How to Select a Facebook Application Development Team by:Dmitriy Kharchenko
In today's social-networking world Facebook is one of the unquestioning leaders
. It gives unique opportunities to its users and is both a place to meet friends and a profitable advertising space.
Facebook applications and Facebook Connect are relatively new ways proposed by Facebook to drive traffic and customers. Currently they attract much attention of website and business owners who consider utilizing them as a part of an overall marketing strategy.
If you decide to develop a Facebook application or use advanced options of Facebook Connect, you need a professional development team that can implement that task in the most effective way. Here are a few tips which can be useful when selecting a Facebook app provider.
Choosing a team of Facebook application developers
1). Try to find experienced social network programmers rather than usual website developers. That means that the most appropriate candidate should have both technical understanding and deep people comprehension. Why? Because to develop a Facebook app is only half of the battle, the main point is to make it so that people like it and want to use it. In other words, your development team should understand key marketing principles of Facebook and think over every feature to drive users to your application.
2). Assure that the team is able to develop not only a cool functionality but also make an application user-friendly. A handy and stylish interface is crucial for your Facebook application success.
3). Make sure the provider is aware of Facebook Privacy Policy (facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php?ref=pf), Facebook Developer Principles and Policies (developers.facebook.com/policy/), and upcoming changes described in Facebook Developers Roadmap (wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Developer_Roadmap). These documents contain lists of limitations that should be taken into account while developing Facebook apps. If your application does not comply with them, it won't be permitted on Facebook.
4). Check that they have relevant experience in source code design and refactoring techniques. That helps to keep the application responsive to Facebook API (Application Programming Interface) changes with minimal effort. Keeping the source code in a good shape and with proper comments is a key to smooth maintenance for the application lifetime.
5). Every time Facebook gets a shiny new feature or enhances Facebook API the programmers should be able to reflect that in your application. Long-term relationship with your development team is one of the best solutions for that task.
Facebook applications and Facebook Connect are increasingly becoming must-have marketing and social-networking tools. A good development team can help you to avoid typical mistakes and get the most of Facebook opportunities.
About the author
Dmitriy Kharchenko is the CEO of Acceptic Ltd, a Ukrainian software development company. Among other services, Acceptic provides custom Facebook application development, as well as Dedicated developer teams ( www.acceptic.com/dedicated-team-service.html ).