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In The Developer’s Guide to Social Programming, Mark Hawker shows developers how to build applications that integrate with the major social networking sites. Unlike competitive books that focus on a single social media platform, this book covers all three leading platforms: Facebook, OpenSocial, and Twitter. Hawker identifies the characteristics of superior, highly engaging social media applications, and shows how to use the Facebook platform, Google Friend Connect, and the Twitter API to create them.
You’ll find practical solutions and code for addressing many common social programming challenges, from site registration to search, blog commenting to creating location-based applications. Hawker concludes by walking you through building a complete, integrated social application: one that works seamlessly across all leading platforms, and draws on powerful features from each. Coverage includes
Working with the Twitter API, including the Search API, Lists API, and Retweets API
Authenticating users with Twitter OAuth
Mastering the Facebook API, FQL, and XFBML
Utilizing the Facebook JavaScript Library for creating dynamic content, and animation
Exploring the Google Friend Connect JavaScript API, and integrating with the OpenSocial API
Using Facebook’s tools for sharing, social commenting, stream publishing, and live conversation
Using the PHP OpenSocial Client Library with Google Friend Connect
Creating, testing, and submitting Google Friend Connect gadgets
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“With the advent of the social web, companies must know how to leverage new technologies to stay competitive. Mark Hawker shows readers in simple steps what social programming really means. He walks you through examples of integrating with many of today’s most successful social platforms–getting you up and running with social programming in no time at all.”
–Joseph Annuzzi, Jr., Web Architect, PeerDynamic.com
“An essential reference for the social web, present and future… a must-have for making your website known on the social graph.”
–Joshua T. Gross, Cortex Creations
From the Back Cover
In The Developer’s Guide to Social Programming, Mark Hawker shows developers how to build applications that integrate with the major social networking sites. Unlike competitive books that focus on a single social media platform, this book covers all three leading platforms: Facebook, OpenSocial, and Twitter. Hawker identifies the characteristics of superior, highly engaging social media applications, and shows how to use the Facebook platform, Google Friend Connect, and the Twitter API to create them.
You’ll find practical solutions and code for addressing many common social programming challenges, from site registration to search, blog commenting to creating location-based applications. Hawker concludes by walking you through building a complete, integrated social application: one that works seamlessly across all leading platforms, and draws on powerful features from each. Coverage includes
Working with the Twitter API, including the Search API, Lists API, and Retweets API
Authenticating users with Twitter OAuth
Mastering the Facebook API, FQL, and XFBML
Utilizing the Facebook JavaScript Library for creating dynamic content, and animation
Exploring the Google Friend Connect JavaScript API, and integrating with the OpenSocial API
Using Facebook’s tools for sharing, social commenting, stream publishing, and live conversation
Using the PHP OpenSocial Client Library with Google Friend Connect
Creating, testing, and submitting Google Friend Connect gadgets
This is possibly the most disappointing book I've bought in years.
I'm sure it's accurate - in fact I know it is for Facebook because soon after starting to read it I gave up and went online to read Facebook's own documentation instead. And that's my point: Hawker's book is just documentation, and it's less accessible than the online stuff that's free.
Nowhere did I get a sense of being taken through a roadmap, with some quick wins that I could start with, followed by the layers of detail and sophistication that would allow me to develop my proficiency in stages. Therefore I had to plough through 40 pages on Facebook API's, FQL, XFBML oAuth etc before finding out there are simple Facebook widgets that take minutes to implement and help me build confidence and enthusiasm quickly. Nowhere was there a real sense of context. A chapter would begin with a few pages of high level positioning, and then go straight into a systematic trawl through the reference material. For example, the first chapter on Facebook begins with two pages of benefits and then starts with 'The process for creating a Facebook application is much the same as for regular Facebook Platform applications'. Am I supposed to understand this distinction?. Nowhere did I get any guidance about the relative payoffs of different features - what I need to know now, what I need to know before I deploy my first feature, and what I can safely come back to later. So the first chapter on Twitter, after a quick intro page, presents ten pages listing methods and parameters, all of which I'm sure I can find in a free Twitter white paper.
There was a time when books like this were useful: a time before the Internet and social media.
Oh! and please be aware that all the code samples are for PHP devs only. A fact that could have made it into the title.
Unless you have no access to the Internet, you are better off with the online docs.
I would recommend this book to anybody interested in building their own web or mobile applications. Mark clearly and carefully takes the reader through the different stages of building apps.
The book is written is a clear and understandable format for both beginners and experienced web developers.
I have found this book a great companion on my learning journey as a (social) web developer and as with many great books of this kind you can dip in and out when required.
Mark's accompanying blog and Twitter feed provide valuable insight into the changing API's and tools.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:4.7 out of 5 stars 3 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars4 books in one22 Sep 2010
By Jeanne Boyarsky - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
"The Developer's Guide to Social Programming" is like three mini-books in one. It covers Twitter, Facebook and Google Friend Connect. The three sections read a bit differently from each other, but there is only one author. Not disruptive enough to be a problem, just odd.
The book assumes you know PHP, JavaScript, CSS and assorted feed technologies. You don't have to be an expert, but you should be comfortable reading code in these languages.
My favorite things in the book were the flowcharts for the authentication/authorization model and the intro to some concepts. In particular, Twitter's OAuth really stood out as an excellent chapter.
The twitter chapters felt more rushed than the rest of the book. In some ways, I felt like the API was being thrown at me. The diagram form was mostly good, but the descriptions were very rapid fire. I say "mostly" because two of the UML like diagrams were in a font that was too small to read. [Edit: clearer images were posted on the socialprogramming.info]
The author does recognize technology changes quickly and says to follow his blog/site for updates.
--- Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of JavaRanch.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 starsA really good book1 Dec 2012
By Savannah - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this book. All the books in this series are incredible informational and pretty easy to read. I found this book a good addition to my college education.
5 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 starsA title packed with real-world applications and paired with a website containing the book's code examples16 Dec 2010
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The Developer's Guide to Social Programming shows developers how to build applications that work seamlessly with the major social networking sites, from Twitter to Facebook and Google Friend. Learn to use a range of code and solutions to address many common social programming issues, and learn to build integrated social applications that work with a range of platforms in a title packed with real-world applications and paired with a website containing the book's code examples and further resources.
