7 posts tagged “developer relations”

You can see this post on my new blog at SocializeMobilize.com

You can read this post on my new blog, Socializemobilize.com

Today, Verizon reported (gasp) that it is "opening" up its network to any device and any application...that can meet it's “minimal technical standard”.  I'm prepared to swallow my words (see my previous post "Will Verizon Become a More Open Mobile Network for Developers?"), assuming Verizon's standards (to be published in early 2008) are as reasonable as the press release implies:

Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network. Devices will be tested and approved in a $20 million state-of-the-art testing lab which received an additional investment this year to gear up for the anticipated new demand. Any application the customer chooses will be allowed on these devices...

While most Verizon Wireless customers prefer the convenience of full service, the company is listening through today’s announcement to a small but growing number of customers who want another choice without full service.  Both full-service and “bring-your-own” customers will have the advantage of using America’s most reliable network.

I want to believe that the world is becoming a more open and mobile place and that Verizon is championing the effort, and Verizon's release makes it sound like the company is moving in the right direction, but I'll remain cautiously optimistic until I see Verizon's execution.

If the 'minimum technical standard' is reasonable, it will be a huge step forward for the mobile industry and consumers. However, if that standard includes a requirement for handset providers to put bandwidth constraints on third party applications (i.e. purposefully limiting the performance of 3rd party application "bandwidth hogs" like streaming video apps), the network won't be truly "open". *

Here's the part of the Verizon release that triggers my (ahem) skepticism:

Following publication of technical standards, Verizon Wireless will host a conference to explain the standards and get input from the development community on how to achieve the company’s goals for network performance while making it easy for them to deliver devices.

On the one hand, Verizon says the technical standards they're introducing are 'minimal'.  On the other hand, they're going to have to "explain" them to hardware developers in conjunction with their "network performance" goals.  Verizon has always closely guarded its network.  While it's possible that Verizon will throw caution to the wind in the New Year as they announce their new standards and become truly open, it's also possible that they'll establish a not-so-open standard that hardware developers must compromise to meet.

Here's hoping that end result of Verizon's announcement is a truly open network.

*Don't get me wrong - I understand why Verizon (and other carriers) would want to limit bandwidth heavy applications... They suck resources and if used concurrently can negatively impact performance of a fragile or overstressed network.  But, with the amount of money consumers pay for wireless data and calling plans, networks should be investing to ensure robustness.  And, it sounds like Verizon is doing that.

Yesterday, I started a 2 month, part-time consulting gig with SocialMedia Networks, a leading provider of social network services including a large and growing network of applications across Social Networking platforms.  SocialMedia's flagship product, Appsaholic, currently available on Facebook and MySpace makes it easy for independent software vendors (ISVs) to manage, market, and monetize the applications they distribute online. In other words, SocialMedia helps developers buy and sell advertising space inside their application, cross promote their applications, and more.

A couple of weeks ago, SocialMedia announced that it secured Series A financing of $3.5 million. The investment was led by Charles River Ventures, with additional investors including: Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape and Jeff Clavier, founder and managing partner of SoftTech VC.

In the next couple of months, I'll be getting Developer Relations up and running, writing the company blog (which is very good already), and working closely with Julia French from Covered Communications, who I've been working with over the last several months on marketing and business development projects for other clients. 

If you're a developer on the SocialMedia Network or are interested in joining, please drop me a line to introduce yourself!  And, check out SocialMedia's blog in the next few days (I'll post a link on my vox blog when I do my first post).

Tonight is the first chance I've had to write about the Facebook Developer/ Influencer conference that I went to last week.  The event was an invite-only afternoon of panel discussions hosted by Seth Goldstein of SocialMedia.  Attendees included about 50 developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and a couple of bloggers, and the discussions ranged from "When, if ever, will Facebook start 'taking back' core chunks of its platform?" to "What metrics really matter for gauging success on the Facebook platform?"

The conference began at Noon with lunch and networking followed by the first panel discussion at 12:30: "What is Engagement and why is it so important?"  In the first session, Dave McClure from 500 Hats and Seth Goldstein  set the stage for the rest of the event.  Dave emphasized the importance of establishing more meaningful metrics for measuring the success of Facebook apps - beyond counting user installs.  His point was well taken... Clearly we need a way of measuring user engagement in apps, especially given that people are often compelled to download apps that their friends send to them and never use them again.  Just because an app has great word of mouth success initially, doesn't mean that it will latch on for the long haul.  Similarly, time spent on the app isn't the right measure for success either.  As Seth asked (and I'm paraphrasing), 'What's a more important to Facebook's success- a graffiti app that allows Facebook users to draw for 3 hours, or an application that encourages shorter but more frequent interactions?'

Rumor has it that Facebook will be unearthing at least a few 3rd party app success metrics internally in the next couple of month, but it remains to be seen whether they'll share this information with the world.  So far, Facebook hasn't released any helpful metrics for measuring user engagement on apps.  Perhaps this is because they don't have them, or perhaps they're holding their cards close to the vest in the hopes of determining the best way to move forward (i.e. by taking back parts of the API they already opened and/or extending new Facebook features that leverage lessons learned by observing user engagement stats on leading apps).  Either way, in order for the 3rd party developer community to flourish on Facebook,  developers will need a better understanding of what makes a winning app and which apps are the most successful based on those metrics.

The next session of the day was about "Creating, Spreading and Scaling Multi Million User Facebook Apps."  The all-developer panel included:

• R. Tyler Ballance from Slide,
  
• Blake Commagere of Vampires / Zombies / Causes,
  
• Dave Genztel from SocialMedia,
  
• Jia Shen from RockYou,
  
• Joe Winterhalter and his colleague, Eric (didn't catch his last name), of Quizzes and
  
• James Hong from Hot or Not. 
  

Slide had over 10 million Facebook users at the time of the conference, and Tyler initiated the conversation by talking about what he thinks users want to do with their friends.  In cases where users have a large number of Facebook 'friends' (Tyler had a whopping 630 at the time), Tyler felt it was important to be able to quickly engage with lots of people, while having the option to more intimately engage with closer 'friends'.   He attributed the success of applications like Happy Hour, which allows users to send virtual drinks to their 'friends', to this very phenomenon.  Dave Gentzel from SocialMedia, who developed apps like Happy Hour and Food Fight, agreed that user engagement is key.  In addition, he felt that speed in development was a key component of success.  Anything that's taken him longer than 2 days to develop hasn't paid off.

Tyler also brought up the issue of Facebook's need to communicate more proactively and effectively with Developers.  He and others expressed concerns that Facebook had made some code changes without talking to developers in recent weeks, which resulted in killing thousands of profiles within Slide's database alone.  Generally, the developer panelists felt that Facebook's attempts to help a large number of small developers may unintentionally hurt larger developers.  As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I'm a huge proponent of investing in developer relations.  When you allow ISVs/ developers (at least large ones) to plug into your API, you should be treat them as strategic alliance partners and give them insight into what you're planning in exchange for quality assurances.  If you don't, you run the risk of alienating thousands of your users if/when something goes wrong with the apps that plug into your platform.

Blake Commagere, who helped develop popular facebook apps like Causes went on to talk more about developing Facebook apps.  It took 4 engineers to develop the Causes app (which was written in Ruby on Rails).  Blake pointed out that to develop a successful Facebook app, you don't need 100 app servers, you just need to make sure the app and database are solid.  By way of example, Causes runs using 11 app servers, which serve 2.5 million users, and it is working well.  Joe and Eric who developed Quizzes, only use 4 servers for their app.  They emphasize the importance of focusing on app quality and investing time in apps that will grow spread quickly virally.

All of the developers mentioned that that Facebook platform is a little sluggish at times.  James Hong from Hot or Not said that to combat delays, his team opted for using Ajax.  The challenge here is that most ad networks don't currently consider user action as the way by which advertisers pay for ads. Instead, it's still page changes.  In principle, the ad networks James knows say they're happy to move towards a user action model, but in the meantime, there are monetary disadvantages to using Ajax on Facebook.  But, most of the panelists seemed okay with the tradeoffs in the short-term because they increase user engagement long-term.  At the time, Hot or Not is apparently making $1000/day off of AdSense, and rumor has it (according to a member of the audience) that Graffiti is making $100,000 month!

Ads were a hot topic on all panels - including the developer panel - with the need for relevant content delivery emerging as a key theme.  Most of the developers on the panel said they'd been approached to do demographic based behavioral targeting of users.  What I found interesting is that the only data anyone would cop to hearing advertisers request is: sex and geography.  If this panel was any indication, for all of those personalization fans out there (of which I'm one), it looks like we're a ways off from seeing any meaningful movement in this space.

The 2pm panel was on "Facebook Advertising Models."  Panelists were:

• Aryeh Goldsmith (Acebucks)
• Sourabh Niyogi (Appsaholic)
• Scott Rafer (Lookery)
• Narendra Rocherolle (fbExchange)
• Matt Sanchez (VideoEgg)
• Sundeep Ahuja (Appfuel)

Perhaps the most interesting part of this panel was how so many people are attempting to create ad networks on Facebook.   Matt Sanchez from VideoEgg says he has 20 sales people selling in 4 countries.  Aryeh Goldsmith is creating a new Facebook economy and customer loyalty company by introducing a fake currency to Facebook called Acebucks.  At best, the currency takes off and does just what Linden Dollars are doing for SecondLife.  Appsaholic is hoping to become a fully independent monitor of Facebook Stats (think the AC Nielsen of Facebook).  While, Slide wants to be the "single largest content delivery platform to unique users" across all social media OSes.

How useful are Facebook users to developers and advertisers?  The final session addressed "How to Value Facebook Apps."  The panelists were:

• Eve Phillips, (Greylock)
• Keith Rabois, (Slide)
• Naval Ravikant, (Hitforge)
• Angela Strange, (Bay Partners' AppFactory)
• Susan Wu, (Charles River Ventures)

One VC in the audience reckoned that each Facebook user is worth about $500 each.  While, Angela Strange from Bay Partners, whose AppFactory is actively seeking investments in start-ups that make Facebook applications, used a guideline of 25-30 cents per user per app.  In watching this last panel and listening to the excitement relayed through the questions from the crowd and VC responses, it's clear that there are a lot of people pinning their hopes on Facebook (and other Social Media Platforms) continuing to open their APIs and thus encouraging the growth of a new developer economy that pushes apps for so-called social media operating systems.  There is a frenzy of enthusiasm about the potential, but it remains to be seen whether potential becomes reality.  The VCs aren't taking any chances.  Each of the panelists said that when they're looking to invest in a company that develops Facebook apps, they need to see the potential of those applications beyond the confines of Facebook.

For those of you interested in future developments in the Facebook space, Dave McClure mentioned that he's planning a Facebook conference of his own on October 7-9. Stay tuned to his blog for details.

Today in Boomtown, Kara Swisher talks about a management shuffle at Facebook.  Among the apparent changes is the move of Owen Van Natta from COO to chief revenue officer and vice president of operations.  Swisher elaborates saying:

Van Natta now shares power–how uneasily it remains to be seen–with newly installed Vice President of Marketing and Operations Chamath Palihapitiya, a former AOL exec; longtime exec Matt Cohler, vice president of strategy and business operations (and a LinkedIn co-founder); newly installed CFO Gideon Yu (a former Yahoo and YouTube exec who replaced the quickly departing Mike Sheridan); co-founder and Vice President of Product Engineering Dustin Moskovitz; and CTO Adam D’Angelo...

Now, areas like human resources, customer service, legal, systems (which Van Natta heads) and finance all have different leads, as the company moves to professionalize its management ranks.

Included in today's Boomtown blog entry is a great video chronicling Kara's trip to Facebook's HQ in Palo Alto California.

I'm curious about where, if anywhere, Developer Relations features in Facebook's re-shuffle.  Marketing and Operations or maybe Strategy and Business Operations?  Facebook seems to have invested a great deal of resources in opening up its API to 3rd party developers.  I believe that establishing a more formal developer relations and/or application incubator program (think a more fun and funky take on Salesforce.com's AppExchange and similar programs) will keep Facebook user-friendly, further the 3rd party application economy (encouraging innovation and profitability), and allow Facebook's investors to reap the most from their investment.

In the meantime, today, I'm heading to the "Appsaholic Facebook Developer Developer Conference" in San Francisco.  50ish developers, entrepreneurs and investors that are at the forefront of the Facebook applications conversation are getting together in a town-hall-esque setting to talk about the future of Facebook's development platform.  It should be very interesting!

Over the past couple of months, I've noticed an unusually large increase in the number of my friends and former colleagues based in the UK that are joining Facebook.  The recent surge in popularity of Facebook among my UK friends has me wondering: What lit a fire under so many people in non-overlapping networks to join Facebook at around the same time?  Is it a fluke, or is the flurry of activity the product of something else?  A particular marketing campaign? Increased mentions in the UK press?  Unusually fast spread via word of mouth?  The announcement of new developer network? 

From the outside, I can't point to a particular cause, but one thing is for sure... Facebook newbies are joining at the right time, as the site continues to get a whole lot cooler thanks to the addition of 3rd party applications to Facebook.com.  The economy of 3rd party Facebook applications is now booming.  Developers are going wild, and as a result, Facebook is becoming a much more interesting place to spend time online.

Opening up the Facebook platform was a GREAT move for several reasons:

1. Creating a 3rd party developer network will bring a whole new segment of users to Facebook - developers and those in their networks.
2. The availability of a larger number of applications gives users more reasons to spend time logged on, which in turn increases Facebook's attractiveness to both users and advertisers.
   
3. It creates an economy upon which a larger number of people can benefit.  With Facebook, 3rd party developers have a place to be creative and market their products to a wide and connected audience, without the financial risk associated with going to market on their own.  Facebook users are closely connected to each other, and as a result, good applications have a much greater chance of succeeding quickly through viral marketing.

Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Palm, and others have been benefiting from their investment in Developer Relations for many years.  In most cases, opening up their platforms to developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) increases interest in the said platform, boosts usage scenarios, and generates buzz among press.  In my experience (managing global partnerships with with Windows Mobile Developers for Palm, Inc. for the Treo 700w and Treo 750v launches), besides users, 3rd party developers are some of the best evangelists a company can get.  They're passionate, fiercely loyal, and incredibly vocal.  When a company invests in Developer Relations/ Partner Alliances, giving developers all of the tools/ documentation/ support they require to innovate and profit from development, the results far outweigh the costs.  In sharp contract, when a company doesn't invest significantly enough in 3rd party developers or invests in a program that lacks direction or doesn't provide developers with the basic tools, information, and sales/ marketing channels they need, the results can be disastrous.

So far, it appears that Facebook is doing a great job providing developers with the tools they need.  And, as a result, the market for 3rd party Facebook applications is booming.  A couple of my friends recently developed a Facebook app and based on their experience, development of a Facebook app is easy.  It's been fun to hear about the success of the application and share it with my friends.  I've also enjoyed browsing the Facebook applications catalog.  I recently added a BBC news feed and an app that let's me track which US states I've visited.  What's great about the catalog is that you can read reviews of apps before installing them, and it's quick and easy to remove apps you don't like.   In the future, I'd love to see a Yelp-style star system of reviewing enabled in future generations of the catalog to users help weed through all the apps before making a selection, but the existing catalog is a great 1st generation starting point.

If you're interested in developing a Facebook app, check out Softwaredeveloper.com, who just published a very useful article for developers called "How To Develop a Hit Facebook App: 29 Essential Tools and Tutorials."