Development Seed

Facebook became one of the most talked about social networks in the United States when they opened up their API this summer, and new Facebook applications have been popping up like crazy ever since. In addition to all the super poke and zombie applications, some interesting organizations and causes have entered the mix like the UN Millennium Campaign, who launched a Facebook application a couple weeks ago. (Disclaimer: They’re a client of ours and we recently built two websites for them, although we didn’t do any work on this application.)

This is how the application appears in my Facebook profile. As you can see, it’s a big old clock counting down to the campaign’s deadline to end global poverty. I picked this image because I think it’s powerful, but there are two other options you can choice from as well – a countdown clock to the next Stand Up Against Poverty event and a photo of the day, which is pictured below.

I particularly like the share button that’s on all of the profile widgets, which lets your friends add this application to their profile with just a click. This is a great feature to help spread the application virally, and one that I haven’t seen on too many other Facebook applications. Also there are links to the application’s main page and some of its main features, like blog, events, and friends hall of fame, which are good to get people interacting with the application.

Once you go to the applications page, the UN Millennium Campaign has some good branding and compelling photos, but it retains its look as a Facebook page, which is really key when interacting in this and any offisite community. What I particularly like is that they include an email signup box right in the top left of the application’s homepage. It’s important to bring the user into your larger campaign - and not just keep them hanging out with you on Facebook – and a big email sign up box is a great way to do this. Additionally, they have a good explanation of the project right up top, which is necessary since most people aren't going to know immediately how, exactly, poverty will be ended in a mere seven years. Here's what you see on the above the fold on the application page.

I think the application also integrates the ever popular Facebook Wall well into this page. Reading why people want to end povety, and hearing opinions from around the world, plays nicely into the campaign’s goals. The Friends Wall of Fame, although pretty standard, is a great way to apply some peer pressure to people to go out and get more people using this application.

Nice work, y’all!