address - Programming Blog

Posts Tagged ‘address’

21 Jan 2010

Starting today Facebook developers can opt to communicate with users directly via e-mail, replacing the need for application-to-user notifications, which the social networks plans to eliminate.

The new initiative was announced this morning and will go live today. Developers can now request user e-mail addresses during the initial authorization process (which they can make optional or required), Facebook will extensively promote the feature on every application page users visit, and users can either share their actual e-mail address or a Facebook proxied e-mail address for anonymity.

How it Works

On the surface, user e-mail sharing is just another extended permission that application users will be able to allow (or not) during the authorization process. For the user, this means that the process will flow similar to other application requests that they can accept or reject during authorization.

Here’s how it looks if the developer chooses to make e-mail sharing optional:

And if the application requires your e-mail address:

Given that Facebook wants to make full transition from application-to-user notifications to direct-to-user e-mail communication, it plans to promote the change extensively.

As an application user, you’ll start to see dialog boxes at the top of every application canvas page you visit. You’ll see these for the next three months or through three independent sessions with a single application.

You’ll probably get pretty familiar with dialogs that look similar to this:

What It Means

For developers, the big e-mail push by Facebook is huge in terms of connecting directly with their application users, something that most have only been able to do indirectly up until now. Essentially Facebook will no longer serve as the middleman between you and your users.

For sites that leverage Facebook Connect as an alternative login, it’s also an important development that will help you store new member e-mail addresses, or the proxied Facebook e-mail address, for future contact.

As for Facebook application users, some of you might not relish the idea of sharing your e-mail address, but Facebook has built-in a number of safe guards should you not only wish to reject sharing your e-mail or do so anonymously. They’re also holding developers to the CAN-SPAM Act and requiring that they pledge not to sell your info to third-parties.

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: facebook, facebook application, facebook notifications, social media

Go to Source

(1) Comment
Tags: address, application, application users, authorization, e mail address, e mail addresses, facebook, initial authorization, mail communication, user

You’ve Got Fresh Milk! Facebook Apps Can Now Email You

In: web resources

21 Jan 2010

Just in case you were thinking Mafia Wars or Farmville weren’t a big enough part of your daily life, Facebook has followed up on its promise and will now offer email notifications from applications. As we foretold in October, Facebook’s roadmap for developers contained several key points that would restructure the ways in which applications would be allowed to contact users.

But before you go diving off the deep end worrying about an inbox full of even more Facebook notifications, take a deep breath and remember that 1980s anti-drug campaign slogan and let it become your mantra – “Just Say No.”

Sponsor

In its blog post announcing the feature, Facebook is careful to note that its users will retain control over who can contact them by email.

According to Inside Facebook, our favorite social network will offer users the ability to use a proxy email address so they don’t have to divulge their email address to external entities but can still receive the notifications by email.

Thanks to Facebook moving in the direction of sharing things by default, this move is surely going to prompt accusations that Facebook is invading people’s privacy. However, we think that as long as no information is shared by default, emailing application notifications should be okay.

What we really hope, though, is that some of our friends don’t permanently disappear into the Farmville abyss as they are constantly reminded that the cows are coming home.

Discuss

Go to Source

(6) Comments
Tags: address, campaign slogan, default, email, email notifications, external entities, facebook, FarmVille, mafia wars

Know What Your Email Address Says About You [What You Said]

In: Coding

14 Jan 2010

Earlier this week we asked you what your email prejudices were. We dug through the comments, and now we’re back to highlight how you feel about certain email addresses and what they say about the people who use them.

Opinions were passionate in comments on the article, and as of the writing of this followup are approaching nearly 500 strong. From among all the comments several clear opinions emerged on the state of email and selecting an email provider and username.

The username you select is vastly more important than the provider you use. Firstname.lastname@aol.com is preferred to and more respectable than sexkitten2010@aol.com—cutesy, offensive, or unprofessional nicknames are big mistakes.
Domains are important, especially in technology-related fields. An AOL address might be just as serviceable as any other address when it comes to sending and receiving mail but to most people in tech fields it says “Hi. I’m from 1996. What is this internet you speak of?”

As an IT exec, I definitely made judgments against prospective hires based on email addresses (as well as a wide array of other factors). It wasn’t uncommon for me to have 100-500 resumes for a single open position, and I didn’t care to rely on HR to sort through them, so I did it myself, and I needed some way to get down to a short-list of around 10 people. As such, it was pretty easy to toss a resume because somebody had a goofy email address. And I would certainly raise an eyebrow at a supposed IT tech who had an AOL.com address. – Mike De Lucia

As an IT manager in the tech field, I have to say that I’m a little prejudice when it comes to using a Hotmail or AOL address for business or on a resume. AOL is a more dated personal email address. Hotmail is known as an email for kids, for people who don’t care if their mail is thrown out if they don’t log in for awhile, and for a spam throwaway address. – Gankaku
More concerning than people using inappropriate emails handles on their resumes? Businesses that don’t have their own domain and personalized email. SomeCompany@sbcglobal.net or SomeDude2049@yahoo.com were huge turn offs to readers and many expressed that they would question the professionalism of a company with such an unpolished image and do business elsewhere.

I’m a photographer and also wonder when I see other photographers without a domain name email.
It seems as though they aren’t serious about their career if they haven’t taken the time to create a website and therefore have a domain name email. – veronykah
The flood of comments wasn’t without dissenting opinion by any measure; many commenters weighed in pointing out that it was superficial and judgmental to make snap decisions based on an email address.

I don’t understand the prejudice against hotmail. I’ve had my hotmail address for like 15+ years. Though I’ve had it so long I was able to choose @msn.com for my address. Fortunately I took it over hotmail.com so maybe people don’t look down on me quite so much. When I see a hotmail.com address, I think, ‘wow, that person’s been using email for a long time.’ Read the rest of mrknowitall’s comment here..
One astute observation made by several readers was that it’s a huge hassle to switch email providers so most people never bother. One reader even noted that the hassle-factor could be a big reason why people get defensive:

This issue comes up every now and then, and it always gets people so riled up. People get defensive because so many e-mail services entrench their users – they can’t switch to a new one without a lot of hassle. Read the rest of veblen’s comment here.

As we noted in the original post, email addresses have become ubiquitous and because we hand them out so liberally in professional and social situations it is worth taking the time to assess what your email address says about you. Your cute username might have been novel back in high school or college but entering the professional world it’s definitely time to retire SexyStud99 in favor of John.R.Smith.

Like your clothing, your hair style, and your manner of speaking, your email address is part of your personal image. Certainly it’s a type of prejudice that a hiring manager might look over you because you have an “antiquated” email address or a “stupid” username, but that’s not entirely different than a hiring manager being unimpressed that you showed up to a job interview sans a neck tie. Sure it might be unimportant or silly to you and you might say “I wouldn’t want to work at a company that uptight anyhow,” but it’s worth taking into consideration because whether or not a prejudice—big or small!—is fair or reasonable, it is still out there.

Have an email-related story? An awkward moment revolving around an email address? Some insight as someone who handles applications or other hiring processes? Let’s hear about it in the comments.