Customer Reviews

Building Social Web Applications: Establishing Community at the Heart of Your Site

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are looking for and how-to guide, with code listings and practical examples you better pick another book. Gavin Bell covers the topic from an architect/designer point of view, he also tends keep in mind the business side of things, something I appreciated. This means the content will be valuable for a long time, since languages, tools and frameworks come and go, while the advice you can get from this book is platform agnostic. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a book with just dry theory, it's based on solid experience both from first-hand experience by the author and the way some major social applications have been build and evolved

Gavin Bell draws on his extensive experience to offer a well structured guide to adding community elements to a website or application. His book will help any professional planning a social strategy, designing a set of social features, determining the types of relationships to foster among users, and even determining how best to manage change in an existing site or online structure.

Bell covers a wide gamut of issues that a site planner will need to consider, from developing the data schema for people, relationships, and objects; to how best to expose APIs to third-party developers; to the process of rolling out a new product or feature. Anyone developing a social website or app should keep this book handy throughout the process.

Bell and I share a publisher and our titles cover some similar issues. When I first picked up Bell's finished book I gritted my teeth with envy. As I quickly devoured the book, though, I was relieved (or, at least I convinced myself) that our books are complementary and are each useful in their own way.

If you're looking for one book to guide you through the entire process, from conception to launch and into the life of a social web application, then this is the book for you.

This book is rich in important ideas and is definitely a must read for those interested in the social web. Unfortunately I suspect that it was either written in haste or (perhaps more likely) the author was still working out his ideas as he wrote it, because it is extremely repetitive. This constant reiteration does make the reading experience rather more hard work than it should be because the underlying material is strong and valuable. I am entirely confident that in the next addition he can easily take out 100 pages and the book will be the stronger for it. This is Gavin's first book and I don't think he was well served by his publisher. A competent editor could and should have pointed out the large areas of duplication. Nonetheless, and to repeat myself :), it is a must read.

Gavin Bell's experience in technology and social networking software applications is wonderfully presented and organized. The book is targeted to the system designer rather than the coder - offering practical advice with a healthy dose of theory to explain why some interactions work and others don't. It is so rich in content, the reader will wear out his or her highligher in no time. The writing is clear and well organized with examples at every step. The author includes good graphics, references to interesting websites, chapter summaries and other tools to make the subject approachable to the reader. Anyone contemplating starting or adding a social web application will benefit from this excellent book.

My background is marketing, not programming. I'm IT literate but struggle with anything above simple HTML. None-the-less, I found extraordinary value in this book. Yes, it's technical. But not in a way that leaves non-programmers behind. I found it full of insights that will help ANYONE involved in ANY aspect of building a social site. Specifically, it has enabled me to much more clearly define the 'objects' of my social site and keep my developers focussed on those objects.

In answer to two of the earlier reviewers' comments that the author is repetitive, I can only state that after 40 years of leadership experience, I subscribe wholeheartedly to the 'Tell them what you are going to tell them; Tell them; Tell them you told them' school of thought. Gavin Bell does not go to that extreme but does often reinforce/enhance/distill an earlier concept. I found that a strong positive in helping me digest the weath of knowledge being shared.

If you want to understand why some social sites thrive while others fail, this book is a 'must read'!

I have well over a decade developing, managing, and improving social computing and social web applications and this is the first book I have found that addresses many of the little things that make big differences. Gavin Bell provides not only depth and but breadth of understanding in this book across from development, design, and social implications that much be understood as one cohesive whole. This would be the first book I would recommend who are thinking about building or maintaining a social web application or service out on the web, inside the firewall on an intranet, or through a firewall to business partners or customers.

Gavin Bell's "Building Social Web Applications: Establishing Community at the Heart of Your Site" is an absolutely vital guide for anyone involved in the development of a social or collaborative web site--whether they are a UX planner, Information Architect, Software Developer or if they are involved involved in the Business Implementation of the Site. It successfully provides guidance in making the external behavior, appearance, application design, and community building efforts congruent with the Social and Collaborative goals of the site's users and implementation team. Like the best sort of User Experience guide, it does not offer a cookie-cutter by-the-numbers approach to all sites' development. Rather, it provides tools and a from the Goals and Audience definition-based approach to defining the appearance, programmatic behavior and recruitment activities necessary to make a site which meets and exceeds the expectations of user's and that will fully support their desired activities. It is a conceptual book which requires the designer/analysts thoughtful participation but all of the tools necessary to planning a Breakthrough Social/Collaborative Web Site are here.

My only quip with this outstanding handbook is that the title and publisher publicity do not (in my opinion) do an adequate job of explaining the intent, approach and richness of this volume. I would have titled it something more like, "A Complete and Thoughtful Handbook to Make A Social Web Application that is Exactly Suited to Your Target Audience and Their Activities"

--Ira Laefsky
IT/HCI Researcher and Consultant

BUILDING SOCIAL WEB APPLICATIONS offers a different approach to social web marketing and teaches web developers how to build a web application based on different concepts of social networking. From determining who will be drawn to the site and how they will interact with it to creating visual designs and managing visitor identities for maximum interaction and benefit, BUILDING SOCIAL WEB APPLICATIONS is a pick for any programming collection.

This book takes you from idea, to planning, to implementation, and to delivery of a web application. What I enjoyed most was the journey along the way. The author does a great job of going into greater detail with specific subjects such as managing identities, APIs, and development (to name a few). By the end of the book you are able to extract the important parts because they were re-iterated throughout the different chapters. This wasn't repetition, it was teaching you the important parts to focus.

Another interesting point is seeing what was important two years ago, and seeing how important it is today. This book still has very strong relevance in building web applications in 2011 (almost 2012).

I could go into much greater detail (and will, eventually), but I wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover.

The best thing about this book is that it'll definitely make you think about things you wouldn't have had otherwise. And important ones, I mean. Those which could be fundamental for the success of your social projects. Gavin Bell's experience clearly pops out in the tips and suggestions given through the whole book. Both at the strategical and practical levels. Ground covered by the book is impressive and I've really appreciated the ease with which author managed to switch back and forth from strategical, tactical and even practical points of view.

A few things covered in the book are: strategy in getting a community together; tactics for community management; how to properly handle privacy issues; how to organize content, also from URL perspective; strategy for launching and promoting your application. But there's much more; just take a peek at the ToC.

I'm sure it can bring up to par even the not so experienced software engineer. And also constitute a good starting point for the non technician who wants to start understanding the realm of social web applications.

On the negative side, as someone already pointed out, it becomes repetitive at times. Such repetitions could've been avoided and a little more could've been said about software architectural issues and approaches suitable/needed by (successful) social applications. This means that - if your application turns out a success - you'll need to pair this book up with something else, since it won't definitely be enough for you. But, if you get to that point, I think the book has done its job already, and it's your turn now to get deeper into purely architectural issues.

In a few words, I'm definitely glad to have this one on my bookshelf.