Workflow for dynamically adding groups for an application - facebook

I have done some research on how to check whether a user is within a specific group.
good post:
Restrict my facebook app from other members. But allowed to those who are in a particular group
What I need is to allow users to create there own group but use the custom objects and actions I provide. The custom object and actions describe or give boundaries to the application I am creating in Facebook. I think this is done in Mafia Wars ( you only play with your friends maybe? ).
Let me know your thoughts!!!
Markus

After further review...
I am going about this all wrong. The platform, Facebook in this case, is designed to segregate users already. It's called being someone's friend LOL. If a user logs into my app they will be presented with all of they're friends who have also acquired or accepted the app too.
In other words I need to really read the Facebook API in it's entirety and pay attention.
Markus

Related

Graph Api - manage multiple Facebook accounts

I have a question about Graph Api from Facebook. We want to create tool to management accounts in facebook and groups releated with them.
Basic functionality of tool is possibility to add acounts to the system, and then add you can add multiple facebook accounts to each of them. Then, system get all posts from groups releated with facebook accounts.
I did research, and I know quite what is possible and what no, but many endpoints of API requires app review. My question is about this review - wheater app like that, when one user can add multiple facebook accouns and use data (like posts, comments) from them is allowed by facebook and will pass the review?
That depends on what exactly you mean by “accounts” …
Facebook pages? Sure, you can let your app user add as many of those as they like, for the purpose of managing them, reading feed data, etc.
User profiles? That would not really make sense, because every person is only allowed to have one personal profile on the platform to begin with. And adding other people’s profiles (by having them authorize your app, using their access tokens on behalf of someone else) is likely not going to fly in review either.
when one user can add multiple facebook accouns and use data (like posts, comments) from them is allowed by facebook
“Using data” is rather vague as well; what you can and can’t do with user data is outlined in the Platform Policy: https://developers.facebook.com/policy

Facebook graph access closed group feed/posts

I am trying to get a list of posts in a particular group on facebook that is closed, also I am not the admin, just a member in this group. When I am trying to access the group's posts via graph explorer (I checked all the permissions) I am getting an empty list returned.
What is facebook's reason for not allowing this access? If I am a member of this group I have access to this information anyway via browser/scraping...
Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
What is facebook's reason for not allowing this access? If I am a member of this group I have access to this information anyway via browser
That would be only you being able to see the posts then, fine. Two parties involved - you, and the other group members; everyone aware of who will be able to read the posts, all good.
But with an app, a third party gets involved - the app developer. And they could theoretically do anything with that data, that the app reads from the API on your behalf. (Sure, the app developer might be you in this special case here - but that is not the normal use case.)
And in a closed group people might discuss topics that are a little more sensitive than the current weather; think f.e. health problems or something like that. For sure not the stuff you’d want exposed to any third parties.
And therefor, the decision whether an app should be able to read the group’s feed posts, has been placed in the hands of the group admin(s).
If you would like to access the data use api version 2.3, the only downside is that it will be deprecated.

Post to Facebook user's groups using Graph Api

I want to know how to build a Facebook application that can allow me to post a specific message to all the Facebook users that are connected to this application. I searched a lot but I couldn't get an answer for this, I found a lot of applications that helps me send a message to MY groups only. What I need is when a user goes to my application and press Login With Facebook and give my application the required permission, a preset message is sent to all the groups he is a member of. Something like when I get connected to a game application, the application sends "Mrs. ... started playing .. game" to the groups I'm a member of.
I found a lot of applications that helps me send a message to MY
groups only
My is relative (like the "me" endpoint). Hence, anyone that logs into that app it will work for THEIR groups. Which is what you're wanting to do.
But beware: the functionality you're describing would fall under the definition of spam, as its the same post made for multiple groups without regard to the audience. Posts should only be in groups that cover a relevant population or subject matter. You'll get your app shut down for what you're describing.

Policy query - iframe app posting to multiple (5) friends wall

After some advice.
I have a client wishing to have an app which lets them download a voucher to redeem in store but only after they post details of this offer onto 5 friends' walls.
My understanding of current Facebook policy suggests that:
1) Promotions can't require users to take any action on Facebook other than to like the page (likegate);
2) Messages posted to multiple friends at once should be unique and personally initiated - i.e. an app shouldn't bulk post to multiple users. Instead users should share things on their own wall....
Am I correct in this understanding?
If so, can anyone point me at the relevant facebook policies - can't seem to find them on the site.
Yes, those are exactly what I read on the policies page. However to be absolutely sure, you should have your corporate attorney read them and consult with you.
See
http://developers.facebook.com/policy/
and
http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

How to crawl Facebook based on friendship information?

I'm a graduate student whose research is complex network. I am working on a project that involves analyzing connections between Facebook users. Is it possible to write a crawler for Facebook based on friendship information?
I looked around but couldn't find any things useful so far. It seems Facebook isn't fond of such activity. Can I rely on the Facebook API?
Update (Jan-08-2010): Thank you very much for the responses. I guess I probably need to contact Facebook directly then. Cheers
Update (Feb-16-2011): A new book, "Mining the social web", just came out. In it, there is a chapter devoted entirely for mining Facebook using Python. Cheers.
You can't rely on the Facebook API unfortunately. To get friend information, you need to use something like friends.get(). However, any Facebook API method that returns user information like this requires that you have an active session key from that user, and generally the way you get an active session key is to have the user come to your Facebook application or page.
In summary, the information you are talking about is essentially private. You can't pick a person from Facebook, get their friends, and get those friend's friends, and so on. To me this is a good thing for privacy, but of course it prevents arbitrary analysis.
I'd throw out the idea of writing a quick and dirty application with some user appeal that you could use for research. If a group like S**t My Dad Says (funny, not really safe for work) can get 120,000 users in a couple of months, you could probably plead your case with a small research application and get a reasonable amount of users.
The problem is that facebook friendship information is typically private and only accessible to friends. It should be a lot easier to build this network on Twitter, if this is an option for you.
As others have stated, this is typically private information. If, however, Facebook per se isn't a requirement, you could use Google's Social API. A snippet from the Google Social Graph API page: "With the Social Graph API, developers can now utilize public connections their users have already created in other web services. It makes information about public connections between people easily available and useful."
Here's an article on using it in Ruby:
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/google-social-graph-api-ruby-rails#
This lifecode post provide a basic python script to scrape your facebook friends contact info.
The output of this script, is the profile ID, profile pame, profile URL, e-mail address and mobile/phone number (if provided by friend).
WARNING: This is against Facebook TOS. Use at your own risk.
Info provided for educational and research purposes
http://ruel.me/blog/2010/11/26/scrape-your-facebook-friends-contact-info-with-python/
You can use http://www.facebook.com/directory/ to get the public listed people.