[IxDA Discuss] Widget Awareness

[Alexander Baxevanis]

On Jan 10, 2008 8:38 PM, Matt Nolker <mnolker at pathf.com> wrote:
>
> I'll certainly be interested in the general answer to this question, as I've only looked into Facebook in any detail. Starting last July, I was involved in project to build and launch a fairly sophisticated (by Facebook "Vampire Bite" standards) Facebook application. In terms of how familiar Facebook users are with third-party applications, my answer would be "extremely." They add and remove them constantly, as it is fast and simple to do. Facebook provides a very structured and mandatory method for adding/removing and controlling the rights of third party applications.

Although there is this capability, I seriously doubt (also given the
rest of your findings) that most users understand much of the
following permissions, all of which are enabled by default:

Allow this application to...
[X]	Know who I am and access my information
[X]	Put a box in my profile
[X]	Place a link in my left-hand navigation
[X]	Publish stories in my News Feed and Mini-Feed
[X]	Place a link below the profile picture on any profile

I think most messages by Facebook applications are designed in a
tempting enough way ("X has sent you a SuperFreeGift! Click here to
see it immediately!") that would make most users overlook any security
prompts and click "Add application" immediately (of course, this can
only be harmful if the facebook app will for example display something
undesirable in your profile).

Maybe the solution would be to make some kind of "preview", i.e. a
mockup of how your widget may look in somebody's blog, iGoogle or
facebook page. Something like the preview shown in the iGoogle gadget
directory (http://www.google.com/ig/directory) but maybe with a bit
more context to show where the widget could be placed? I think this
would help users make a more informed decision than the checkboxes
above.

Regards,

Alex