Well the big news this week in the world of social networking and gaming was the Developer Garage hosted by none other than Facebook. If you have an application on Facebook this week was a tad stressful. The first problem was much like the swine flu; the media, in this case all of the tech blogs, went crazy.  In fact some called it D-Day for Facebook developers. There are many blogs that have already outlined exactly what the changes are and for my money Inside Facebook does a job of outlining what has happened and how it could affect you.

Here are the things we’re excited about and the changes we’re a pinch anxious about. You need to keep in mind however that none of this really matters until the changes go live and we get to see exactly what the changes look like and how they will impact us.

The Good

Emails - Facebook is now going to give all apps the ability to ask the user for their current email address. Some think this is a step back as email is an old and archaic way of communicating. What is good about this is that it gives the apps that work hard to generate users the comfort of knowing that they don’t need to rely on Facebook to connect with them.

Canvas – Another step forward is the ability for developers to create a canvas so users will feel more like they’re on the app’s page rather than one tucked inside Facebook. This, along with the email request, is a strong message from Facebook. It implies the user and his/her information isn’t owned solely by Facebook.  It also indicates that Facebook understands the importance of the Developer Network and the success it has brought both them and the companies using the network!

The Stream – Developers love the stream and while many hate the recent changes to the stream despite the blogs posts from earlier this week the stream shall for the most part remain, unchanged.

The Bad (Heck given our glass is half full mentality, I will actually call this – The Stuff we are a tad concerned about) – Notifications, this is the one that most developers are nervous about. First off notices are going to disappear; developers won’t have the ability to communicate using this method anymore. To replace it users will have a dashboard that will appear to the left of the stream, it should work better for the user which is great, honestly! What concerns developers is if the user doesn’t have their app book marked it will/may be difficult for the user to see these messages.  Worst case scenario is that the user will outright ignore them. This really is one of those things that could work out well for developers or could dramatically make things worse.

User to user communication – This doesn’t affect Datepad because our users communicate through the site/application. Today apps that allow user to user communication use the notification box and going forward they will be placed within the inbox. This is something that most gaming apps are very concerned with.

I have only touched on a handful of the major changes coming in the next 6 months. Most of them are good for both users and developers and some well, we’ll have to wait and see. As always Datepad is looking forward to working with Facebook and more importantly creating a great user experience for our members!

We’ve been busy here at Datepad developing a new and even more user friendly version of Datepad.com, our Facebook App and the launch of Facebook Connect. The goal of these monumental tasks was to make all three areas of our business as seamless as possible. Users want to be able to join an internet dating site as quickly as possible or take advantage of the service while using their favorite social network. These were the fundamental criteria that were used for this update.

Whether you come directly to Datepad.com or find us through our Facebook App we’ve made the process of joining as simple as possible. It literally takes seconds to join Datepad.

We encourage all of you to check out the new site and do let us know what you think. We’ve added a new thread in our forums to discuss the new site. Be candid, good or bad we want to hear it!

Now that this is done we’re busy building more tools and features for our members. Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as we have a ton of cool things we’re working on!

Thanks from all of us at Datepad!

One of the biggest issues facing search engines is their ability to deliver good results. In the end relevant search results is all that really matters. Another area search engines have to be careful with is tailoring the search results to benefit their needs. Being open is a good long term strategy rather than making money in the short.

Well AOL, a company that has had numerous issues over the years has done something so ridiculously short citied. They have a dating website personals.aol.com, nothing new here. What’s new are their search results. If you take any dating keyword, online dating, internet dating, free online dating, literally any dating keyword they appear #1. Their search engine is powered or as they say enhanced by Google, well Google isn’t doing this.

I hope anyone reading this will stop using AOL search, given these and other shady business practices I am not sure too many are!

On Sunday April 20th Datepad.com lost one of its greatest assets. Dave was the driving force behind our vision and direction. While we struggle to deal with the loss, our team is now more than ever bound and determined to make Datepad.com the success Dave was so excited to achieve. We wish his wife, children and his family all of the best.

Dave, we miss you!

A visitation will be held at Thompson Funeral Home:

7-9pm Thursday April 24th 2008
530 Industrial Pkwy. South
Aurora, ON
(905)727-5421

A service will be held in Dave’s honour at:

Dinardo’s
400 Industrial Pkwy. South
Aurora, ON L4G 6W7
(905) 841-3737

Friday April 25th 2008 @ 1pm - 5pm

Reception to follow

The Dave Nichol Entrepreneur Foundation

Donations can be made to The Dave Nichol Entrepreneur Foundation acceptable at Dinardo’s.