The Last Lecture

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The Last Lecture
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Last chance to earn my pay
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What have we learnt?
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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Exploit the Facebook Development model with
  incremental deployment 
• Understanding your target users
• Listen to your users, building a relationship
• Perhaps reward them for good suggestions/ideas
• Compensate them for bugs?
• Flowers on BD for goodwill?  
• Give them a reason to come back

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Give incentives for interaction 
• Spamming friends
• Visiting friends' pages (c.f. Aquarium) 
• Allow them to use w.o. logging in
• Put their faces on the profile page of their
  friends 
• Easy attack on the leaders 

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Create competition - LeaderBoard (both local
  global)
• Marketing 
• Put some effort into your About Page
  Invitations
• Put something on the profile that attracts people
  to click on it. 
• Some approaches are not technology-driven
• Create opportunities for Growth - unlock new
  features with advancement? 
• Cuteness helps

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• FB users are not always logged in - need to let
  them know what happened while they are logged out
  
• Perhaps a feed?
• Perhaps sent them emails - but must allow them to
  disable this feature 
• Apps (esp games) need to take this into account.

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Good UI helps 
• Complete tasks in a minimal number of clicks
• Reduce/hide loading time
• Add appropriate links
• floating hypertext for image buttons
• Use well-understood/common paradigms
• Apply common sense

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Facebook Games
• Understand the dynamics of FB games - why is it
  different from traditional games
• Access patterns - several times day, short amount
  of time each time
• Need two levels of play - simple and brainless
  depth 
• Exploit social network to allow players to
  interact with their friends - perhaps guilds and
  alliances? But there should be more ways for
  folks to collaborate

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Creating Good Facebook (Social Networking) Apps

• Facebook Games
• Beware the "cold-start" problem. Your game must
  be somewhat fun solo even if it's meant to be
  multi-player game
• Players need a "sense of advancement", to be
  balanced with game balance
• If it's a complicated game, a "How To" or
  "Tutorial" page would be helpful. 
• Cute ideas to keep your players engaged

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Forget all that
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CS3216 is not (really) about Facebook ?
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Neither is it about Web 2.0 or technology
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Possibilities
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Trying things you never thought were possible
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Shared suffering?
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How do we make a difference?
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• Conviction
• Action

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How to quantify a difference?
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What is success?
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Learning takes time
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Philosophy
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1. People matter
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2. Dont work
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Remember No free lunch
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3. Money is the root of all evil
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4. Theres always a choice
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What would you do if you only had six months left?
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Imagine lying in a coffin
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5. Mediocrity is a choice
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Remember the brick walls
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School is overrated
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Pride
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6. Talent is never enough
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Talent is Never Enough

• Belief lifts your talent Lack of belief in
  yourself can act as a ceiling on talent. 
• Passion energizes your talent A passionate
  person with limited talent will outperform a
  passive person who possesses greater talent. 
• Initiative activates your talent Socrates said,
  To move the world we must first move
  ourselves. 

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Talent is Never Enough

• Focus directs your talent Attempting everything,
  like attempting nothing will suck the life out of
  you. 
• Preparation positions your talent Becoming more
  intentional. You can claim to be surprised once
  after that, youre unprepared. 
• Practice sharpens your talent Practice demands
  discipline and embracing change. 

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Talent is Never Enough

• Perseverance sustains your talent People who
  display perseverance keep a larger vision in mind
  as they toil away at their craft or profession. 
• Courage tests your talent As we develop our
  talent and grow to our potential we will be
  tested continually. Courage is an everyday
  virtue. 
• Teachability expands your talent Teachability is
  not so much about competence and mental capacity
  as it is about attitude. It is the desire to
  listen, learn, and apply. Talented people can be
  the toughest to teach because they often think
  they know it all. Its a problem of pride. 

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Talent is Never Enough

• Character protects your talent People cannot
  climb beyond the limitations of their character.
  Talented people are sometimes tempted to take
  shortcuts. Character prevents that. 
• Relationships influence your talent Life is too
  short to spend it with people who pull you in the
  wrong direction. And its too short not to invest
  in others. Your relationships will define you. 
• Responsibility strengthens your talent
  Responsibility not only improves your life, but
  also will improve the life of those around you. 
• Teamwork multiplies your talent Teamwork divides
  the effort and multiples the effect.

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7. No guts,No glory
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Success is an attitude, not a result
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Life is like a box of chocolates
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People will discourage you
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8. Dont be evil
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Between what is right and what is
profitable/expedient choose the right thing
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9. Learn to Think Like an Employer(even if you
end up as a worker?)
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10. People matter
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Take some time to find yourself
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If you forget everything
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• Figure out what you like
• AND are good at
• Do it

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Any last words?
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CS3216 is really about YOU
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GOODLUCK!