracking site at the conference. I wasn’t planning on entering, I had had a a long week. My main goal being there was to network and meet people - not code.
I can’t resist a competition though, and when I saw only about 3 to 5 people/teams were considering entering I really wanted to go for it. Still, I couldn’t think of an idea worth entering. Inevitably, without advertisements, the winner would be relying heavily on their friends to add and promote the app - and I didn’t want to spam all my friends unless I had a decent idea.

So, I headed out to the evening’s event at a local bar. I met John about 20 minutes after I ordered my first drink. He had seen I was interested in the contest earlier (I kept asking how many people were going to enter) - so we stood there and drank and brainstormed. By 10:30 we had the idea for “Dumb Americans.” It took us until about 3:00 AM to get it done, John found the artwork, wrote and researched the content for the app while I coded. The main problem was that I waited until the last thing to get the Sometrics code installed and I had a hard time getting it working (no doubt partially due to the fact it was 4 in the morning). By 4:30 our stats were tracking, and we started contacting our friends to get them to try it out.

Back at the conference in the morning, I started going from person to person getting them to try our app. It was a roller coaster of a day, we weren’t sure our stats were correct - and another team had an app that was doing well. In the end, we had more users and won the contest! I met more people by asking them in person to install my app than I would have had I not entered the contest. My Facebook friends around the world came through smashingly. Next week I’ll likely do a Zuckerbucks promotion for it to really get it going.

Panama Hotel

Adam — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:41:00 +0000

Historic Panama Hotel Tea & Coffee

This is a nice place to meet for coffee in Seattle's International District. I went there for the first time last week.

A Facebook App User is Worth $0.20 (sorry guys)

Adam — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:57:00 +0000

Zuckerbucks continues to grow, and I continue to be impressed by the micro-economy it has created. While I am very proud of the app and especially impressed by the hard working users it has attracted, its growth has not met my expectations.

Since many very popular apps are incredibly trivial in nature - my expectation was that throwing some real products into the mix would lead to far more expansive growth. In reality, what I have seen is relatively measured linear growth proportional to the amount of products (money) I put in.

My goal is still to establish critical mass - where the currency takes on a value beyond the supporting products. The beginning of this ecosystem is definitely visible. The key is to continue to share Zuckerbucks' power as an “application booster rocket” when the Zuckerbucks API is integrated into other apps.

Value of a Facebook User

My experience with Zuckerbucks validates Lee Lorenzen’s (Altura Ventures) claims that a user (or application install) is worth $.10 - $.25 (with apologies to my wonderful users, I hate to put a price on you).

Since I launched Zuckerbucks in early July, about 8,600 Facebook users have added (and kept) the app. Zuckerbucks is currently growing by about 100-150 users per day.
This corresponds with an investment of around $2000. That puts the cost of user acquisition at $0.23 user. This does not count probably 150-200 hours of development and community management (and obsessively checking the Zuckerbucks discussion board).

Value of a Zuckerbuck

In order to determine what I should charge sponsors for “app adds” (outgoing links), I calculate the value of a Zuckerbuck based on the completed auctions. The value has stayed fairly consistently in the range $0.01 - $0.03/Z. My promotions generally pay a Zuckerbucks user Z20 ($.20-$.60) to add another app.

This doesn't include several open auctions beyond 8/28. Also, I need to analyze the number of bids in more depth because my original hypothesis was that auctions would be useful advertising mechanism (allowing advertisers to capture who is interested in a particular product).

Zuckerbucks as launch vehicle

What Zuckerbucks has been particularly good at is helping plateaued apps reach new groups of users and continue their growth. Incentivized links, while they don't guarantee a user will keep your app, do guarantee a "hard working" user - someone who is likely to promote your app further if it is right for them.

This graph shows the number of users paid to add each app since a particular date (ActionSports incorporates Zuckerbucks using the API, there is no promotion for adding the app). Obviously, other factors contribute to an app's growth, but this demonstrates that Zuckerbucks promotions and API integration definitely assist growth.

Please get in touch (adamloving -at- gmail) if you'd like to discuss promoting your app or adding Zuckerbucks inside your app using the Zuckerbucks API

Facebook Currency - What would you do for a Zuckerbuck?

Adam — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:59:00 +0000

We are learning a lot from the Zuckerbucks experiment, even though it is still early days. It is amazing how much community activity Zuckerbucks have inspired. To keep it interesting, we are constantly trying to provide both more ways to earn Zucks and more ways to spend them.

Our members are going crazy for Zuckerbucks. One woman will dance for them. Others have started groups where you have to pay to join (pay more to become an officer). Still others have started "lottos" where you enter to win Zuckerbucks. And of course, there are at least 3 service providers who will create original art for Zuckerbucks. One girl wants Zuckerbucks to touch up your profile picture!

When I invented Zuckerbucks, I thought it would be cool to have a currency for Facebook. I had no idea what the Facebookers would come up with!

Seattle Bike Rides

Adam — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:38:00 +0000

More RAMROD induced insanity.

This was Seattle - Newcastle - Duval - Fall City - Isaquah. 96.5 mi, 5409 ft elevation gain.

Zuckerbucks Update

Adam — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:44:00 +0000

Wow, what a week! 627 Zuckerbucks users! My next idea is to host a Zuckerbucks talent show - but I need a presenter (video host). You know someone, I know you do! Send them my way!

Oh yeah, and get on Facebook and get your Zuckerbucks:

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?api_key=fa7cf71d04d2e278831c231fc6a3e88e

The Zuckerbucks Experiment

Adam — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:58:00 +0000

Join me in my attempt to create a virtual currency for Facebook! Here is a video explaining what Zuckerbucks are:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2704700350&ref=share

Facebook Answers

Adam — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:16:00 +0000

I have created a mini question and answer Web site inside Facebook. After 8 or so years thinking about Q&A with points and money incentives - we decided to go with a simple points and voting system for this one. Facebook Answers is a fun app, with lots of interesting questions - and I've learned a ton about what it takes to build a Facebook app that spreads.

About 5 weeks ago, Facebook opened up their Web site to allow external developers to build mini-Web sites ("Apps") right inside Facebook. It has been accompanied by some fantastic success stories about new Facebook apps rocketing to millions of users within a few weeks. Facebook's goal is to become a "social operating system" - a layer of software that tracks your friends - on top of which guys like me can build applications.

This advancement has really turned my world upside down. For years, I've been creating social apps (incompletely catalogued on this blog) but generally always fail to market and advertise them sufficiently. The Facebook advancement makes that significantly easier - apps are discoverable via your network of friends with almost no registration required.

Because of what this means for developers like myself, I think Facebook has a very promising future. It certainly has become "the place to be" for me. At the very least, it will force other sites to follow suit.

Amazon Search Inside the book

Adam — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 04:37:00 +0000

Amazon helped me find a paragraph in a book that I vaguely remembered from a year ago. After five minutes of flipping through the book, I was able to find it in one search. Unfortunately the paragraph wasn't directly relevant to what I was researching (viral marketing). Fortunately, I saved an obsessive half hour scanning for it.

on Page 94: "... Guide and Parade ad, he had his art director put a little gold box in the corner of the order coupon. ..."

- from "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell

The point being made was that advertising is more sticky if it is interactive and incorporates the real world.

Today's Ride - Cedar River Watershed

Adam — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:02:00 +0000

We went clockwise from the top left, the line jutting out to the east is a climb into the watershed. It started raining going into the watershed.

Total Mileage: 78.6 (126.5k)
Total Ascent: 4539 ft (1.38k)

Facebook Eats Itself

Adam — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:40:00 +0000

Check out the New Apps App for all the exciting underground Facebook apps.

Apparently, people are adding facebook apps so quickly that Facebook can't keep up. Apps are queued for days before being approved to appear in the sanctioned directory. However, anyone can still add (install) an app before it appears in the directory. SO, an enterprising developer has created a NewApps App that is a directory of "underground apps" that are not yet approved by Facebook.

Bike Ride - Eastside Hills

Adam — Sun, 27 May 2007 01:18:00 +0000

This was a RAMROD training ride, starting from Marymoor and going counter-clockwise. 75 Miles, and 4500 ft of climbing.

Facebook, Mac Back, RAMROD

Adam — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:50:00 +0000

A couple things:

1. If you don't already have an account on Facebook, I predict someone is going to invite you in the next month.

2. The Mac is back (total repair turn around just under 2 weeks), and I still love it.

3. RAMROD is less than 8 weeks away.

MacBook Repair On hold - Part on order

Adam — Tue, 15 May 2007 02:53:00 +0000

After my glowing review of my new MacBook a couple weeks back, I have to post a sad update. I had to send it in for service. The back light went out on the display. Apple sent a box via DHL and suggested I should expect a 10 day turnaround. The process has been relatively painless (though entirely disappointing) so far. At least the communication on the part of Apple has been good.

Unfortunately the status on the repair reads "On hold - part on order" right now. I hope I can still expect it back in 10 days.

technorati tags:macbook, repair, apple

Why Switch?

Adam — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 02:36:00 +0000

I recently bought my first Mac (a MacBook Pro laptop) and I love it. I don't want to make too much of this, but since my career to this point has been as a Microsoft programmer, this was a big decision. Here is why I decided to switch.

1. No Risk. Mac computers now have Intel processors which means there is little difference under the hood from a Windows computer. There is excellent virtualzation software called Parallels that lets you install a Windows operating system (XP or Vista) and run it as if it was just another program. So, this means I can do my job running Windows on the Mac, and if at any point it becomes to burdensome, I can simply install windows from scratch.

2. Better Hardware. My old laptop is a tank. The fan is noisy, the power supply is a brick. Admittedly, I went for a bigger machine to get more power for less money - but even current HP, Toshiba, and Sony laptops are flimsy and probably loud. The MacBook Pro is beautiful, quiet, and light. It has a backlit keyboard so you can see what you are typing in the dark. It is a little more expensive, but I bought a refurbished model to save money. There is no DVD drawer, just a discreet slot to insert and remove disks (like a car stereo).

3. Windows Vista is a major disappointment. It looks pretty, but there isn't any other major productivity advantage to running it. You still get the feeling that with each application you install it is getting slower and slower. I watched a friend have trouble with his new HP Vista Laptop - things as simple as system standby didn't work. It blue screened on him in the first few weeks.

Mac OS X boots runs fast, looks pretty, and hasn't crashed on me yet. As a programmer, the Linux/Unix based operating systems have all the momentum at the moment.

4. Open Source is catching up. There are free applications to edit Excel Spreadsheets and Word documents on the Mac. No need to shell out $200 for Microsoft Office.

There are lots of tricks to learn when switching to the Mac, but I found this to be more fun than a serious hurdle. More on that to come.

Switching

Adam — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:25:00 +0000

As if I didn't have enough work at the moment, I've also decided to switch to a Mac laptop. Actually, I'm taking it slow. I have thought about this for a long time and I'll post some more of my reasons for switching soon.

In the meantime, you can follow my progress here: http://adaml.tumblr.com. Tumblr is a nice little blogging tool. The main reason for trying it out is its ability to aggregate the many RSS feeds I am generating to become blog posts. So the items that until now have been stuck in my blogger side bar are taking front stage. It may replace this blog soon.

US Home prices adjusted for inflation plotted as a roller coaster

Adam — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:50:00 +0000

Scary!

Videos - Real Estate Roller Coaster

technorati tags:realestate, visualization

Better Marketing Skills

Adam — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:56:00 +0000

I've really been enjoying reading Made to Stick. Even though I think I am a decent communicator, I often don't feel like I get my point across, or provide a compelling "call to action" for whoever happens to be listening. This is a great argument for becoming a better marketer:

"Virtually all economic growth (in the world) was due to technological progress. I think as a society we're not really paying attention to that," Page said. "Science has a real marketing problem. If all the growth in world is due to science and technology and no one pays attention to you, then you have a serious marketing problem."

Google's Page urges scientists to market themselves | CNET News.com

technorati tags:marketing, attention