Today is Social Media Day around the world as initiated by the top social media resource (and most influential Twitter account on the planet) Mashable.

While Vancouver hasn’t officially declared today “Social Media Day in Vancouver” like they did in Victoria, the social media community is hosting a meetup to get together and celebrate.

It’s on this day that I would like to take some time to reflect on the changes social media has made in my life. There’s so much more to “blogging” and being a web-based business owner than sitting behind a computer screen. Social media allows you to connect with people on and offline, and I truly believe it helps you get out and about – meeting real people, making real connections.

Through social media my website and event fundraising efforts (Blogathon, Twestival, etc.) have raised close to $20,000 in the last few years for local and global causes. I have made connections with other local business owners, I have been able to support other campaigns and give promotion to those who couldn’t otherwise afford advertisement. I have met some amazing people (other bloggers from around the globe), and even booked a hotel room based on a Tweet recommendation.

Social media isn’t just a mass megaphone for proclaiming your love for Justin Bieber. It connects people, it’s powerful, and it’s helped shape our world today.

Tonight’s Social Media Day event will be at LUX (965 Granville Street) and you can RSVP online. The tag to follow on Twitter today is #smday.

Update July 1, 2010 In case you missed it last night, Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable, was in attendance at the Vancouver event.

Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr

The City of Vancouver also presented a proclamation that June 30th was Social Media Day in Vancouver.

Photo by: John Bollwitt

To many people, Facebook is the internet. It’s open in a browser throughout the day, it could be their home screen, and on average users are connected to 130 “friends” at a time [Facebook: Stats]. However, even with close to 400 million users (11 million in Canada alone) Facebook isn’t on everyone’s friend’s list.

Recent changes from everything to layout, policies, and terms of use have some people wanting to quit the platform. This has prompted the creation of “Quit Facebook Day” which will be coming up May 31, 2010.

For a bit of background as to why the extraordinarily popular site is seemingly losing momentum, here’s a brief history of Facebook:

Facebook Timeline

2004
February: Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm room
December: Facebook reaches nearly 1 million active users

2005
August: The company officially changes its name to Facebook from thefacebook.com
September: Facebook expands to add high school networks
December: Facebook reaches more than 5.5 million active users

2006
August: Facebook and Microsoft form strategic relationship for banner ad syndication
September: Facebook expands registration so anyone can join (not just school networks)
December: Facebook reaches more than 12 million active users

2007
February: Virtual gift shop launches as a feature
March: Facebook reaches over 2 million active Canadian users and 1 million active UK users
July: I wrote a post about why I use Facebook (and you should too)
October: Facebook and Microsoft expand advertising deal to cover international markets; Microsoft takes a $240 million equity stake in Facebook

2008
January: Facebook co-sponsors Presidential Debates with ABC News, Vancouver hosts first Facebook Awards
April: Facebook launches Facebook Chat and releases Translation application to 21 additional languages
August: Facebook reaches over 100 million active users
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada launches the world’s first investigation into Facebook’s scanty privacy safeguards [Globe&Mail]

2009
February: Facebook updates its Term of Service, backlash follows: “Facebook’s terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore. Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. ”

December: Facebook reaches over 350 million active users

2010
February: Facebook reaches over 400 million active users
April: A new privacy setting called “Instant Personalization” was launched. It shares data with non-Facebook websites and it is automatically set to “Allow.” Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites and uncheck “Allow”, then repost this to your profile. “Many users take issue with the social network’s now-default opt-out inclusion of its users in new features and services and “How do I delete my Facebook account” has become a top search suggestion on Google.”[ReadWriteWeb]

Quit Facebook Day

When I give presentations about social media for business I usually focus on Twitter and blogs however Facebook always comes up. It’s a great way to connect with millions of users and it’s good to have a presence there. However, in every presentation I have at least two people who were completely unaware about Facebook’s Terms of Service. What you upload to Facebook, belongs to Facebook and they may share your information at will. See: “Shocker: Facebook Does What’s Best for Facebook“.

That being said, many users are rightfully unhappy about the “opt out” information sharing that can now take place on Facebook. This is where “Quit Facebook Day” comes in. Created by Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee they are hoping to organize a mass exodus of users from the platform.

From the campaign’s website:
“Why are we quitting? For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn’t do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren’t fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this. We also don’t think Facebook has much respect for you or your data, especially in the context of the future.”

Still, ReadWriteWeb has us ask ourselves some valid questions:
“And while the sharing of your data sounds quite scary, we have to wonder if this reactionary unchecking is causing some who would otherwise benefit to miss out. After all, are we really all that concerned about Pandora knowing, from the moment we load the site, that we’re huge Weezer fans?”

You may take a look through the updated policy (with changes highlighted) in order to form your own opinion on the matter.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

This morning I woke up to see a new Twitter update from @MtSeymourRoad:

Ski and snowboard season is just around the corner and as Metro Vancouver prepares for another blustery winter, the local hills are getting ready to welcome the Olympic-sized crowds that will be flocking to the hills. Here’s how many of them are using social media to keep the public informed about events, activities, and conditions.

Local Mountains on social media

Cypress Mountain
Home of the 2010 Olympic Games snowboarding events

Mount Seymour
Not involved in the 2010 Games so they’ll have lots of room for riders this season

Grouse Mountain
Will be open 24 hours a day during the Olympics, even hosting NBC’s Today Show for a few weeks — can you say 4am Tweetup on the slopes?

Just outside of Metro Vancouver

Whistler Blackcomb
Host of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. 90% of their runs will be open to the public during that time.

Hemlock Valley Resort
Closer than you think, just outside the Fraser Valley

Mount Washington
Your ultimate ski/board destination on Vancouver Island. Check out Keira’s posts for everything you need to know about Mount Washington.

Quick Okanagan Getaways

Sun Peaks
Located near Kamloops, BC

Apex Mountain

Big White
Awesome ski-in, ski-out resort near Kelowna, BC

Silver Star Mountain
Just north of Big White, outside of Vernon, BC

I’m celebrating my 16th year as a snowboarder so I can’t wait to get in as much riding as possible. With the local mountains getting snow this morning opening day isn’t too far down the road.

Should you have any listings you would like to add to my directory above, please feel free to leave a comment or email me through my contact form.

I’m always hesitant to grant permission to aggregator sites to redistribute my content, I mean I license my entire site under a Creative Commons License although sometimes those “attribution” or “non-commercial” bits get lost in the shuffle.

One thing I never did was republish my content on Facebook as well, knowing that they would probably somehow determine they have the right to whatever I post so I thought it best to avoid that mess. Turns out with the newly updated Facebook Terms of Service this month, it was a wise decision on my part — but does it even matter?

Facebook’s terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want. [Consumerist] — [see also: Slashdot]

Thing is, you can still delete content before you close your account (should you choose to do so) but it’s still a pretty sticky situation for many.

Some may argue that Google republishes and spreads content ie. through image searches but the main thing is that I’m linked, credited, and remain the owner — no matter how far out into the webosphere things may fly.

It’s been said before but I think everyone should pretty much know by now that once you upload something to the internet, it can travel around the world millions of times (getting saved and redistributed along the way) before you even wake up and wonder why the heck you took that photo last night.

Update: From the Facebook blog…

In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment.

We still have work to do to communicate more clearly about these issues, and our terms are one example of this. Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant. A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you. Over time we will continue to clarify our positions and make the terms simpler…

… “There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with.” – CEO, Mark Suckerberg [Read more]

Update Feb 17, 2009: Due to the outcry, they have reverted to the previous TOS.

The second Facebook Developer & Design Garage (and Facebook Awards) will be kicking off tonight at 6:00pm sharp over at the Vancouver Film School on Homer. Doors open at 5:30pm and space is limited to 100, so be sure to come on time. Here’s a sampling of what we’ll see tonight (and for more background, see my past posts about the event).

Potential demos include:

I will be liveblogging – at THIS URL – when things get underway and my entry will be complimented with live shots from Duane Storey who is the official photographer. I look forward to seeing some of you great folks tonight, and if you can’t make it, I hope this live blog will be helpful.

Update – 5:45pm – After piling into the lecture room at VFS, I’m hanging out with Phillip Jeffrey waiting for the show to start.

These will be my quick-lookup resources tonight: Wiki, Facebook Page, Facebook Group.

Update – 6:00pm - All photos in this post are © Duane Storey and are available on his Flickr. The schedule is being announced and we’ll be doing six demos, a couple lightning talks, a break, then four more apps.

Update – 6:10pm – First up is The Snow Report by Jeremy Holland and Dean Halford (MOK Agency): Unfortunately when I blogged about these guys a little while ago, mentioning that I just added the app to my Facebook they actually went to check out my profile… and I had their competitors installed instead. BUSTED!

To make up for it, here’s the link for Jeremy and Dean’s app – The Snow Report. Best part about this app is that you can let your friends know when you’re planing a trip up the mountain, adding more of a community and social aspect to planing your next carving adventure on top of finding out the latest conditions at all your local (and national) hills. You can create groups (public or private), invite your friends to a trip, create your rider profile and see who else enjoys the runs you do.

I just added the application again and it turns out this WAS the one I was using, since all my mountains were listed automatically and it even knew I already went boarding once this season. It even remembered my trip with Keira to Mount Washington this weekend, so I dunno what happened. Regardless, all is right with the world.

Update – 6:22pm – Next up – (The World’s Biggest) Hockey Pool by Ben Nevile (Mainsocial): Hockey Pool is pretty freakin huge. You can create pools based on networks, pick and trade your players and view rankings of users and players. It’s basically your run of the mill “hockey pool” concept but souped up for Facebook including aggregated scores and pool results updated in real time and broken down into various categories. There’s even a poll up there right now including a question about the Maple Leafs which has become overshadowed by an answer about bacon.

Update – 6:30pm – Ben goes on to talk about Friend of the Month. It’s not only an experiment in relationships but it also tests the limitations of Facebook, having something that changes every few weeks, providing a little more variety.

Update – 6:32pm – Now we have 10 Friends Notes by Colin Kierans. Basically you pick 10 friends, enter their names, choose 20 questions to ask, enter a note title, and it send it out to all your friends. It creates a discussion in a sort of … pass it on way. A question in the crowd arises about the viral aspect, and the potential for annoying the heck out of your friends. The spin on this is that it’s a notification, not an invite and doesn’t involve a game or trivia of any kind.

Update – 6:42pm – Chris Richardson from EQO is here regarding Vibrator. EQO is a mobile application company and they’re crossing over to Facebook, “taking pokes… physical”. Vibrator has a fun looking little animated dude that vibrates on your Facebook profile when someone sends you a “vibe”… or “sexy time” or perhaps even a “booty slap”. Also, if you have EQO on your mobile, it will actually vibrate when you get this Facebook notification.

Update – 6:49pm – MyFoodFix, with Matthew Chiu. Pretty simple looking app with two straightforward purposes; to share your favourite restaurants and also tell your friends what you are currently eating or want to eat. Type in your location, or the city in which you ate, and submit a recommendation or review (of food, service or price), with easy look-up features and addresses for many establishments. Create your top picks, and view your friends’, being intuitive enough to show you which friends you may want to dine with in the future ie. you both really like Thai food or Quizno’s.

Update – 6:51pm – Last one before the break is Eat-A-Rama by ActiveState (makers of Up4), who’s attitude is that they want to build applications that have a continued use (unlike zombies that you probably used… and are now sick of). Their latest is a restaurant finder including a Google mash up map with bubbles indicating their locations, along with a cloud tag, what they refer to as “the mullets of web 2.0″. Drag the map around from location to location to find a restaurant or eatery near you, or relevant to whichever query you enter ie. sushi or Granville street or by rating. They field questions from, “Can I update if I change my mind about a restaurant”, to “how do you find the integration with Google Maps?”. They also get into the nitty-gritty of the application and how users and developers can report any issues, we even get to see their “behind the scenes” metrics page.

Update – BREAK TIME –

Update – 7:38pm – Mark Mayo from Joyent speaks to their free hosting accelerator promotion for developers. Their top app is just under a BILLION page views on Facebook. They enable developers to smoothly run their busiest applications without interruption, being fully scalable. “Facebook, Joyent and Dell have partnered to provide free scalable, on-demand infrastructure from Joyent to Facebook developers.”

Update – 7:48pm – Next up is Michael Fergusson of who fully endorses Joyent. They used them for their “Are You Normal” application which has upwards of half a million users. He’s here today to talk about “These are my Kids“. The focus of this application is to make something for a smaller network, which tends to be of more value to you – compared to the millions in your “Oregon Trail Network”. You smaller network is for your family – for parents to boast about their kids to friends and family. But what happens when a family member doesn’t use Facebook? Content creation is key, and the creator would be you. The second half of the application, the “viewing app” could be on Facebook or anywhere else on the web.

People are concerned about certain things regarding their kids online including privacy – it’s only viewable by those you specifically invite and there are specific cookies to register approved users’ machines. Kinzin also addresses profiles, which you update… jot down the latest cute thing they said or what they’re doing. It’s view of photos and albums (you can organize them all in your ‘shoebox’ or in a ‘book’), and you can convert these digital aspects to physical by bundling up a ‘book’ which can get printed and mailed to a grandparent. Another aspect is “the people who are consuming the content don’t want to DO anything”. You sign up your friends and family by email or postal address.

Update – 8:03pm – Mixx Maker (V2.0) by Project Opus / Donat Group, Jeremy Lim is now up talking about the idea of making a mix tape for your sweetie or that hunk you’re crushin over and putting it together digitally over Facebook.

The initial question when logging into the app is “I want music that…” and you fill in the blanks (as previously seen at the last Facebook Garage). You can create any amount of mixx’s (like playlists)… I want music that comes from Germany and isn’t Rammstein… I want music that is bow chicka bow wow… I want music that makes me drive fast… . You can also view your friend’s mixx’s however there’s still the question of legality, surrounding the artists and their content without compensation – unless they’ve only included original tunes in this version, let’s find out.

Question from the audience, “who is paying for the licensing?”. Jeremy says nobody is, it’s pretty much like sharing a CD with your friends and they have sought legal advice to make sure that the files stay within this specific “bubble”. Question, “is the fee incumbent on Facebook, the user or Mixx?” the answer is there is no fee. Mixx is simply a storing service that enables music sharing. I suppose it’s like enabling your iTunes to be viewable by a network, but still… no one pays a fee… to the artist or label… anywhere?

Question from the audience, “can you send images as well?” such as album art? Jeremy isn’t too sure since he’s not a developer himself but they have looked into it.

Update – 8:14pm – Last demo of the evening is I’m Reading by Garth Shoemaker who starts off with a slide stating: Make it useful, Make it viral, Profit! He also suggests when you’re coming up with an app prepare to support an international audience. His latest app is “I’m Reading” where you can read, share, and write reviews for books you’ve read. Type in a title and it will search Amazon for its information or you can add an entry to the directory. You can view personalized recommendations for you or a friend and see best sellers.

Update – 8:24pm – I’m really hungry.

Update – 8:25pm – I was wrong, THIS is now the last demo of the evening. He doesn’t spend much time trying to be a good netizen, he likes to make money – lots and lots of money, he wants people to download his content and install it on their machines thus making him money. It’s Jason Bailey with $uper Reward Points. Micropayments systems within Facebook, Spare Change is picking up traction and they all allow people to come to your app and pay right there. CPA Ads (ringtones and sms subscriptions, get pretty, get thin etc) are the “new wave” instead of getting paid for clicks, you get paid for interaction. Jason’s message: have an app with something people WANT. These are the current types of apps that will make you money: Gift and Pokes, Competitions, Surveys, Tamagotchi Types, and Get Free Stuff.

Jason compares one of his “Hockey Pool” apps to Ben’s (which we saw earlier). The difference is Ben gives you 4 trades a month, while with Jason’s you need to purchase or acquire “puck points” in order to earn points, with which you can then use toward trading. How do you purchase or acquire points? Sign up for a gym membership, sign up for bingo or flowers from FTD, learn about this vacation, find out how to lose weight fast… etc. Basically subject yourself to spam so you can play, meanwhile earning a pile of dough for the app creators cause you’re clicking and signing up for their affiliate ads… just to get that animated flashy icon on your Facebook profile.

Update – 8:37pm – My laptop is going to die. Losing power. Questions are still flying at Jason. I’m going to sign off – thanks to Duane for taking the photos tonight, the presenters, to Gerald for getting me on as the live blogger and to Megan for keeping us on time.

Also, thanks again to the sponsors: Communicate.com, Joyent, RailsAdvance and BC Hydro.

It’s been several months in the making and now we’re less than two weeks away from the first ever Facebook Awards that will take place at the Vancouver Facebook Developer (and Design) Garage.

The ever-fabulous Megan Cole (who was also named as one of Vancouver’s Tech Women to Watch in 2008) will be moderating the event and the following companies have signed on to do live demos:

All applications are homegrown, right here in BC. Remember, to present a demo your app doesn’t even need to be completed so give us a sample and get some valuable feedback from this test audience of your peers. Sign up here if you’re interested in being a speaker.

One of the most popular applications that was shown at the first Garage was Social Signal speaking about Green Gifts, which was created and designed for BC Hydro as a part of the PowerSmart campaign. Not only can you send friends a gift on Facebook, they include energy-efficient and eco-friendly tips, providing valuable information for those looking to be more environmentally conscious.

Also from Social Signal, Rob’s created a series of Facebook-themed cartoons – check them out on ‘Noise to Signal‘.

And even though they’re not Facebook related per se, I have to include these because they made me chuckle.

This next one is *SO* John and I.

You can read more about Rob and his company’s work with BC Hydro and the Green Gifts application in this bio.

If you have or know of a Facebook application OR a Facebook cartoon that would fit into the new awards category, nominations will be open until the event on January 28, 2008. I previously introduced some nominees for the Facebook Awards and it’s not to late to get your submissions in.

This past fall, I was the official live blogger for Vancouver’s first Facebook Developer (and Design) Garage and I’ll be back again for an upcoming event later this month which will feature the Facebook Awards.

The first ever Facebook Awards: Best of the West, brought to us by some great sponsors, will feature applications that were created right here in BC.

As the Best of the West event is fast-approaching here’s a quick round up of all the nominees.

If you’re a fan of any of these, leave me a comment or feel free to submit your favourite BC-made application to Best of the West Nominations or add it to The Wall. Stay tuned to the wiki to find out more about the upcoming event January 28, 2008.

By now we all know pretty much that Facebook is one HUGE a social networking tool to be reckoned with.

As of late November 2007, the website has the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with 55 million active members (including non-collegiate members) worldwide, with membership expected to surpass 60 million users by the end of the year.

From September 2006 to September 2007 the site’s traffic ranking increased from 60th to 7th, according to Alexa. It is the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 60 million photos uploaded weekly. [wiki]

A humega part of Facebook is the ability to add applications. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, all those crazy thing are there to stay. Applications allow you to keep up to date with the latest events and transit schedules while encouraging friends to rate you, let you know you’re hot, send you “gifts”, turn you into a zombie and challenge you at games. As you may or may not know, Vancouver’s a big part of the Facebook movement, next time you add an application it might very well be something locally designed, developed and created.

Photo credit: Megan Cole on Flickr

To celebrate Techcouver‘s advancements on the world Facebook stage the folks who brought us the first Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage are unveiling the following:

Tell us about your Facebook application: We’ve decided to reward and encourage excellence in Facebook application design and development by hosting the “Best of the West 2007 Awards” – the world’s first Facebook application awards – at the upcoming second Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage and the first in the new year in late January 2008.! [Best of the West]

Here’s what you need to qualify and nominate your app:

For a refresher of the first event, check out the official live blog that I wrote shortly before coming down with laryngitis. Luckily organizers assure me that the next event will be throat virus free.

Photo credit: kk+ on Flickr

If you or someone you know and love (or just kinda like) has developed a Facebook application that’s the bee’s knee – let us know by nominating them. They’ll then be added to “The Wall” and be subject to random reviews by bloggers, such as yours truly.

So, say you made something with an artist’s music and tour dates on it and your name rhymes with Wuane Storey – that kinda thing – submit it and have the opportunity for recognition of internet-famous proportions.

The Vancouver Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage is the brainchild of the Vancouver Facebook Developers Group and organized by Gerald Bauer.

Welcome to the Official Vancouver Facebook Garage Live Blog! As previously announced, events will be underway at 5:30pm but here are a few shout outs before we get started:

Big thanks to the Official Live Blog sponsor, Communicate.com. Also thanks to Techvibes.com for being the media sponsor (including Flickr shots by Kris Krug that I will be using throughout the evening) and Vancouver Film School for offering up the venue. Of course we cannot forget Facebook, who has officially sponsored this event as well (thanks for the swag!)

For a list of presenters, demos and applications built right here in Vancouver and BC, visit my live blog announcement post or the wiki.

Here’s a rundown of the schedule:

5:07pm: Just getting setup at VFS. Once again BIG thanks to them for accommodating our group. Shout out to official photographer Kris, who apparently is stuck in an elevator somewhere and to my pals John Biehler, and Duane Storey who are unable to attend. Duane’s developed his own Facebook app featuring Matt Good’s CD release and concert dates.

5:29pm: Kris is here and photos are coming shortly. The video feed should be setup soon and every seat in the house is taken. I won’t have time to attribute the pics with captions on the fly, just know they are all credited to kk+ on Flickr.

5:45pm: Starting off with demos in anticipation of a Skype video chat with a representative of Facebook. Each demo presenter will have about 5 minutes to present their Facebook App. First up… Up4 (Social Planning Helper) Built By ActiveState. What are you up for? Up4 is designed to let your friends know in a very casual way (with no specific times etc) what you would be up for doing. You can select specific friends to notify or send to your entire list.

Using tabbed browsing in the application, you can block times for events and activities you would be willing to do, and also see what your friends could possibly want to do. It’s sort of like the pre-event stage. It’s if you’re interested, you like the idea, etc. without any real commitment off the bat. What’s next? They’ll be launching a skinned version of the app in time for the holidays.

5:50pm: Up next is Are You Normal Built By Kinzin. It’s a social survey app for Facebook that was actually featured on the cover of Vancouver’s 24 Hours newspaper this morning. Answer the questions, see how your friends answered and find out just how normal you are.

Photo credit: Megan Cole on Flickr

6:00pm: Third demo is NoteMix – Create courses and collaborate on notes with other course members, presented by Colin Kierans. NoteMix is for collaborative note taking in your courses (college etc.) enter your school, the course code and edit summaries on the go. Your classmates can log into Facebook, fire up NoteMix and collaborate summaries and notes with peers, sort of like a wiki but with a friendlier and Facebook-y interface. Notifications are given for most recently updated courses.

6:05pm: Handi Mobility is up next with MyBus. If you attended the most recent DemoCampVancouver or happened to see my blog post you’ll know this is one handy and incredible simple tool for catching the bus on time… as long as it is on time. They’re also working on the iPhone version.

6:10pm: The call from Facebook headquarters has just come in over Skype, the auditorium is chatting (one way) to David Morin, Senior Platform Manager in Palo Alto, CA.

6:20pm: The connection was lost so we’re getting a mini demo of Hockey Pools. Greg is just leading us through the app, which he personally has installed, even though Ben Nevile cannot be here to officially present it.

6:22pm: Opus “Mixx” Music Player and Social Playlists presented by Jeremy Lim from Donat Group. Basically it’s a mix tape creator that always starts with the statement… “I want music that…” You can then rely on friends’ recommendations for tunes, whatever you’re in the mood to listen to. Since the app functions by uploading mp3 files to the Opus servers there are several skeptics in the audience mentioning the legalities of the player. There’s also the subject of quality of files uploaded, duplicates and copies but they are still working out some kinks. Mixx music player is based on php and Drupal.

6:36pm: Green Gifts by Social Signal (for BC Hydro) is up next, presented by Rob Cottingham. “How does an organization dip its toe in the online water, especially when it’s a public organization.” The idea of gifts on Facebook really appealed to Social Signal’s client so together they created Green Gifts – a fun and entertaining way to promote sustainability and energy conservation. Each free ‘Green Gift’ comes with a PowerSmart tip as well.

18:52pm: Scratch and Win by Backstage Technologies will be the last demo before a small break. It’s an image, a prize icon and a score tally that goes up. You have credits, buy scratch tickets, and win prize tokens. Earlier in the evening someone else brought up the concept of gambling on Facebook (during the Hockey Pools segment) and if it’s banned, which it clearly is as stated in their terms of service. New users get 10 credits and the choice of 4 different tickets when they sign up. Complete with scartchy sound effects, 95% of tickets are winners. “Facebook is about wasting time”, so Backstage has done exactly that, built an app to help people just play and have fun… but of course with a little competition hence the ‘rankings’ page. “Your app must let you do something to someone”, so with Scratch and Win you can send tickets.

7:20pm: Intermission…..

7:30pm: Final demo of the evening is ClassTalk built by PeerGlobe. Born out of a now-extinct social networking platform, ycas, Class Talk generates new conversations within Facebook with its own applications. You can register your courses at major educational institutions around the world, schedule, discuss and even sign up if you’re the teacher. It’s like a giant (as in complex and multi-faceted) Facebook group, filled with classmates in which you can share documents, leave notes and comments and connect with others.

7:48pm: Big theme on the night being, how can we compete with zombie and food fight applications?

7:52pm: Jason Bailey from Kick In The Nuts Media is presenting on monetizing your Facebook app – making $$ money $$. Valuating applications for purchase by investors based on install numbers. Trip Advisor is an example of a million + installed application that’s built for branding and is making money. Pay Per…. impression, click, action, sale. Another example of an app that is making a LOT of money is one of the Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer awareness campaigns which encourages a toolbar download through a ‘free causes’ website. For every member that downloads and installs the toolbar, they will donate a certain dollar amount to the cause. With the money they’re making from toolbar referrals… it’s quite a healthy sum they can scrape off the top. Facebook is full of these applications that only need member clicks and installs in order to make a nice chunk of change. The point? Developers have the ability to jump on this monetary bandwagon as well. Best way to get people to click through? Ask a question, have a poll, request an opinion and offer a “free” offer.

8:15pm: Presentation are over. Side note, Roland’s active on the Jaiku Channel for the Vancouver Facebook Garage.

8:20pm: Last but not least… Boris and Johnny are here to talk about the FUTURE of Facebook and not locking your app inside. Johnny leads off introducing OpenID – build your apps for everyone, there are many options although they’re not always simple to implement. Boris refers to Facebook as a “giant walled garden, we’ve seen this before ie. with AOL,” let’s open things up. During Q&A the audience mentions there’s a new app for Facebook that allows you to download your friends in a CSV. The examples at this point are referencing monkeys and the ownership of monkeys. I’m no longer able to focus on the big screen but I’m sure glad these guys are still on track, talking about the concept of an “open web”.

Winding down, I have to thank Communicate.com for sponsoring my live blog and thanks to thanks to Techvibes, everyone’s going to the bar for some spirits.

I’ll be heading home as I’ve been fighting off a cold for the entire day, and I might just let it take over soon. As I am heavily air conditioned and neck-kinked at this point, all the best to those going to the after party. Have fun guys, take pics! And anyone who DID tune into my live blog… please let me know what you think/thought. Thanks!

Update: The Official Live Blog Will Begin at 5:30pm, October 23rd, 2007 over on this post.

It’s one of the top sites in the nation and anyone who is not on it yet (who had held out this long) deserves a medal.

Facebook has exploded in popularity since opening its doors to the general public last winter and along with profiles, gifts, fun walls and zombies, there are those who develop and design applications specifically for this highly-addictive monster of a site.

Join us for Vancouver’s first Facebook Developer (& Designer) Garage – a place for you to explore, get gritty, tinker, experiment, and test out your ideas for new Facebook apps.

Unconferences are a relaxed and steady flow of presentations by attendees (see BarCamp or DemoCamp). Come on our if you are a developer, Ajax enthusiast, Facebook lover, Facebook App developer or promoter, Facebook geek or Vancouver geek in general. You’ll be able to network with other developers and application creators, demo your new idea for an app, show off and promote what you’ve already made, and have a great time.

Anyone/everyone else is welcome to sign up via the Facebook event.

You can tune into my site on Tuesday, October 23rd for the Official Live Blog, sponsored by Communicate.com. Big thanks also goes to Techvibes for being the media sponsor (including Flickr shots that I will use in my live blog) and Vancouver Film School as the Venue Sponsor. Of course we cannot forget Facebook, who has officially sponsored this event as well.

Facebook apps developed and designed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia include:

Dabble Do (Social To-Do List) Built By Dabble DB

MyBus (Translink Bus Schedule) Built By Handi Mobility

I’m Reading (Book List w/ Ratings and Reviews) Built By Garth Shoemaker

Up4 (Social Planning Helper) Built By ActiveState

Are You Normal Built By Kinzin

NHL Box Scores Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Yoga Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Urban Dictionary Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

The Far Side Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Demotivator Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Comic Strip Built By Kick In The Nuts Media

Scratch and Win Built By Backstage Technologies

ClassTalk Built By PeerGlobe

Scheduled Demos at the Garage:

Kinzin’s Are You Normal App Released October 3rd.

NoteMix – Create courses and collaborate on notes with other course members. By Colin Kierans

MyBus – Keep track of favourite Vancouver / Calgary / Toronto bus routes on your FB profile!

Hockey Pool by Ben Nevile

Opus Music Player and Social Playlists by Donat Group

Mixx Q & A with Jeremy Lim (Project Opus)

Green Gifts by Social Signal/BC Hydro

Scratch and Win by Backstage Technologies

ClassTalk by PeerGlobe

Open Social Networks? Q&A with OpenID Lead Johnny Bufu (Sxip Identity)

Scheduled Lightning Talks:

Monetizing Your Facebook Application(s) – A quick overview of ways developers are using their applications to generate cold hard cash!

The Future of Facebook Q&A lead by Boris Mann and Johnny Bufu of Sxip.