Yahoo has created a tool that makes it so that you can download the emails of your facebook friends.  After doing this you can import those addresses into your address book, so that you can localize your contacts.

By: Garin Kilpatrick

Static FBML is an app that was developed by Facebook to give users some flexibility when it comes to customizing a facebook page.

In order to customize a Facebook page you will need to know some basic html.

To get started customizing your page begin at the Static FBML app page and click the “Add to page” button beside the page you want to customize.

For examples of the static FBML app in action check out the FacebookFlow facebook page. These examples include an “Invite your Friends” tab, newsletter sign up form, and a welcome tab.

See the screencast below for a video I created that will show you how to create a new static fbml app and specify it as a tab on your facebook page!

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February 24th – By: Craig Pen

Imagine life without the internet or the telephone. Imagine walking to the next town to deliver a message. Compared to days past, today’s far reaching and nearly instantaneous social networking technology is magic. With the new third party Facebook Chat Messenger integration, the new Facebook photo uploader and the new Facebook privacy settings, the magic keeps getting better.

Right: Chit Chat for Facebook makes it possible to use Facebook Chat from your desktop like you would another instant messenger network like Windows Live Messenger or Google Talk. The Facebook Instant Messenger supports conversation history, emoticons and sign in status alerts.

New Facebook Chat Messenger Integration

The Facebook Chat Messenger interface has been modified to stand out. It displays how many of your friends are online and lists some of their names. The text is small. The options are few. Facebook Chat Messenger requires an open browser window making it inconvenient when multitasking.

A stand alone application like Chit Chat for Facebook allows you to connect to the Facebook instant message network without dealing with the awkward facebook chat box within your browser. Chit Chat for Facebook can load and sign in automatically when Windows starts. It can log chats and alert you when friends sign in or out of Facebook. It even remembers its window size and hides away with a single click, simplifying multitasking. Chit Chat for Facebook will even let you leave a message on a friend’s wall. It is instantaneous message delivery, with no need to walk all the way to the next town.

Uploading photos to Facebook has never been easier or more convenient. The new uploading tool is easy to download and install. It may even look and feel familiar. It allows you to search your computer for the photos you want to share. You can select them by clicking on their thumbnail image and upload them to your profile. More file formats will be accepted to solve much complained about compatibility issues. The new uploader even allows the photo upload process to continue after you have left the Facebook website. This makes uploading last night’s party photos far less of a chore.

New Facebook Privacy Settings

Back before the internet and the telephone, life must have been very private. New technologies like Google Streetview and Facebook threaten traditional notions of privacy. Facebook used to allow any of the friends in your network indiscriminate access to everything in your profile. Facebook’s new privacy features are set up to be the best to date. To protect your privacy, Facebook now allows you to customize exactly who sees what. The new Facebook magic will ensure your boss, your spouse, and your parents see only what you want them to. You can specify who can have access to each individual piece of content. You can allow access to friends only, to friends and friends of friends only, to everyone, or to custom lists of friends. This will return a little more confidentiality to our modern privacy compromised, technological world.

Today it is nearly impossible to imagine life without the internet or the telephone. Tomorrow it may be impossible to imagine a Facebook without apps like Chit Chat, the new Facebook photo uploader, and the new Facebook privacy settings. Modern social networking breakthroughs are magic and the magic keeps getting better.


About the Author: Craig Pen is a freelance writer writing for a living in Niagara Falls, Ontario. When not out hiking and biking, he can usually be found camped out in front of his 106 inch projector screen writing away.

December 21st | By: Garin Kilpatrick

If you go to facebook.com/family/ you will find a nifty directory that allows you to search for people on Facebook with the same last name as you.  Facebook also made the announcement, on mothers day of 2009, that now you can list family information in your profile.  Now, not only can you list the person you are in a relationship with, but also your parents, and any siblings and children you may have.

The We’re Related App

There is also a Facebook app called We’re Related by FamilyLink that allows you to keep track of your relatives, and perhaps discover relatives you did not even know you had.  We’re related also allows you to build your family tree.  A testimonial from FamilyLink.com reads:

“This tool has made it possible for me to communicate with my children whom I have not seen close on nine years now. It has also afforded me the opportunity to keep in touch with my relatives far and near, I have even managed to find long lost friends. This is a really great tool.”

Easily create a Facebook Group for your Family

Facebook even has a custom page that makes it easy to create a group for your extended family on facebook.

Feedback

Do you have your family on Facebook? Do you list your parents, siblings, or children on your Facebook Profile?

By: Garin Kilpatrick

This Blog Post is a tutorial about how to install a Profile Box Button Widget to your Facebook Profile. By installing the Profile Box Application you are able to add custom html to your facebook profile page. By inserting links to your on-line profiles and copying the code in the post below you will be able to give your friends an easy way to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and friendfeed.

When the widget is installed it will look like this:

The first thing you will need to do to install the Facebook Profile Box Button Widget is to search for and find the “Profile Box” application

Next you will need to install the “Profile Box” Application. Once “Profile Box” installed click on “Go to Application” (see image below)

After you click “Go to the Application” you will see a text box where you can insert code. This box is shown in the image below.

Into the text box shown above you want to copy the following code:

<div align="center">

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername">
<img src="http://garin.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/facebook-widget-1.png">
</a>

<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname">
<img src="http://garin.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/facebook-widget-2.png">
</a>

<a href="http://friendfeed.com/yourffusername">
<img src="http://garin.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/facebook-widget-3.png">
</a>

<a href="http://bit.ly/p4lBI">
<img src="http://garin.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/facebook-widget-4.png"/>
</a>

</div>

You will need to make one simple change to the code. Switch the below to reflect your personal information:

http://friendfeed.com/yourffusername
(example: http://friendfeed.com/GarinKilpatrick)

http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername

(example: http://www.twitter.com/GarinKilpatrick)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname

(example: http://www.linkedin.com/in/GarinKilpatrick)

Once you have entered in custom links to your on-line profiles and copied the code click “Submit” and this will add the Widget to your Facebook profile!

If you do not have twitter, linkedin, or friendfeed I recommend you sign up! If you do not have time to sign up though simply delete the block of code containing the word twitter, friendfeed, or linkedin. You can always refer back to this post for the code needed to install a button you do not have at a later date.

I may create additional buttons if there is demand. What kind of buttons would you like to see available for this widget to make it better?

By: Garin Kilpatrick

I recently discovered the Profile HTML Application when I noticed one of my friends had a “Subscribe by E-Mail” form on their Profile page.  I thought this was a great idea, so I decided to put the application to work for myself as well.  Although the name of this Application is “Profile HTML” it also allows custom HTML to be inserted onto Facebook pages.

In what seemed like no time at all I had copied my Feedburner e-mail subscribe form into my Facebook profile sidebar, and now my friends can easily subscribe to my blog right on my Facebook profile!

Now I am using this App to insert buttons linking my different profiles around the web.

I used the Profile Tab to insert my FriendFeed lifestream.

Profile HTML gives you the power to create the equivalent of a permanent ad on your profile, or Facebook page.   Profile HTML worked great for me, and I am curious to hear about how others are using it as well!